Selcouth Floral Interpretations from the Art in Bloom Exhibit at MIA

Last year, I shared with a friend that I wanted to become more involved in Minnesota’s art community. I hoped to attend more galleries, explore local art fairs, and spend more time immersed in the spaces where creativity is thriving.

In response, she invited me to the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s annual Art in Bloom exhibit. To my absolute shot, I loved it!

After spending my teen years dragging my mom away from the Garden Centers with my hands forming a make-shift megaphone around my mouth and telling her to "Step AWAYYY from the flowers!" ....And, after telling my sister to “do whatever she wanted” with the flowers at my wedding.... I hadn’t expected to enjoy a floral-focused event so much. But I did!

This year, I returned to Art in Bloom with the same friend, and the experience was just as magical.

What is Art in Bloom?

Each spring, the Minneapolis Institute of Art is transformed. Art in Bloom breathes fresh life into the museum, filling its galleries with floral arrangements inspired by individual works of art. The result is a vivid, multi-sensory celebration that bridges nature and artistic expression. These floral interpretations don’t just echo the artwork—they reimagine it.

Some arrangements mirror the original color palette with stunning accuracy. Others highlight overlooked shades, or introduce bold contrasts. I often found myself drawn to how the tiniest details—like an earring or a pair of glasses —were brought to the forefront through flowers. Even the choice of vessel for each arrangement added a thoughtful layer of meaning, whether intentionally crafted or cleverly repurposed.

Many other art galleries and museums offer their own renditions of Art in Bloom, but I was thrilled to learn that MIA is one of the few who allow amateur florists to participate!

My favorite arrangements: 

In this post, I’ll be sharing my favorite floral interpretations from this year’s exhibit. Each arrangement offered a unique perspective, adding depth and narrative to the artwork it accompanied. Together, they sparked curiosity, inspiration, and a deeper connection to the pieces on display.

As we stepped into the exhibit, the scent of fresh blooms immediately welcomed us. My friend, led the way, but we didn’t follow any structured path. Instead, we wandered intuitively, letting ourselves be surprised by each arrangement we discovered.

Cindy Snowberg

Interpreting: Steamwheeler on the Upper Mississippi

Years of participation: 17

Bachman’s

From the Artist:

The power of a paddlewheel churns eddies and currents in the water with white foam and spray following its wake.

I really enjoyed the loose arrangement of flowers in the widely set vase. To me, it reflected the expansiveness of both the sky and the water feature within the painting.

Mareth Sullivan

Interpreting: Uhodoji, the Divine Rainmaking Boy

Years of participation: 7

From the Artist:

With His magic and wisdom, He brings rain and then the flowers, perhaps He’ll make a rainbow!

The photograph does not do an ounce of justice for this beautiful floral arrangement. I appreciated the use of draping florals to mimic the draping robes that the boy is wearing. I loved the combination of air plants, moss, flowers, plants, and more to create a wholly similar statue! Far beyond the vase! I appreciated the incorporated glass orb to reflect the item the boy is holding.

Kathleen “Kat” Hanson

Interpreting: Candlestand of a Crane on a Long-tailed Tortoise

Years of participation: 19

Richfield Garden Club

From the artist:

This is a Buddhist candlestick with a crane, turtle, and lotus motif. The story of crane and turtle who went to the opposite bank to get light because it was too dark to listen to the Buddha’s teachings. The turtle’s fire is extinguished by the waves, and the crane’s fire is extinguished by flying into the sky. So, the crane took the fire and climbed onto the turtle’s back, and they returned safely.

The Buddha’s teaching is that we should all work together to solve problems. The crane and the turtle are also symbols of longevity.

We enjoyed the dainty craftsmanship of candlestick and chuckled at how adorable it was to have a crane standing atop a turtle's back! We agreed this item was one we might have quickly walked passed if it wasn't for the floral arrangements presence calling us towards it. The artist did a splendid job recreating that dainty structure!

Yasuko MacNabb

Interpreting: Mice on Rice-cake Flowers

Years of participation: 18

Sogetsu Ikebana study group

From the Artist:

Background: Rice-cake flowers are a decoration on the little new year (January 15) in Japan. The bare branches covered with Rice cake (Mochi) representing abundant harvest, family safety, prosperity, and spring.

While I can hear my mom now saying, "WHY must artists try to make mice cute??!!" My friend and I enjoyed this arrangement. Their use of the pussy willow to imitate the rice cake flowers was brilliant, and - though it is hard to see - we enjoyed their literal and exacting recreation of the scene.

Debra Banks

Interpreting: Hat (Fez)

Years of participation: 1

When Leah spotted this one, she exclaimed "Oh! I love that!" and we both pointed to the delicate flowers dangling beneath the larger floral arrangement, mimicking the chains on the hat used to fasten it atop one's head. Again, we appreciated the combination of different fawna: namely a succulent to represent the pointed top of the hat.

Ally Anthony

Interpreting: Initiation Mask

Years of participation: 3

Hy-Vee Floral, Cottage Grove

We enjoyed the literal interpretation at play here. And we particularly enjoyed the laid down tulips to represent the eyes, nose, and mouth of the mask.

Moira Donovan

Interpreting: The Gamblers

Years of participation: 1

From the Artist:

This painting has been one of my favorites for years, with it being commonly depicted over the years for AiB. When I see this painting, I can easily imagine either friends, or even siblings, arguing over the rules of the game and who owes what to whom.

I don’t read into this painting the animus others have in the past, with the elder gentlemen’s hand on his sword. I guess I simply see it as a comfortable place to rest his hand, while they settle the rules.

I enjoy the colors and the imagined setting of this painting. Which is why I chose to use vibrantly colored flowers, as well as more ‘robust’ flowers, to represent the obvious masculine element of the painting. I imagine this card game taking place outdoors, in a rustic setting, so I leaned away from delicate, exotic flowers and engaged more with pastoral flowers.

This artist did a spectacular job of incorporating the tiniest of details into their floral arrangement: a gold hoop on the watering can used as a vase to reflect the gold hooped earring worn by the man on the left, a pair of glasses just like the older gentleman's on the right, the yellow wildflower peeking out of the back of the arrangement just like the yellow feather on the boy in the back, the cards laid next to the floral arrangements. This piece was full of whimsy and intrigue.

Lisa Berg

Interpreting: #26 Red Wing

Years of participation: 19

From the Artist :

Can you guess the inspiration for this very precise, geometric artwork? The answer might surprise you!

Charles Biederman (who abandoned the New York art scene to live in Minnesota!) loved nature, but he depicted it in a unique way, stripped to its most simplified and beautiful elements.

Early in his career, Biederman was a painter who studied Cézanne, Post-Impressionism, and Cubism before leaving realism for total abstraction. Later, he became interested in Constructivism (using industrial materials) and De Stijl (using rigid geometry and primary color schemes), two art movements that produced geometric, nonobjective images.

By 1937, Biederman’s work became more sculptural, going from painted wall panels to three-dimensional reliefs (such as this artwork) in which a grid of small, individual, brightly colored pieces appear to float freely against a backboard.

Biederman used protruding geometric shapes to create real shadows in his artwork. That way, depending on the light as well as where the viewer is standing, the work looks different. Biederman wanted you to move around and alter your point of view in order to see each artwork fully. He called his work New Art.

In 1941, Biederman married and moved to Red Wing, Minnesota, where he lived until his death in 2004. He wanted to be in a beautiful place where he could find inspiration in nature. What do you think he saw that inspired him to make this colorful work of New Art?

I loved the use of color, and strongly-stemmed flowers which created similar geometric symmetry as is represented in this artwork. I also smiled when I noticed that the spiky yellow flowers also cast shadows, just like the artwork as well. Such clever little details!

Sally Johnson and Carol Michalicek

Interpreting: Haniwa of a Female Shrine Attendant

Years of participation: 6

From the Artist:

The sculpture, Haniwa of a Female Shrine Attendant, represents the ancient practice of the ‘miko’, young women shamans who attended the funeral practices of Japan. In the Shinto tradition, these young women were believed to have a special sense of spirituality housed in their purity allowing them to bridge the path between this world and the eternal world. While over time their status was usurped by the males in the tradition, they still continue to attend to families of the deceased offering prayers and blessings to visitors.

We can imagine their message to the families, visitors, and to the departed:

I will walk with you.

Carrying the memory of your living.

Holding out the cares you poured into the world.

I will walk with you.

Shepherding your legacy,

placing it into waiting hands, grieving hearts.

I will walk with you.

My herbs resting gently by my side

Their fragrance still lingering on your body.

I will walk with you.

Be the presence that accompanies you

As you make your home

in the world invisible to our eyes,

the one to which our hope clings.

I will walk with you.

Bearing your ashes laced with salt-rich tears

of those left behind to mourn,

to remember.

Know this…I will walk with you.

We once again enjoyed the whimsy represented in this floral arrangement. The artist drew attention to the handbag the woman is carrying, to the crack in her foundation on the left-hand side, and the "shell" centered on her forehead.

...We did also chuckle at the representation of her nipples in the bouquet as well... can you spot them? LOL :)

Whether you attended or missed this year’s event, I encourage you to attend next year, it's free!

Or, at least, I hope you experience the same joy and inspiration that I felt while walking through the exhibit.

Art, after all, is meant to be shared, celebrated, and experienced in all its forms!