By Lytle Wurtzel
Cavalier Daily Associate Editor
If a picture can say a thousand words, how many can a floral arrangement say? Yesterday, the University of Virginia Art Museum found out.
In honor of Historic Garden Week, the museum presented its eighth annual "Flowers Interpret Art," an exhibit that invites artists to pick a work of art in the museum and craft a floral arrangement that interprets that work. Museum-goers then vote on which arrangement they liked best, and the winner receives a museum membership.
Selecting art pieces ranging from a silver Navajo horse bridle to a bronze Rodin sculpture, floral artists brought the art to life.
The exhibit, which was open to the public all day yesterday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., was composed of 24 individual floral exhibits by artists from and around Albemarle County.
"Not every piece was done by a professional artist," said Faye Warner, co-chairwoman of the exhibit. "But they are all creative, artistic and want to interpret art."
First chaired by Sally Nelson, the Flowers Interpret Art exhibit has grown over the past eight years to include a cocktail buffet dinner, held last night at the museum, in addition to the floral displays. The dinner featured Sam Abell, a National Geographic photographer, who presented a slide lecture of photographs from his best-selling book, Seeing Gardens.
This is not just another stuffy art exhibit. Artists are left to their own devices and imaginations to be as creative as possible.
Kelly Gentry and Miles Andrews, who designed a floral arrangement to reflect Roy Lichtenstein's screenprint, Untitled, used slices of bread and plastic straws in their arrangement to simulate the sandwich and soda in Lichtenstein's work.
Seven-year-old Nat Heldreth, touring the galleries with his mom, favored Deborah Mitchell's black and white tulip arrangement for Ad Reinhardt's screenprint Untitled.
"You liked the black and white one," his 10-year-old sister, Sarah, reminded him.
"That's right," Nat agreed. "I liked that one because it was pretty funky"
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