Art in Bloom 2024 - A step in the opposite direction

It is with great sadness that I let you know we have backed out of Art in Bloom at PMA. When I saw the call for florists, I did not hesitate to apply. Last year was such an incredible event, full of floral creations of all sizes, fresh and dried, from so many talented floral designers. Everyone was excited and proud to be part of this event. On opening night, I couldn’t believe how many people had come to see our work. The museum was full. It seemed like a huge success.

When I was looking through Art in Bloom rules for 2024, I was disappointed to see they made some big changes. The first thing that caught my attention was mandatory use of floral foam, which seemed unnecessary and disconnected. This did not discourage me, as I am nearly exclusively a dried floral artist, especially in the off season, which I talked about in depth on my application. The next change that I noticed was very small size restrictions. The pieces last year were such fantastic curiosities. It didn’t matter if they were large or small, because it was exactly what the florist had in mind. Setting such limiting restrictions while also asking us to create the essence of the artwork or architecture felt very contradictory and unsupportive of our artistic process. Thinking I had read thoroughly enough, I sent in my application. When I found out we were accepted to participate again, I was significantly less excited than last year. Maybe because I felt the museum’s choices didn’t align with our floral design philosophy, or perhaps I intuitively knew it wasn’t going to happen. After submitting my top pedestal choices, another floral designer participating in the event had reached out to me inquiring whether I knew about the 10% dried flower restriction. My heart sank. I missed that one. When I asked the museum for a bit of clarity as to why I was accepted if they had set this restriction, I was told my application simply was not reviewed carefully enough, and was offered the opportunity to run a dried floral workshop instead. Insistent on finding out why dried flowers deserved this fate, I was told that the change regarding dried flowers was related directly to visitor feedback in the surveys. I have a hard time believing that. I have been doing dried floral design for many years, and have found that a majority of people respond to the flowers with wonder, nostalgia and joy.  We grow all the flowers we use for design, and dried flowers give us the ability to continue to offer a local stem even in the off season without heating greenhouses. We dry the flowers at their best, and have a tried and true process that maintains vibrancy and shape. Dried floral design attempts to preserve a sentiment in time, and represents seasonality, sustainability, and reducing waste. Unlike the majority of fresh pieces used in Art in Bloom, a dried floral creation could likely be taken apart, and used again. Restricting use of dried flowers feels like a step in the opposite direction from the positive changes many of us are trying to make in floral design.

If you feel strongly that dried flowers deserve to be wholly represented in this event, make yourselves heard! I hope that PMA is willing to reconsider these restrictions in the future, because we were really looking forward to participating and believe in the potential of spreading awareness about change through Art.