Craving a swanky late summer activity that provides a hefty dose of design inspiration? A trip to Detroit may be in order.
The American Institute of Floral Designers North Central Chapter is partnering with the Cranbrook House & Gardens Auxiliary to present “Art in the Elements: A Plein Air Floral Exhibition” Friday, September 8, through Sunday, September 10 in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
The exhibition will be displayed on “The Mountain” at Cranbrook House & Gardens.
“Guests will discover large floral sculptures created exclusively for this exhibition,” said Eric Franchy, PR coordinator for Cranbrook House and Gardens. “Some of the exhibits with contain an interactive element.”
The experience will be akin to “Nature’s Creative Edge,” an annual project the AIFD North Central Chapter held in western Michigan from 2005 to
2015.
In addition to viewing the one-of-a-kind floral installations, guests will also be able to mingle with the artists, attend educational workshops, and explore the Cranbrook Gardens, which feature 40 acres of extensive plantings, fountains, statuary, lakes, and streams.
“The Sunken Garden – a formal garden surrounded by fieldstone walls – is a favorite destination for thousands of visitors,” Franchy said. “The beds along the walls are planted with a mixture of perennials and annuals. In 2017, the two innermost rows were planted with over 5,000 begonias and salvia, while the outer two rows were returned to their historical roots of being planted with vegetables.”
Cranbrook House was designed by Detroit architect, Albert Kahn, for the founders of Cranbrook, George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth, and served as their family home for 40 years. The 1908 English Tudor estate is now the centerpiece of the Cranbrook Educational Community campus, a National Historic Landmark.
Designed in the Arts and Crafts-style, Cranbrook House is the oldest surviving manor home in metro-Detroit. The Booths commissioned the finest artisans, craftsmen, and studios of the period to furnish the house with handcrafted furniture, tapestries, tiles, stained and leaded glass, and other works of fine and decorative art.
Art in the Elements: A Plein Air Floral Exhibition will open with a Preview Party on Friday, September 8, 2017 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. General admission runs for one weekend only: Saturday, September 9 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and Sunday, September 10, from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm.
Preview Party admission is $50 per person, which includes one drink ticket (cash bar) and a $25 tax-deductible donation. General admission is $15 in advance and $20 at the door.
Proceeds from the fundraising event will support the preservation of Cranbrook House & Gardens and the scholarship fund of the American Institute of Floral Designers – North Central Chapter.