Impermanent art

More than flowers. Much more than a book.

"Arthur and Stacey challenge themselves to guide the materials into a story of synergy. Their message is an invitation to embrace imperfection and the transcience that makes this medium so perfect.

Design should be an infinite process, a journey of growing and expressing recent emotions. Art will always be a barometer of time."

Tomas de Bruyne - CEO @European Master Certification

Genesis

The picture below is first for a reason. Both authors, Arthur Williams and Stacey Bal, look back to the 2019 AIFD Symposium as the moment when they have decided to take on this project together and respond to Florists' Review invitation to edit a book. It had to be a book of art, though, a poetry of inspirational designs. The featured artistic floral pieces are either personal interpretations or collaborative works starting from a concept.

The Title

"I wanted something to just speak on the fact that our art form doesn't last. And to some point, this is something that makes the floral art work, under-appreciated. The way that people look at the value of art, especially in the Western part of the word, is it if lasts and if they can have ownership over it. I wanted to speak of how we don't have that, with the medium we work with. It's there and eventually it's completely gone, whether it decomposes or it changes into something else that people might call "ugly". 

My mission as an artist with this medium is to get people to appreciate being in the moment, instead of the possession of the art. To actually stop and appreciate something for what it it really is and not have to trust that it last forever." ^{Stacey Bal, AIFD EMC}

The importance of being in the moment, meaningfully expressed through one word: IMPERMANENT, becomes the framework for the future art book. 

 "The mainstream art medium, be it paint, clay, metal, or glass, does not breathe REAL life into a composition as only flowers can. In a playful interplay with its contrasting and/or complementary elements, Arthur’s and Stacey’s art conveys the extraordinary temporal nature of our living world."

Hitomi Gilliam AIFD, CFD - Design 358

Design concept

The fact that our medium has life is what makes us special as artists working with flowers. The book presents a series of concepts, all encompassed by a word, such as Utopia, Nomadic, Nocturne, Surreal, Possession,  Trust, Ma, Culture and so on. The power of IMPERMANENT comes in the artistic ability and depth of the two designers to invite people to feel, by offering not only fantastic photography of the floral works, but also powerful insight into the though process. The layout of the book gives a standard definition of concept and afterwards, each artist chose a personal interpretation of it. The wording may not be long and it's far from the standard step-by-step tutorial and inspirational books, but it certainly invites to study, meditation and introspection. It invites us to feel. Which is what art is supposed to do, isn't it?

The making of

"It started quite smoothly, but then it got really intense, with all the finishing touches and editing details that we had to consider in order for the book to look and feel the way we envisioned it", says Arthur.

Readjusting to the new dynamics of the world, with all the travel restrictions was certainly not easy, but the collaborative work between the two authors and all people involved in the process was stronger than the challenges the pandemic brought along. Within 48 hours of the last photoshoot together, the world had shut down. The process was carried on in a new framework and the editing, proofreading, details adjustments and final touch-ups were successfully done. It is only to prove that the project was much more that just to put out a new book on the market. It was, from the beginning, an artistic statement that, unlike the medium we work with, lasts forever in the form of a book.

Causatum

"The process of working with a publisher and carefully going through all the necessary small steps needed for the final outcome to be as desired was a great experience for me. I have gained the confidence that can make me say <I could do this again>.

I value this learning, but beyond that, IMPERMANENT also means the great joy of designing and playing with the abstract. The freedom of artistic expression and being able to create floral pieces to inspire and reveal myself at the same time, were an amazing get-away from the circadian rhythm of our lives."  ^{Arthur Williams, AIFD EMC}

"My biggest take-away was learning about human nature. The whole idea of impermanence helped me realise just that: things end, relationships end, friendships and jobs end. An it's not a bad thing. We as people run our courses too, and just like flowers, as we are not a forever thing either. The parallels between us in our lives and our relationships and the flowers and the materials were so meaningful and there are a lot of lessons to be learned from there.

The person I was when I started this book, I am no longer her anymore. That person I was has gone and I have moved on to being somebody different. And it's beautiful. The parallel education that came from the materials and the impermanence of them and the impermanence of human nature gives depth to my artistic experience. " ^{Stacey Bal, AIFD EMC} 

blog by Diana Toma, EMC

Perishable Poetics by Jenny Thomasson AFID, PFCI, EMC

Manifesting Emotion Through Contemporary Floral Design - read full article here.

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