Floristry, like all art forms, has its specific tools and supplies, which we use to initiate the creative process of floral art. These items can seem utilitarian and plain, but they carry some of the most subtly powerful poetic energies when you think about their common beauty and incredible functions.
How could we craft moods and worlds in the language of flowers, from carried bouquets and worn boutonnières to blooming crowns and lush centerpieces, without simple shears, bind wire, or florist tape?
In the spirit of spring and new beginnings, paired with the simple pleasures that Taurus season reminds us to enjoy, here is a poem to the creative beginnings of floral artistry, written to a spill of supplies and blooms I styled here in the studio, captured in this photograph by my talented friend Ariel Min.
When writing floral poetry, I am responding with language to the gestures, colors, images, emotions, and associations I hear and feel in the sensory experience of flowers and floral art. It's a crossing of senses and a way of translating something tangible into language as contained in words and their sounds. It's like composing music for me. It's like composing with flowers.
Here is the poem, as I originally wrote it, in response to the styled flatlay of my floral supplies in the studio with Ariel Min capturing it behind her lens:
//// Color bubbles a froth // of vibrant beginnings, // archipelago of tool and technique, bits // and bolts of our becoming, art // douses life with language, prisms // of meaning in raspberry, melon, // and the verbena of adhesion, or is it // chartreuse — in creation, all are clues…. ////
The simple supplies included in this flatlay are:
- Green self-adhering florist tape
- White and transparent bowl tape
- Coated bind wire
- Japanese floral scissors
- An array of butterfly & regular ranunculus blooms & buds
See what kinds of beauty you can discover in the everyday tools around your studio or workshop. Having a strong muscle for allowing yourself to be fascinated wherever you look does a lot to nourish your creativity.
I fully encourage my students and mentees to engage and leverage other forms of art or other chapters of life expertise that you have already in your floral work. It will introduce a layer of richness and authenticity that will make your work more your own, bring it more to life, and make it more relatable in its specificity. Carl Rogers said, "What is most personal is most universal." I used to teach my college English students that specificity breeds universality. Give it a try, and see how your work enriches.
XX
Join our community on social to connect with like-minded fellow creatives and floral artists.