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fresh idea'painting' with flowers Melchers' art in full bloom
Flowers took center stage at Gari Melchers Home and Studio's "Arts and Flowers" exhibit last weekend
Date published: 8/10/2007
By KIM BAER
It wasn't a quiet art show, and it wasn't meant to be.
There was laughter, there was "oohing" and "aahing" and there was critiquing at the "Arts and Flowers" show Saturday at Gari Melchers Home and Studio in Belmont.
The goal of the show is to get people to look at art from different angles, said Joanna Catron, the museum's curator.
"One of our big jobs in the art museum business is to reassure the community that the art world should be a part of our daily lives," she said.
Members of garden clubs from across the Fredericksburg area interpreted 10 of Melchers' paintings.
There was competition, too. Audience members voted for their favorite interpretation.
The winner was the Ann Page Garden Club for "The Sermon" (1886).
The work is considered Melchers' masterpiece. It is on loan from the Smithsonian Institution's American Art Museum.
The painting is of a scene in a rustic church. The setting would seem somber, but there's a touch of humor in the painting, too. An older woman looks disapprovingly at a young girl who has fallen asleep.
The arrangement was set up on a chair that looked as if it could have been part of the painting.
"The caliber of that particular arrangement was really good," Catron said.
Another hit at this year's show was "Still Life (Watermelon)."
The designer from the Rappahannock Valley Garden Club used a watermelon- green straw basket to hold bright pink gerbera daisies.
The painting was "reconstructed" through the arrangement's bright colors, Catron said.
"I thought that was clever and a little brave."
Another challenging piece to interpret was "The Scholar," Catron said. It's a dark portrait of a round man in black.
This painting also stood out to JoAnne Falkenthal, a member of the Lake Anna Garden Club, who attended the show with a few friends.
Although she would have done the arrangement differently, Falkenthal admired the designer for rising to the challenge.
"Nothing about the painting itself says flowers," she said. "Nothing says happy. To me, flowers are happy."
Biographers have noted that Melchers didn't think that a painting's worth should be measured in dollars and cents, Catron said.
His paintings had meaning to him and he wanted them to have meaning to others, too.
That's why Catron believes Melchers would approve of shows such as "Arts and Flowers."
"I think he would definitely love it."
Kim Baer: 540/368-5028
Email: kbaer@freelancestar.com
Date published: 8/10/2007
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