Art in Bloom through the Years
Lid of the sarcophagus of General Kheperra, Egyptian, Late Period, 570–526 BCE. Greywacke. Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition.
The imposing presence of General Kheperra demanded a majestic interpretation in flowers. The gold color, etched surface, and pyramidal shape of the vase evoke the grandeur of Egypt’s royal burial sites. Soaring up in columns, anthurium, protea, whaleback, and gladiola depict the sarcophagus through bold color, high contrast, and strong forms.
―Beth Paisner, MFA Associate
Bust of George IV, made by Rundell, Bridge & Rundell after Sir Francis Chantrey, 1830. Gilt-bronze mounted with enamel, gold, diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. William Francis Warden Fund and Gift of Martin Levy in honor of Horace Wood Brock.
In this interpretation of a bust of George IV, the plant color and texture reflect the bust and the pedestal. The ruffled edges of the gold and red roses emphasize the ornate decorations around the pedestal, while gold calla lilies and the woven ti leaves call to mind the folds in his tunic. George IV’s ruby necklace is evoked by the red roses in the center and the string of red hypericum berries. The curls in his hair are echoed in the curled leaves at the top of the arrangement.
—Susan Murray, MFA Associate
Giovanni Paolo Pannini, Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome, 1757. Oil on canvas. Charles Potter Kling Fund.
After my first interpretation for Art in Bloom in 1991, designing for the annual festival became my favorite floral design challenge. For Pannini’s Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome, the many rectangular frames are suggested by bear grass manipulated into geometric shapes and secured with gold-wire wrapping. I was fortunate to find roses in a rich gold tone and calla lilies and lilies in deep red to emulate the tints and tones of the painting.
—Thelman Stoneman, floral designer, Acton Garden Club
Mahaprajapati with the Infant Buddha, Chinese, Ming Dynasty, 1551. Ink and color on fresco. William Sturgis Bigelow Collection, by exchange.
Art in Bloom is such a popular event with the Acton Garden Club—it even has a spot in our yearbook! It is an honor to participate and create in such a special space.
For this arrangement paired with a depiction of the Mahaprajapati with the Infant Buddha, the folds of the garments and the garlands were captured with manipulated foliage. Lily grass was woven with metallic wire and orchid blooms attached, while aspidistra leaves were folded and palm leaves braided. I also created my own beads by stringing hypericum berries on wire.
—Maureen Christmas, floral designer, Acton Garden Club
John Singer Sargent, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, 1882. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mary Louisa Boit, Julia Overing Boit, Jane Hubbard Boit, and Florence D. Boit in memory of their father, Edward Darley Boit.
My earliest involvement with the MFA began when my mother started taking me to the Museum when I was five. While teaching high school, I brought my students on field trips, and brought my own children to art classes when they were young. I have been involved with Art in Bloom since 1978, when I joined the MFA Associates. The unique atmosphere of the MFA encourages my best creative efforts to do justice to the artist, the art, the viewers, and the Art in Bloom committee members, who make the experience fun year after year.
The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit is so well known and beloved. I felt that by deconstructing and recombining elements such as color, composition, and the contrast of light and dark in Sargent’s painting, it might encourage people to see it in a new way.
—Marisa McCoy, MFA Associate and floral designer, Wareham Garden Club
Kehinde Wiley, John, 1st Baron Byron, 2013. Oil on canvas. Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection, The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection and funds donated by Stephen Borkowski in honor of Jason Collins.
This vibrant floral design beautifully captures the motifs and energy in Kehinde Wiley’s portrait. The designers started with a deep rust container that mirrors the color of the painting’s background, and the deep blue delphiniums in the center mimic the deep blue of the subject’s t-shirt. Bright green eucalyptus, curvy willow, and tiger paw give the appearance of the plant tendrils that entwine his body. If you squint your eyes and look, the arrangement is an extension of the colors and vitality of this magnificent painting.
—Dorothy Sergi, MFA Associate
John Singleton Copley, Watson and the Shark, 1778. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mrs. George von Lengerke Meyer.
Watson and the Shark is one of the most dramatic paintings by John Singleton Copley. The painting’s strong forms and rhythmic motion inspired my choice of king protea, sago palm, and a variety of tropical foliage, also chosen because the event occurred in Havana Harbor. The Belmont Garden Club has been a participant of Art in Bloom for many years and its members consider it an honor. As a former Art in Bloom chair, the event holds a special place in my heart. I always look forward to the creative interpretations and the public's delight and fascination with them.
—Linda Ladd, MFA Associate and floral designer, Belmont Garden Club
Guanyin, Bodhisattva of Compassion, Chinese, Jin Dynasty, early 12th century. Wood (Paulownia tomentosa) with polychrome and gilding. Hervey Edward Wetzel Fund.
Garden Club of Back Bay has supported Art in Bloom for many years, and I have participated for 20 years. In Boston, spring is not to be missed at Art in Bloom. Representing our club has been a pleasure, and I look forward to it each year. For me there is nothing more satisfying than to be inspired by art.
—Donna Morrissey, MFA Associate and floral designer, Garden Club of Back Bay
Zhan Wang, Artificial Rock #85, 2005. Chrome-plated stainless steel. Gift of Ann and Graham Gund in honor of Malcolm Rogers and to celebrate his remarkable accomplishments as Director of the MFA, Boston.
Being selected for Art in Bloom at the MFA is considered the greatest honor our garden club could experience. It’s a joy to express our creative floral skills at the event.
I was delighted and challenged to create a floral interpretation of the monumental sculpture Artificial Rock #85 by Zhan Wang. The three-dimensional textural movement of the sculpture expressed in its metallic surface required a unique approach. To address its scale, I started by using tall blossom twigs as the framework, and created movement using a variety of white flowers.
—Julia Lizza, Community Garden Club of Duxbury
Thomas Sully, The Passage of the Delaware, 1819. Oil on canvas. Gift of the Owners of the old Boston Museum.
This interpretation of The Passage of the Delaware captures the strength and boldness of George Washington and his troops as they crossed the dangerously ice-clogged Delaware River on Christmas night, 1776.
The cluster of white roses evokes Washington’s horse and the snowy ground of that winter evening, and the natural branching picks up the tones of the soldier’s coats and the starkness of the gnarly tree trunk in the background. The gentle use of soft-tone calla lilies shadowing the branch in the lower left side is a nod to the glimmering light in the painting’s background. A very stately arrangement for a stately painting.
—Jennifer Landon, MFA Associate
Lid of the sarcophagus of General Kheperra, Egyptian, Late Period, 570–526 BCE. Greywacke. Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition.
The imposing presence of General Kheperra demanded a majestic interpretation in flowers. The gold color, etched surface, and pyramidal shape of the vase evoke the grandeur of Egypt’s royal burial sites. Soaring up in columns, anthurium, protea, whaleback, and gladiola depict the sarcophagus through bold color, high contrast, and strong forms.
―Beth Paisner, MFA Associate
Bust of George IV, made by Rundell, Bridge & Rundell after Sir Francis Chantrey, 1830. Gilt-bronze mounted with enamel, gold, diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. William Francis Warden Fund and Gift of Martin Levy in honor of Horace Wood Brock.
In this interpretation of a bust of George IV, the plant color and texture reflect the bust and the pedestal. The ruffled edges of the gold and red roses emphasize the ornate decorations around the pedestal, while gold calla lilies and the woven ti leaves call to mind the folds in his tunic. George IV’s ruby necklace is evoked by the red roses in the center and the string of red hypericum berries. The curls in his hair are echoed in the curled leaves at the top of the arrangement.
—Susan Murray, MFA Associate
Giovanni Paolo Pannini, Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome, 1757. Oil on canvas. Charles Potter Kling Fund.
After my first interpretation for Art in Bloom in 1991, designing for the annual festival became my favorite floral design challenge. For Pannini’s Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome, the many rectangular frames are suggested by bear grass manipulated into geometric shapes and secured with gold-wire wrapping. I was fortunate to find roses in a rich gold tone and calla lilies and lilies in deep red to emulate the tints and tones of the painting.
—Thelman Stoneman, floral designer, Acton Garden Club
Mahaprajapati with the Infant Buddha, Chinese, Ming Dynasty, 1551. Ink and color on fresco. William Sturgis Bigelow Collection, by exchange.
Art in Bloom is such a popular event with the Acton Garden Club—it even has a spot in our yearbook! It is an honor to participate and create in such a special space.
For this arrangement paired with a depiction of the Mahaprajapati with the Infant Buddha, the folds of the garments and the garlands were captured with manipulated foliage. Lily grass was woven with metallic wire and orchid blooms attached, while aspidistra leaves were folded and palm leaves braided. I also created my own beads by stringing hypericum berries on wire.
—Maureen Christmas, floral designer, Acton Garden Club
John Singer Sargent, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, 1882. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mary Louisa Boit, Julia Overing Boit, Jane Hubbard Boit, and Florence D. Boit in memory of their father, Edward Darley Boit.
My earliest involvement with the MFA began when my mother started taking me to the Museum when I was five. While teaching high school, I brought my students on field trips, and brought my own children to art classes when they were young. I have been involved with Art in Bloom since 1978, when I joined the MFA Associates. The unique atmosphere of the MFA encourages my best creative efforts to do justice to the artist, the art, the viewers, and the Art in Bloom committee members, who make the experience fun year after year.
The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit is so well known and beloved. I felt that by deconstructing and recombining elements such as color, composition, and the contrast of light and dark in Sargent’s painting, it might encourage people to see it in a new way.
—Marisa McCoy, MFA Associate and floral designer, Wareham Garden Club
Kehinde Wiley, John, 1st Baron Byron, 2013. Oil on canvas. Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection, The Heritage Fund for a Diverse Collection and funds donated by Stephen Borkowski in honor of Jason Collins.
This vibrant floral design beautifully captures the motifs and energy in Kehinde Wiley’s portrait. The designers started with a deep rust container that mirrors the color of the painting’s background, and the deep blue delphiniums in the center mimic the deep blue of the subject’s t-shirt. Bright green eucalyptus, curvy willow, and tiger paw give the appearance of the plant tendrils that entwine his body. If you squint your eyes and look, the arrangement is an extension of the colors and vitality of this magnificent painting.
—Dorothy Sergi, MFA Associate
John Singleton Copley, Watson and the Shark, 1778. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mrs. George von Lengerke Meyer.
Watson and the Shark is one of the most dramatic paintings by John Singleton Copley. The painting’s strong forms and rhythmic motion inspired my choice of king protea, sago palm, and a variety of tropical foliage, also chosen because the event occurred in Havana Harbor. The Belmont Garden Club has been a participant of Art in Bloom for many years and its members consider it an honor. As a former Art in Bloom chair, the event holds a special place in my heart. I always look forward to the creative interpretations and the public's delight and fascination with them.
—Linda Ladd, MFA Associate and floral designer, Belmont Garden Club
Guanyin, Bodhisattva of Compassion, Chinese, Jin Dynasty, early 12th century. Wood (Paulownia tomentosa) with polychrome and gilding. Hervey Edward Wetzel Fund.
Garden Club of Back Bay has supported Art in Bloom for many years, and I have participated for 20 years. In Boston, spring is not to be missed at Art in Bloom. Representing our club has been a pleasure, and I look forward to it each year. For me there is nothing more satisfying than to be inspired by art.
—Donna Morrissey, MFA Associate and floral designer, Garden Club of Back Bay
Zhan Wang, Artificial Rock #85, 2005. Chrome-plated stainless steel. Gift of Ann and Graham Gund in honor of Malcolm Rogers and to celebrate his remarkable accomplishments as Director of the MFA, Boston.
Being selected for Art in Bloom at the MFA is considered the greatest honor our garden club could experience. It’s a joy to express our creative floral skills at the event.
I was delighted and challenged to create a floral interpretation of the monumental sculpture Artificial Rock #85 by Zhan Wang. The three-dimensional textural movement of the sculpture expressed in its metallic surface required a unique approach. To address its scale, I started by using tall blossom twigs as the framework, and created movement using a variety of white flowers.
—Julia Lizza, Community Garden Club of Duxbury
Thomas Sully, The Passage of the Delaware, 1819. Oil on canvas. Gift of the Owners of the old Boston Museum.
This interpretation of The Passage of the Delaware captures the strength and boldness of George Washington and his troops as they crossed the dangerously ice-clogged Delaware River on Christmas night, 1776.
The cluster of white roses evokes Washington’s horse and the snowy ground of that winter evening, and the natural branching picks up the tones of the soldier’s coats and the starkness of the gnarly tree trunk in the background. The gentle use of soft-tone calla lilies shadowing the branch in the lower left side is a nod to the glimmering light in the painting’s background. A very stately arrangement for a stately painting.
—Jennifer Landon, MFA Associate