Zach Bair has long been familiar with arranging the delicate petals and bold colors of flowers, a craft passed down by his father, Jeff.
Together, they run Grimm & Gorly, a Belleville cornerstone that has been in the community for over a century.
This weekend, Bair is one of 30 local floral artists chosen to showcase their craftsmanship in the St. Louis Art Museum’s 19th annual “Art in Bloom” exhibit. The show is a friendly competition among local florists who make arrangements inspired by art from the museum’s permanent collection.
“Being a florist for this is incredible,” Bair said, noting it is his seventh time participating in the show. “The reality of what you are next to and what you're surrounded by … it is overwhelming, but it's also unbelievably incredible.”
Amanda Thompson Rundahl, the museum’s director of learning and engagement, said the event has been held since about 2000, with a few years off due to construction or the pandemic. Each year, the exhibit receives hundreds of entries, which a panel narrows down to just over two dozen selected artists.
“We have an amazingly talented and creative St. Louis regional floral design community, and they are artists and sculptors in their own right. They just work in material that doesn't last very long,” she said. “We're really excited to be able to celebrate, lift up and give this amazing opportunity to both the florists who help us put on this event and to the public who can come and enjoy a taste of spring.”
Brenna Floerke, a Collinsville native who works for downtown St. Louis’ Walter Knoll Florist, is a first-year participant. She looked over her large arrangement and adjusted black spray-painted drooping flowers to hide the bit of white peeking through. Her piece is based on Max Beckmann’s 1940 piece “Acrobat on the Trapeze” — a circus scene with bold greens and thick black strokes of paint.
“Most of the time when I am creative within an arrangement, it's just what we call a designer's choice,” she said. “It was fun to go off of a painting, pick these colors and those flowers, and then make it all come to life.”
Making it into the exhibit, Floerke said, is an honor.
“It's been my dream, and it still feels surreal,” she said. “Even setting up my stuff and looking at my painting against it — it just feels very surreal.”
The free exhibit features works by Phillip Corps, the London-based floral designer for Bridgerton, and will run from Feb. 28 to March 2.
See photos from the exhibit's setup below:
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