In the summer of 2020, I packed up my San Francisco apartment and drove home to Edwardsville. Upon arrival, my mom gave me a card she had watercolored that read “bloom where you’re planted.”
Beyond moving all my stuff, I also uprooted practices like watercoloring and floristry and transplanted them to Illinois soil. These activities have been practices in grounding myself. My mom, Kathryn in this show, was always a florist and an avid gardener, but I didn’t get into it until moving to California. I helped a local florist I adored for years and have traveled twice to embark on a floral pilgrimage. Once to Salem, Oregon to take a class at the heavenly Schreiner's Iris Gardens. And in 2021, to Esperance, New York, to the World’s End Farm, which is run by my favorite florist in the world. The farm provided an excess of floral riches; dahlias in every color, cream and chocolate cosmos, japanese anemone, buttery yellow celosia, and dusty pink oakleaf hydrangea. My confidence as a florist and love of flowers grew tenfold in those five days and I'm very happy to be able to share my love of flowers with everyone today.
I have taken these experiences and again transplanted them at home, having begun a cutting garden with the help of my mom and expanding my watercolors into the three dimensional space with the guidance of Susan Bostwick. The loose strokes and washes of color I have picked for my pieces is an extension of my watercoloring style. The decision to apply glaze like watercolor, along with the form and decoration, have allowed me to delve deeper into my flower obsession, carrying out my vision from scratch. In the future, I aim to teach floristry to others with the flowers I’ve grown.
Just as watercoloring, pottery, and floral work have been my grounding practices throughout the years, my Mom and Susan have continued to be grounding presences, and seeing their influences in my work as it grows with me has been a joy. For my first show, I’m honored to be in such amazing company with my mom Kathryn, Susan, and Nancy. As someone who has spent most of their time time consuming–reading, watching, and listening to things that others made–creating my own work pushed me to be present, a grounding act that mirrors the roots I’ve planted since moving back home to Edwardsville in 2020. My art represents blooming where you’re planted and I hope you… dig it.
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