Form & Flora is a group exhibition at Brunswick St Gallery that explores the relationship between botanical arrangements and their vessels. In this exhibition, the infinite aesthetic combinations that come from the act of floral arranging are on show, harnessing the joy that comes from bringing the outside in.
Through the introduction of a flower, a vessel–whether a conventional vase or not–is given a function beyond the decorative, and through the marrying of these two elements life is brought into a space.
My pieces depict the flora of Wilsons Promontory in clay vessel’s representative of the rugged metamorphic rocks cliffside of Mt Oberon. It’s a wonder to see the juxtaposition of the delicate fragile flowers contrasted with the harsh yet beautiful rock while hiking the mountain. I was surprised to see so many Orchids including the rare Eastern Spider Orchid blooming - something that appears so exotic yet which is native to the area. In the artwork I have consciously paired Orchids with the more typical natives of Flowering Gum, Banksia and Flannel Flowers to play on the duality of surprising yet harmonious much like the combination of clay and flora.