Flora: Growing Inspirations
US Botanic Garden
Washington, DC
May 23 – October 12, 2009
Flora: Growing Inspirations will celebrate the place plants have long held in culture through artistic expression and symbolic representation. Essential as the energy base of all terrestrial life, plants carry out complex life processes and show remarkable diversity of form. They possess a powerful and persistent, if quiet, life force – one strong enough to buckle sidewalks, cleanse Earth’s atmosphere, support the energy needs of nearly all life forms, and bear witness to generations of human history. Contemporary artists are encouraged to draw on the fundamental strength of plants’ life force for powerful metaphors that comment on the state of modern society and individual human existence.
Artists are invited to submit digital images of their sculptural work dealing with the theme of plants for consideration of inclusion in the indoor and/or outdoor exhibit areas. The US Botanic Garden will publish a black and white catalog in conjunction with the exhibit.
Flora: Growing Inspirations, an exhibition coordinated by the US Botanic Garden and the Washington Sculptors Group, will feature approximately 40 original sculptures inspired by plants. The sculptures will be displayed in two areas:
- Outdoors as part of an exhibit of unique garden “rooms” defined by raised planting beds on the flagstone terrace surrounding the USBG Conservatory. Sculptures will be sited, at the discretion of the curators, within the raised beds or on the surface of the flagstone terrace. All applicants are encouraged to visit the Botanic Garden to see the setting.
- Indoors in the East Gallery, a 2400 sq. ft. air conditioned space. Sculptures will be situated on the floor or on pedestals. Artists may request other installation requirements (such as wall or ceiling mounting) that may be accepted at the discretion of the curators.
ABOUT THE SPONSORS
The Washington Sculptors Group is a volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness of sculpture and
fostering exchanges among sculptors, sculpture enthusiasts and the public. Organized in 1984, membership has grown to over
300; WSG sponsors frequent public programs and organizes professional sculpture exhibitions juried by prominent curators.
Visit www.washingtonsculptors.org for more information about WSG membership and programs.
The United States Botanic Garden (USBG) is operated by the Congress of the United States. It is located in Washington, DC on the National Mall across First Street SW from the US Capitol. Annual visitation is estimated at 850,000. The newly renovated Conservatory offers the citizens of Washington and visitors from across the nation a living plant museum that interprets the importance and irreplaceable value of plants to the well-being of humans and earth’s fragile ecosystems.
For more information visit: www.usbg.gov
“Flora: Growing Inspirations”
US Botanic Garden
245 First Street, SW
Washington, DC 20024
