Art in Bloom 2018: Greece and Rome

Let’s go from Mesoamerica to the ancient Mediterranean with the floral arrangements inspired by works of art in the Classical galleries.

Inspired by Herakles
By Trisha Bettencourt

Dare I say it? Yes, I do. I’m disappointed.  It’s too easy to use white flowers to create a design inspired by a marble sculpture.  It works for an elegant Venus or Aphrodite, but for this statue? Nah.  It’s Herakles!!!  The guy has been plagued by Hera all his life and Eurystheus has given him 12 Labours that are so crazy as to appear impossible. He’s had a hard day, he’s exhausted and, here, he’s possibly drunk!  While I sort of see in the arrangement the club he holds in his right hand, those flowers and twigs are just too delicate to represent a mythological hero who’s just about had it…

Inspired by the Etrusco-Corinthian Neck Amphora
By Stacey Burkert

Ah! That’s more like it. Much better!  What is absolutely fantastic about this floral arrangement is how the colours of the flowers and plants actually match those of the rather colourful amphora. A perfect colour match! You really need to see the amphora in person to see these incredible earth colours. On the down side, those same autumnal colours also make the flowers look dead even though they are live flowers.  I don’t like dead flowers (dead leaves on trees in autumn, yes; dead flowers, generally not). So that puts a damper on my enthusiasm for this arrangement. However, the designer gets a gold star because she did exactly was she set out to do (read the label) and she did that to perfection.

In my next post, we’ll see what arrangements were placed in the Egyptian galleries. Stay tuned!