The Francine Kelly Gallery, inside the Art Barn at Featherstone Center for the Arts, has burst into bloom with its latest group show. More than 100 Island artists have transformed the gallery into a virtual garden of botanical images for the Art of Flowers show.
If you have any favorite flowers—hollyhocks, hydrangeas, peonies, even the humble Jack in the pulpit—chances are good that you’ll find them in this exhibition.
Paintings, drawings and photographs fill the gallery walls, with some striking work in metal and ceramic displayed on stands. Other media include quilts, collages, jewelry, a Tiffany-style stained glass table lamp and a sailor’s valentine-inspired shell mosaic.
To complement the work guest curator Holly Alaimo invited local interior design firms to furnish sample living areas inside the gallery.
Nancy Vietor of Carnegie Blair Designs created a Lunch in the Conservatory using potted orchids, calla lilies and Gerbera daisies to set off her firm’s botanically-inspired table settings from original designs by Island painter Linda Carnegie.
Tracker Home Decor designed a seating area with potted trees, flower-painted chairs and an inviting couch piled with decorative pillows.
Bespoke Abode and Martha’s Vineyard Interior Design struck a postmodern note with a geometric rug, dark lacquer cabinet and fleecy white pouf.
There is also a pop-up shop by Lake Street Studio, whose artists include Allen Whiting and Carly Simon, with ceramics, soaps, robes and other textiles.
Just about everything in the show is for sale, with prices as low as $35 for a cell phone case designed by Ms. Simon or as high as David Kuchta’s Lotus Flower Pendant, made with petals of gold with an amethyst heart and a gold chain, for $4,750.
Amid the representational artworks and products on display including Gabriel Bellebuono’s life-size steel daffodils, calla lilies and orchids, Leslie Baker’s minimalist Pink Echo 1 is a compelling abstract moment. Pass by it quickly and you might just think it’s pink. Linger and look, and more color begins to reveal itself.
The Art of Flowers is on display daily through May 27 from noon to 4 p.m.
Featherstone’s next community art show opens June 2. No theme has been announced. For more information, visit featherstoneart.org.
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