Thursday, March 13, 2008
Review of a Show
Philadelphia Flower Show
March 2-9th, 2008
Pennsylvania Convention Center
12th and Arch Streets
Philadelphia, PA
As I walked into the convention center people were headed in different directions, conversations were taking place about the displays, music was playing and a grand entrance way was demanding my attention. After walking under an arch way of enormous piano keys, passing a 10 foot cello surrounded by plants and flowers that seem to be exploding in form and color, I found where the music was coming from. A center stage was set up with a man playing a guitar surrounded by flowers; it became clear that this year’s Philadelphia Flower Show theme “Jazz it Up”, inspired by New Orleans, had not been taken lightly.
For those of you who have not been to a Philadelphia flower show, the convention center was divided up into three sections. One area was set up
for the plants that people have entered to be on display, some had won ribbons in different categories. Another section was the market place; vendors sold anything from flowers, gardening equipment, jewelry in the shape of flowers, and crafted objects that dealt with plants in some way. One featured artist, Timothy Martin, had his own prominent show area and made multiple paintings that involved beautiful outdoor scenery. His own twist was that the flowers came together to make an instrument which relates back to the Jazz theme. The last section was the landscape and floral displays; this area was the talk of the flower show. Colors and smells aroused the senses as well as the physical nature of the quantity and size of the displays. Landscapers, florists, artists, art teachers, and volunteers came together to create a vision of wonder and amazement. If you thought of the convention center as a gallery, the displays would be the artwork on pedestals. Each exhibit had its own space and the viewers had to walk around the work. Everyone pointed and gossiped, but no one touched the work. Some viewers were taking mental notes of flowers they liked and things they would like to try back at home. Others were just astonished at the creativity of finding new ways to display flowers, not to mention the inventive use of props to tie in the Jazz theme.
The award of best achievement for “Interpretation of the Flower Show Theme” went to Lorenz Landscape Contractors and was well deserved. A music repair shop was constructed with a walk way leading out to the viewers. The landscaping surrounding the repair shop was booming with flowers upon flowers and trees in bloom. The difference in texture and disbursement of color was enough to fulfill the visual senses, but it didn’t stop there. Three specially made fountains were thoughtfully placed into the landscape. One was an old piano that had a waterfall effect with water pouring out of the music stand and in front of the keys. Plant life surrounded the side and back of the piano to help accentuate the front and focus on the action taking place. Even pieces of greenery, perhaps moss, was covering a few keys and hanging from different areas of the piano to give the illusion it had been there forever. The water poured into a small pond where a sculpture of brass instruments stood upright. Saxes, trumpets, trombones and so on were compacted together to form one object. Most of the instruments were facing upright and water was shooting straight up in the middle of it all which then fell back down into the bells creating little independent wells of water. It was very pleasing to see how something that should seem out of place (bright metal brass) could look so comfortable with natural elements. The third water feature was off to the other side of the display and had a calmer feeling of water gently cascading of the rim of a large tuba that was low to the ground.
In other displays installation art had a strong presence. Rhythm Rooms, created by Lamsback Floral Decorators, was specifically designed to create a certain rhythm with the use of color schemes, shapes, textures, furniture, flowers, and lighting. Each of the five rooms had its own special chandelier that hung over the defined space. One room with the analogous color scheme of red, purple, and blue was filled with plastic spheres large enough for the viewer to have a body relationship to them. Some sat by themselves on the floor while a few were attached together in clumps. Even though the spheres were in a variety of sizes, the shininess of the blue, purple, and silver referenced over sized beads from Mardi Gras. In-between these large forms were rounded clusters of flowers mimicking the spheres. All of the forms on the ground appeared to be resting on a sea of white rocks. Some of the spheres were attached to the wall while others hung from the chandelier. Flowers hung in the center in the form of a vertical streamer. The was a playfulness in the way the room was set up; if there were more spheres and the sharp rocks were not present it would almost feel like an adult ball pit and I would have been tempted to jump in.
There were many other displays worth seeing and if you missed the show this year you can check out their website http://www.theflowershow.com/ to see more photographs. It was very refreshing to see so many people contributing to the show, especially when you stop and think about how much work had been done for something that was only up for one week. Besides all of the creating, planning, and physical labor that was done there were other things that some artists don’t have to think about once they installed a show that the exhibitors needed to consider; cut flowers don’t last very long, maintenance was required through out the week and some people needed to trick a plant that normally blooms in the summer to bloom in the winter. This show was not just about flowers that look stunning, but about the commitment and perseverance of an art form.
If you want to learn about plants, would like to shop for new and creative ideas about gardening or flower arrangements, would enjoy the atmosphere of the artistic displays, or at the very least would enjoy the feeling of spring on a cold winter day, then you should catch the next Philadelphia Flower Show in March of 2009.
March 2-9th, 2008
Pennsylvania Convention Center
12th and Arch Streets
Philadelphia, PA
As I walked into the convention center people were headed in different directions, conversations were taking place about the displays, music was playing and a grand entrance way was demanding my attention. After walking under an arch way of enormous piano keys, passing a 10 foot cello surrounded by plants and flowers that seem to be exploding in form and color, I found where the music was coming from. A center stage was set up with a man playing a guitar surrounded by flowers; it became clear that this year’s Philadelphia Flower Show theme “Jazz it Up”, inspired by New Orleans, had not been taken lightly.
For those of you who have not been to a Philadelphia flower show, the convention center was divided up into three sections. One area was set up
for the plants that people have entered to be on display, some had won ribbons in different categories. Another section was the market place; vendors sold anything from flowers, gardening equipment, jewelry in the shape of flowers, and crafted objects that dealt with plants in some way. One featured artist, Timothy Martin, had his own prominent show area and made multiple paintings that involved beautiful outdoor scenery. His own twist was that the flowers came together to make an instrument which relates back to the Jazz theme. The last section was the landscape and floral displays; this area was the talk of the flower show. Colors and smells aroused the senses as well as the physical nature of the quantity and size of the displays. Landscapers, florists, artists, art teachers, and volunteers came together to create a vision of wonder and amazement. If you thought of the convention center as a gallery, the displays would be the artwork on pedestals. Each exhibit had its own space and the viewers had to walk around the work. Everyone pointed and gossiped, but no one touched the work. Some viewers were taking mental notes of flowers they liked and things they would like to try back at home. Others were just astonished at the creativity of finding new ways to display flowers, not to mention the inventive use of props to tie in the Jazz theme.The award of best achievement for “Interpretation of the Flower Show Theme” went to Lorenz Landscape Contractors and was well deserved. A music repair shop was constructed with a walk way leading out to the viewers. The landscaping surrounding the repair shop was booming with flowers upon flowers and trees in bloom. The difference in texture and disbursement of color was enough to fulfill the visual senses, but it didn’t stop there. Three specially made fountains were thoughtfully placed into the landscape. One was an old piano that had a waterfall effect with water pouring out of the music stand and in front of the keys. Plant life surrounded the side and back of the piano to help accentuate the front and focus on the action taking place. Even pieces of greenery, perhaps moss, was covering a few keys and hanging from different areas of the piano to give the illusion it had been there forever. The water poured into a small pond where a sculpture of brass instruments stood upright. Saxes, trumpets, trombones and so on were compacted together to form one object. Most of the instruments were facing upright and water was shooting straight up in the middle of it all which then fell back down into the bells creating little independent wells of water. It was very pleasing to see how something that should seem out of place (bright metal brass) could look so comfortable with natural elements. The third water feature was off to the other side of the display and had a calmer feeling of water gently cascading of the rim of a large tuba that was low to the ground.
In other displays installation art had a strong presence. Rhythm Rooms, created by Lamsback Floral Decorators, was specifically designed to create a certain rhythm with the use of color schemes, shapes, textures, furniture, flowers, and lighting. Each of the five rooms had its own special chandelier that hung over the defined space. One room with the analogous color scheme of red, purple, and blue was filled with plastic spheres large enough for the viewer to have a body relationship to them. Some sat by themselves on the floor while a few were attached together in clumps. Even though the spheres were in a variety of sizes, the shininess of the blue, purple, and silver referenced over sized beads from Mardi Gras. In-between these large forms were rounded clusters of flowers mimicking the spheres. All of the forms on the ground appeared to be resting on a sea of white rocks. Some of the spheres were attached to the wall while others hung from the chandelier. Flowers hung in the center in the form of a vertical streamer. The was a playfulness in the way the room was set up; if there were more spheres and the sharp rocks were not present it would almost feel like an adult ball pit and I would have been tempted to jump in.
There were many other displays worth seeing and if you missed the show this year you can check out their website http://www.theflowershow.com/ to see more photographs. It was very refreshing to see so many people contributing to the show, especially when you stop and think about how much work had been done for something that was only up for one week. Besides all of the creating, planning, and physical labor that was done there were other things that some artists don’t have to think about once they installed a show that the exhibitors needed to consider; cut flowers don’t last very long, maintenance was required through out the week and some people needed to trick a plant that normally blooms in the summer to bloom in the winter. This show was not just about flowers that look stunning, but about the commitment and perseverance of an art form.
If you want to learn about plants, would like to shop for new and creative ideas about gardening or flower arrangements, would enjoy the atmosphere of the artistic displays, or at the very least would enjoy the feeling of spring on a cold winter day, then you should catch the next Philadelphia Flower Show in March of 2009.
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