Flower arrangements, the Artist's Way and Artist Dates
Just a lovely waltz through Stuttgart and a beautiful concept to inspire creativity.
Welcome to the June edition of the Melting Lyricism newsletter! We still had some leftover winter snow and icy winds here in Germany in May, but this month looks like it is full of sunshiny days, picnics in the park and a brimming of hope in my heart.
Spring has truly arrived and so have flowers. At the end of April, I attended a floral design workshop in Stuttgart, held at the Stuttgart Staatsgalerie (the state-owned art museum/gallery). I love visiting this gallery on my free days, which is full of art from different periods and since the workshop was being held there, I enrolled for it right away.
The Staatsgalerie is a long, modern building connected internally to the older, traditional Museum of Fine Arts. All the participants met at the statue of the Old Grand Duke at the entrance of the museum on a cloudy, chilly Saturday in April. It was still 5-6°C outside, so the workshop was being held inside the stately buildings of the older museum.
We were 8 participants for the workshop; all women, waiting in the freezing cold, smiling kindly at each other. A young girl in a white sweater came running down the steps of the museum and greeted us, told us her name was Valentina and that she would be conducting today’s workshop. Then she led us inside the museum, all the while talking animatedly; apologizing for her muddy cuffs, which she said were never clean, since she spent all her day with flowers and fresh earth. We all made small talk and followed her through the entrance, down a corridor on the left-hand side to a set of tall doors, which were opened by a friendly museum security guard.
The doors opened to this sight:
A collective “Wow!” escaped from each of us, as we saw this palatial hall with its dark marble columns and grey mosaic flooring. My first thoughts were: If this was to be our workspace for the day, the workshop fees (which were pretty expensive) seemed to me to be already justified - I’m an architecture buff and this stunning space in the heart of the museum spoke to my art-loving soul.
The long table in between the marble columns was covered with a soft black cloth (so that the bright colours of the flowers would be highlighted, our host explained). Each chair had a small plastic tub next to it, filled with flowers of every shape, size, type and colour. In front of each place was a small white urn, hedge clippers and a wire mesh for the arrangement.
We took our places at the long table and introduced ourselves. Almost everyone spoke about the need for more creativity in her life. Two older women said how they were always looking for such workshops and events ever since they retired last year. I spoke about living in Germany and how much I missed my family and my loved ones. A few women were already floral designers and created original arrangements for weddings or parties. Our host, Valentina, was the owner of a small flower studio in Stuttgart and she shared the story of the beginning of her business.
The workshop began with a small virtual tour through Dutch art from the 17th century, the usage of flowers in still life paintings and the symbolism of flowers in art. Valentina went on to explain the concepts of memento morii and vanitas, colour schemes in paintings and showed us the different flowers she had shipped in from Italy for our little workshop.
Next, she began the actual flower arrangement. We all watched, enthralled, as she picked out flower by flower, snipped it expertly and tucked it into the small white urn. As she snipped, clipped and arranged, she explained to us the function of each flower, the good lengths for different flowers, the concept of a “star flower” in an arrangement and how she decorated the urn from the sides. It was breathtaking to watch and we saw a creation take life in front of us, under her skilled hands.
This was her completed floral design, dripping with flowers, like something out of an old Italian painting:
During the lunch break, the two older ladies decided they were going to eat at the Stuttgart Markthalle (Market Hall), which has food stands from all over the world. Another young woman and I joined them. We walked out of the museum, crossed the busy road using the subway stairs and came out in the middle of Stuttgart’s palace gardens. We chatted about climate change, our families, the 21st birthday of one of the ladies’ daughters, our love for art. We crossed the gardens, passed the small lake by the State Opera House, crossed a cobbled street by the Saturday flea market and reached the market hall located behind the Old Palace Museum.
The market hall was full of people and delicious food smells. Each stand had delicacies from across the globe, fresh fruits were shining gloriously, vendors were advertising their wares to customers. We picked out small ciabattas and tiny pizzas at the ladies’ favourite Italian stall and walked out with our purchases. Sitting in the open air, in the shadow of the Old Palace on huge stone blocks, we talked while chewing on our lunch, our jackets buttoned up against the cold wind.
We walked slowly back to the gallery after lunch. Valentina had arranged more tables at right angles to the bigger table, so that we each had more space for our arrangements. We started working on our individual flower arrangements, looking at Valentina’s for inspiration, joking, laughing; a group of happy women brightened by the flowers around them.
And this is how mine turned out:
Once our arrangements were ready, a professional photographer was brought in to create gorgeous, still-life-like photos of each of the arrangements. Through these photographs, everyone’s floral design looked like the medieval paintings we had been admiring all day. This is the photograph Valentina sent me the next day of my arrangement:
The day ended with a small tour of the art gallery, by an art expert dressed like Mary Poppins, focusing mostly on the Dutch masters from the 17th century and other paintings with meaningful flowers. All in all, it was a perfect day and I came home with my floral design, which I later distributed in little vases and bowls all over my apartment. Joy and fragrance for days.
This was such a successful Artist’s Date for me.
What is an Artist’s Date, you ask?
This is an unique concept from the Artist’s Way, a book by Julia Cameron, in which she writes that an Artist Date is a weekly 2-hour slot set up with your inner artist to do something fun, playful, festive.
Cameron further explains: “Artist Dates fire up the imagination. They spark whimsy. They encourage play. Since art is about the play of ideas, they feed our creative work by replenishing our inner well of images and inspiration.”
The way the Artist’s Way is planned is so unique too - the book is divided into 12 chapters for 12 weeks. Each week asks the reader to take up different creative risks and requires a deeper delving into the self. Last year, 2021, was my Year of Creativity; I planned and completed numerous creative projects, took up the Artist’s Way project and managed to make creativity a part of my daily life. Instead of 12 weeks, I decided to expand the project to 12 months (1 chapter for each month of the year) and ended up with a pretty plan for 2021. I also planned a variety of Artist Dates. They were long walks around the city, beach trips, visits to museums or just walking in a park. And I truly believe, that this dedicated commitment to creativity, to my art and writing, fostered something else inside me. It’s made me braver, a little crazier and unafraid of the creative life. And I think the Artist’s Way is an ideal project to take up by anyone who aspires to make something of their inherent creativity.
Another important tool of the Artist’s Way is writing the Morning Pages. These are 3 pages of daily stream-of-consciousness, longhand writing (not typing on a computer, actually writing). Initially they seemed a bit like a steep hill to climb, but they soon became a habit. I used the colourful, soft and creamy-paged Leuchtturm notebooks and I’m already on my 3rd one. Of course, the notebook or the pencil doesn’t matter in this case, but the immense free flow of thoughts and ideas the Morning Pages release every day - that is the prize.
Speaking of writing and women who write, my very kind friend Nathi from Bookstagram shared this article with me: The Laugh of the Medusa by Hélène Cixous, translated by Keith Cohen & Paula Cohen. It’s such a brilliant and sparkling essay about why and how should women write, how should they speak their truth and why they should NOT be afraid. I need to research more about Hélène Cixous now and I’ll write more about her, once I know more, but I encourage all of you to read her essay.
That’s all for this month! I wish you abundance and love and long summer days ahead!
Your friend,
Ajita