A Master Guide to the Art of Floral Design - Hardcover

Alisa De Jong-Stout; Hannah Sigur; Douglas Sandberg; Boris Jeanrenaud

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 088192539X ISBN 13: 9780881925395

Publisher: Timber Pr, 2002

Synopsis

A Master Guide to the Art of Floral Design is a fresh new approach to an ancient art, one in which the flower itself is the ultimate teacher of color, form, composition, and every other aspect of design. Exquisite photography and illustrations combine with thoughtful, clear text to reveal the grace of flowers first pictured alone in nature, and then beautifully arranged in designs reflecting both contemporary and more traditional styles. Great ideas abound, from arrangements to suit casual everyday home decor to stunning examples perfect for intimate entertaining or the most lavish wedding, and the authors offer useful information on the practical details of creating arrangements.

About this title

About the Author

Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Alisa A. de Jong-Stout A.I.F.D. is internationally acclaimed as a floral designer and horticulturist. European-trained, she is widely recognized as an instructor and exhibitor of unique and exquisite floral design and has been the recipient of numerous international, national, and regional awards. She has taught for many years, including five at Merritt College, and is the owner of It Blommenhûs, a floral design and teaching studio.

With Hannah Sigur, M.A., The Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. An educator and writer with an expertise in Asian art, she has lectured for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and elsewhere. She lives in Berkeley, California.

Photography: Douglas Sandberg, with a twenty-year career as a professional photographer, was for eight years the director of photography at Butterfield’s Auctioneers. He is well known for his collaborations with graphic designers, artists, and book publishers. He teaches photography for The California College of Arts and Crafts from his studio in San Francisco, California.

Illustrations: Boris Jeanrenaud, with a degree in industrial design from the San Francisco College of Arts and Crafts and further studies in graphic design, is an award-winning lighting designer. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Reviews

An obvious love of the subject infuses de Jong-Stout's writing as she describes how shapes, forms, patterns, and textures found in the plant world reveal the key elements one calls upon when designing floral art. Opening chapters in this engaging manual of flower arranging expand upon the fundamental concepts and principles that guide all art making and design projects, and summarize the history of floral art. Compelling photographs and appealing drawings accompany instructive text that expands on an aesthetic approach to the finer points of composition. How-to guidance clarifies the mechanics of creating various bouquets, and a stunning array of contemporary arrangements from the simple elegance of a single stem perfectly paired with a vase to lavish centerpieces and Eastern-inspired associations of plant material. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

In floral design, there is no better teacher than the flower itself. This is the essential maxim. In a flower's perfection, we instinctively recognize the infinite creativity and wisdom of nature. By looking closely at each flower, we take the first step in discovering how best to display its beauty, arrange its placement, and find possible companions in a floral design. Our introduction to this journey of discovery is an exquisite magnolia blossom from the gardens of Filolir in Woodside, California. This blossom exemplifies the basic rules of floral art. The harmony of "color," "form," and "function" that defines this flower is the hallmark of timeless design.

The magnolia is among the most primitive flowers on earth but does not differ in function and basic botanical structure from the more advanced forms. Floral structure remained a tantalizing mystery until an artist's eye and sense of wonderment read the secret: after what must have been years of intimate observation, the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe realized that, whether of a magnolia or an orchid, the petals, sepals, stamens, and pistils that together constitute the flower all evolved from a cluster of modified leaves.

Nature's brilliance as a colorist is shown by the Filoli tree's yellow blossoms, which depart strikingly from those of the typical white or pink magnolia. This difference automatically provokes subtle parallel alterations to all the hues of the plant, from the various parts of the flowers itself to the leaves. Thus, in this flower's soft pristine yellow, deep burgundy-red, and complex of greens, we discover an essential lesson, not only in color harmonies and combinations but also in color composition.

From color we become aware of the array of textures that grace the bloom. The beautiful soft matte of substantial petals, the coarser matte of the stem, the hairy surface of the sepals---all appear clear or muted in hue as the sunlight plays across them. In this we observe too how texture affects color intensity and depth perception, and how a bloom's physical presence attracts the tactile and visual senses.

The magnolia's elegant simplicity of structure underscores how the importance of clarity and the avoidance of the extraneous equal good design. The totality of its parts demonstrates nature's innate sense of rhythm and proportion. In its complete form---buds, flowers, branches---the magnolia contains a wealth of creative inspiration for individual design choices in such areas as height, width, companion plants, containers, and surroundings.

At any level one chooses to work, simple or complex, flowers awaken a creativity and joy that grow boundless with time and practice, ultimately bringing freedom in floral design. This freedom is also a responsibility. For all the achievements of science, we still cannot make or replace a petal. Standing in awe of such fragility and beauty, we in turn cannot help but treat it with respect.

Edition details

• Publisher: Timber Pr
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 088192539X
• ISBN 13: 9780881925395
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 230