STORY BEHIND THE ART OF MARGARET FARR

22nd Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists at Marin Art & Garden Center

Rite of Spring: Crocus, Snowdrop, Periwinkle, Violet

Crocus cv., Galanthus nivalis, Vinca minor, Viola sororia

“Rite of Spring” is my attempt to elevate the first stirrings of spring to the level of the sacramental. We all experience the exhilaration of seeing the first crocus, the first bee, the first butterfly of spring. Even the first little blue weeds can be joyful after a long gray spell—though they quickly wear out their welcome! 

My bent is to “organize” in any case, but increasingly, also to try to find a way to express my gratitude and reverence for the wonders of nature by seeking a unifying “spirit” or design to portray something more than the plant itself. Of course, I didn’t invent this wheel. I’m a great admirer, for instance, of William Morris and the Aesthetic Movement, which created motifs out of idealized plants. Even Art Nouveau, which expressed itself in the seemingly random organic, ultimately arranged the subject in almost predictably aesthetic terms.

The trick for the artist coming from a botanical perspective, is not to lose the close observation of detail and the accurate form of the particular, while trying to depict an ideal. It is an endlessly interesting task.

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Read more about this artist’s work: America's Flora