Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Mosaiculture Exhibition

[ News of next mosaiculture exhibition at bottom of page.]

International  Mosaiculture  Exhibition
  Montreal - Summer 2013


Even if you’re not into gardening yourself, the plant sculptures in the international Montreal Mosaiculture Exhibition will blow your mind. As defined in the official website of the event, mosaiculture “is a refined horticultural art that involves creating and mounting living artworks made primarily from plants with colourful foliage (generally annuals, and occasionally perennials).” It is also a highly complex form of art, requiring different sets of skills from all the participating artists: not only do they have to plan and build the framework of the sculpture and match the colors, it is also important to understand the maintenance of each plant they use.

The Mosaïcultures Internationale competition was founded back in 2000 by Lise Cormier after her visit to China: this is where Lisa saw an enchanting 40-feet-high sculpture of 3 doves and was instantly inspired to bring the idea back home.

Considered the world’s most prestigious competition of horticultural art, the 2013 edition of Mosaiculture is currently on display at Montreal Botanical Garden in Quebec, Canada. More than three million flowers were raised in greenhouses throughout Quebec, and then shipped to the gardens in May, where designers wrapped them in steel meshes to create living works of art. The sculptures are created using steel or aluminum forms that are wrapped in metal mesh, filled with earth and planted with flowers, ivies and grasses whose foliage provides texture and color. Interior watering systems and growing medium were added so that the flowers could last all through the summer till the end of the exhibition on September 29.

Some 50 works graces the 2.2 km circuit through the enchanting grounds of the Botanical Garden. The theme this year is “Land of Hope”. About 200 of the world’s most talented horticultural artists are taking part in this international competition, representing 20 countries. Entries have come from cities in countries as far as Turkey and Uganda, with China and Japan heavily represented.
  



Barn  Owl



Bird   Tree.  This huge sculpture is 40 feet high and they built  special high bridge at this
end so people could take photographs more easily.  Every branch becomes a different bird.
The wing span of the condor must be at least 8 feet.



Big  Flowers.  These are growing in the midst of the Exhibition Gardens, some of the
thirty gardens which comprise the Botanic Garden.  Notice the bee.



Butterflies.  They are about eight feet high and stand outside the Insectarium,
a building housing exhibits of insects.



Two Canoes.  The theme of this year's show is the unity of nature and the
importance of ecological planning.




The Old Man Who Planted Trees,  Horses,  Dog,  and  Sheep
The Old Man is about 20 feet high.




Flock  of  Sheep, plus one goat.  They are all part of a huge display around the
Man Who Planted Trees  (below). 



Single  Sheep



Caterpillar, outside Insectarium




Easter  Island  Heads



Clown Fish Swimming through Seaweed



Crouching  Frog and Lily Pond.



Frog  in  Lily  Pond





Goat  at  Well



Horses  and  Akita Dog.  The dog is very famous in Japan and everyone knows him.
He accompanied his master to the railroad station ever morning when the man went
to work, and then the dog met him again in the evening.  When the man died, the dog
continued meeting the train twice every day for ten years until he died.  He is made up
of various decorative grasses.  The horses' manes are also made of grasses.
The horses are twice the size of a normal horse; the dog is 8 feet high.



Closeup  of  Horse



Lady  and  Cranes  /  Chinese  Myth.   The lady is about 35 feet high.




Lady  and  Cranes  /  Chinese  Myth



Line  of  Lemurs at entrance to Gardens



Lemurs



Man  Who  Planted  Trees.  He is 20 feet high.



Pandas  and  Bamboo



Pandas



Piano  and  Tortoise /  The Arts  and Nature Support Each Other



Spirit  of  the  Woods.  The body of the serpent actually snakes around the woods
for more than 300 yards.



Phoenix  Bird - colossal and with flowers.



Mother  Earth



Water is a gift of Mother Earth, enjoyed by wild horses and eagles.



The sign said these are Swans.



Gorillas / Endangered Species




Moose  and  Squirrels  -  all made of moss.




Cobras

______________________________________

August 2016

It has just been announced by the government of Canada that the next
mosaiculture exhibition will be held in Ottawa, Canada, 
at Jacques Cartier Park in Gatineau, from July 1 - Oct. 9, 2017, 
as part of the festivities to celebrate 150 years of Canadian statehood.
More information can be found on the internet.

You are all welcome to come and enjoy.
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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Chihuly

Dale  Chihuly
 
 
 
Dale Chihuly is the most famous glass artist in the world today, with his workshop
in Seattle, WA.  He has many assistants who work with him.  These days he usually
presents one or two shows each year in museums or botanical gardens.  His art does
not consist of single pieces, although he also makes these, but of incredible
assemblages of hundreds of pieces.  The photo above is a close-up of part of a
piece entitled "Mille Fiori," a very old name for a special kind of blown glass.
All of these pieces were individually hand-blown from molten glass gathered in a
blob/gather and then blown into and enlarged.
 
 
 

 
 The entire piece looks like this.  The pieces are placed on a base of sheets of black glass
which reflects like a mirror.  This is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal.  He uses Reeds
and Herons and Floats and Cacti and Persians from other pieces.
 
 
 
 This is a small portion of "Mille Fiori."  The striated pieces are made by pulling
the molten glass through steel molds.
 
 

 
The piece is different every step you take as you walk around it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
"Yellow  Persians"  and  "Red  Reeds"  at one end.
 
 
 
 
 
"Mille  Fiori"  with  Herons  and  Floats.
 
 
 
 
 
 
"Fiori Boat" with long tendrils from fiori series.
 
 
 
 
"Fiori Boat" and "Float"
 
 
 
 
"Float Boat" based on round forms of Japanese fishing floats.
 
 
 
 
"Float Boat"
 
 
 

 
"Palazzo Ducale"   White Tower
 
 
 
 
 
Detail of  "Palazzo Ducale"  White Tower
 
 
 
 

 
Blue Chandelier
 
 
 
 
Detail  of  Blue  Chandelier
 
 
 
 
 
 
Blue Chandelier detail
 
 
 
 
Green  Chandelier
 
 
 
 
 
Detail  of  Green  Chandelier
 
 
 
 
 
Orange  Hornet  Chandelier
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ruby  Red  Pineapple  Chandelier
 
 
 
 
 
 
Macchia  Forest
 
 
 
 
Macchia  Bowl
 
 
 

 
Macchia  Forest
 
 
 
 
Macchia  Pink 
 
 
 
 
Macchia  Yellow 
 
 
 
 
Macchia  Forest
 
 
 
"The Sun" in front of museum in Montreal. 
 
 
 
 
"The Sun"  at night.
 
 
 

 
Turquoise  Reeds 
 
 
 
 
Persian Walls  and  Turquoise  Reeds
 
 
 
 
"Lavender  Reeds,"  from  the  San  Francisco  show I saw.
 
 
 
 
Glass  Forest
If you fill glass tubes with different gases and then run an electric current
through them, you create different colors of neon light.
 
 
 
 
Glass  Forest  of  Neon
 
 
 
 
Persian  Ceiling - there were mats lying on the floor so you could lie down
and look up and enjoy the ceiling.
 
 
 
 
__Persian  Ceiling__
 
 
 
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