Full Floral: WAG’s Art in Bloom Celebrates Spring
The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before. – Neil Gaiman
The Winnipeg Art Gallery is getting even brighter with blooms. While the galleries are typically a treat for the eyes, during Art in Bloom, your nose can get in on the action with the exhibit of floral designs and the art that inspires them. Professional and non-professional florists interpret works from the WAG collection for the exhibit running April 11-14.
Nearly 100 paintings and sculptures have been chosen for interpretation, said exhibition co-chair Hazel Borys, who is joined by Hennie Corrin in organizing the event. “It has been a long, cold winter,” said Borys, and while we may have to wait for the flowers to bloom outdoors, Art in Bloom provides a chance to get a head start on spring. It also provides visitors with a new lens for viewing art. “People are able to look at art in a totally different way,” she said.
Corrin, a horticultural therapist, and Borys, a city planner, will also be leading the discussion Mother Nature: The Ultimate Healer, one of many classes and discussions hosted as part of the exhibition. They’ll share some of the science behind the healing landscape and how to tap into it. Other offerings include an aromatic eucalyptus wreath workshop, whimsical garden arrangements and garden marker-making, as well as flowers and their use in meditation, and a talk on the still life in painting.
Borys said she was surprised to learn that some visitors make return trips throughout the four-day exhibition. “They come back day after day to see the progression of the flowers.”
Photos by WAG
She describes the event as a friend-raiser vs. a fundraiser for the WAG. “We’re hoping people who haven’t visited for a long time – or maybe never – will come through the doors,” she said of the event, which takes place every two years. The money that is raised through event admission is directed to wellness initiatives at the WAG.
The Art in Bloom exhibition is free with Gallery admission and for members of the WAG.
Thumbnail picture by Jason Halstead
