Spectacular blooms: The art of arranging flowers

Enter the enchanting world of Dutch still-life paintings, where flowers bloom in imaginative, fantastical arrangements.

In this workshop led by florist Gail Smith, we’ll explore the artistry behind these compositions and uncover the secrets of their visual drama, before getting creative.

Taking the art of Rachel Ruysch as inspiration, Gail will showcase various flowers and demonstrate a simple bowl display that you can recreate at home.

We will go from understanding the life of flowers and the basic composition of floral arrangements to creating movement and interest.

Ingredients needed if you would like to follow along:

• Small cereal bowl (approximately 10cm tall x 13 cm wide)
• Pin frog
• Pin frog fix
• 2 stems hyacinth, 10 days old
• 5 stems mixed tulips, 5 days old
• 5 stems ranunculi in mixed colours, 5 days old
• 3 narcissi, 5 days old
• 3 anemones or hellebores
• 1 small stem fruit blossom
• 1 good stem of clematis or jasmine
• 3 stems of different foliage (can be from the garden)
• Any other bits and pieces from leftover flowers or the garden
• Scissors

Join Gail to blend art history with hands-on creativity at this online demonstration.

Gail Smith studied History of Art and trained in painting conservation at the Courtauld Institute before turning to garden design and floristry. Her work has come full circle as she now creates large floral installations for events in galleries and museums, favouring thoughtful, nature-led designs over spectacle or scale.

A recording of this event will be made available to all ticket holders in the days following the event.

This recording will be available for two weeks.

Automatic closed captioning is available for this event.