Courtesy of Franklin Park Conservatory.
Orchids
Today, the Franklin Park Conservatory opens three new exhibitions that merge art and nature.
SPOKE: The Visual Poetry & Environmental Art of Artist Olga Ziemska and an updated Orchids will join the annual Chihuly Nights series.
An annual highlight, Orchids showcases hundreds of flourishing, multi-colored orchids, which provide a gleaming and cozy atmosphere to the audience.
A new element to this year’s exhibit is a 10-painting feature from artist Robert Falcone that takes inspiration from seeing last year’s Orchids.
“I took a number of photographs at last year’s show and painted from them,” he says. “The Conservatory was happy to include them in their exhibit.”
Falcone’s love for art began as a teenager when he started painting and grew in 1969 when he contributed cartoons to The Cauldron, Cleveland State University’s student newspaper.
“I’ve focused on orchids for the last couple of years, and I find them really beautiful,” he says. “But I’m troubled by the fact that we take these beautiful things and remove them from nature and their natural context and display them for our own purposes.”
His orchid artwork shows the flowers floating without any background as a way of commenting on that observation.
Courtesy of Franklin Park Conservatory.
In contrast, SPOKE, the exhibition by artist Olga Ziemska, focuses on the connection between language, nature, human experience and multiple forms of art.
“Language has always been an important part of my process of creating art, so for this exhibition, I will be exhibiting my writing alongside some of the sculptural work,” Ziemska says. “Ultimately, in all my work I create, I hope to underline humanity's inextricable connection to nature and the importance of that connection.”
For years, Ziemska has cherished the Conservatory, she says, which makes her exhibition there a personal thrill.
“I am happy to have my first solo show post-pandemic at the Conservatory, especially since I used to live in the neighborhood back in the day and would walk my dog, Bluejay, every day at the park,” she says. “I think it's a great space to exhibit photos of my environmental art that I have made around the world.”
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The return of the conservatory’s Chihuly Nights for the fourth consecutive year since 2019’s Chihuly: Celebrating Nature will also open Jan. 22 and highlight nature through art.
The conservatory will display 18 installations from its collection of work by the renowned glass artist, Dale Chihuly, the most extensive private assembly of his work in a botanical garden.
Find more information at www.fpconservatory.org.
Mariah Muhammad is an editorial assistant. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
