Oakland artist and B2L2 contributor Kevin Woodson and San Francisco poet Juan Pablo Guiterrez will debut Flower by Flower, an extensive collection of watercolors and poems, during Art and Music in the Gardens at the Lake Merritt Garden Center June 4 and 5.
The exhibit will feature more than 70 flowers painted between January 1 and May 15, 2011 in The Gardens at Lake Merritt. From the yellow daisy to the red poppy, the collection showcases Woodson’s delicate portrayals of the many floral species found at the Garden Center. In addition to the flowers, Woodson and Guiterrez have produced a bilingual limited edition book featuring full-color prints of the paintings and their accompanying poems in English and Spanish.
“For me, each flower has a voice and language of its own,” Woodson says. “When I sit with a flower, I reflect its creation by pouring all the feelings and emotions of that moment into a painting. The story of spring and rebirth as told by each flower is full of hope and inspiration, and this is probably why I have always painted flowers for the people I love.”
Flower by Flower runs June 4-5, 10am-6pm, at the Gardens at Lake Merritt and Lakeside Park Garden Center, 666 Bellevue, Avenue, Oakland. For more information, visit www.kevinwoodson.com.
Exhibit
• 71 flower paintings
• All painted in the Gardens at Lake Merritt between Jan-May 2011,
• Flowers will be exhibited in the garden in which they were painted
• All paintings are 7×10 inches
• All are watercolor, with the same set of 24 Yarka watercolors
• All paintings will be for sale
• Kevin will be painting flowers during the exhibit
Book (available for purchase at blurb)
• Title of book: The Language of the Flowers / El Lenguaje de las Flores
• Kevin collaborated with San Francisco poet Juan Pablo Gutierrez, who has written over 50 flower poems complementing the painted collection
• Juan Pablo’s poems tell us the flower’s stories, in the flowers’ voice
• 69 pages long, the book displays Juan Pablo’s poetry, along with over 50 of Kevin’s flowers, printed to-size
• A smaller, less costly version of the book is also available
• 100% of the profits from the book will go to support El Colectivo del Rescate Cultural
• The foreword is written by Luis Alberto Campos De La Garza
Thanks to BBLL for this profile. I think flowers touch us all, and as we experience them, we can all share in the hope, joy, and brief glory of each and every blossom.