Flower Craft

Flower Craft celebrates the creative visions of botanical artists working at the forefront of contemporary floral design. Inspired by nature’s ephemerality and its inimitable palettes, these artists are investigating all stages of the plant life cycle, from seed to germination to decay, to interpret nature in sculptural form. As they expand the boundaries of materials and creative expression, the artists are also engaging in a variety of aesthetic traditions, from early modern European still life painting to the eighteen-century picturesque to the hyperreality of the twenty-first-century digital realm—all of which will be explored in the exhibition.

The Flower Craft gallery will also function as a studio classroom for floral workshops, including MAD’s Flower Craft Atelier taught by the exhibition artists. Surrounded by the extraordinary display of innovative floral design, audiences of all ages and skill levels will be able to explore floral creativity with an inspiring collective of artists and designers.

FLOWER CRAFT ARTISTS and schedules

Kristen Alpaugh
On view May 14–22 
Kristen Alpaugh is founder of Los Angeles-based FLWR PSTL, a studio whose high-profile clients include Katy Perry, SZA, and Doja Cat, as well as major cosmetic and fashion brands. Alpaugh melds botanicals with various media to tell unique and compelling stories. She was recently featured in HBOMax’s floral competition series, Full Bloom.

Noritaka Noda
On view May 24–29
Noritaka Noda is president of the Ikenobo Ikebana NYC Chapter, as well as the first and only US special professor recognized by the Ikenobo Headquarters in Kyoto, Japan. As a professor of Ikebana, he conducts demonstrations and teaches classes at the Nippon Club. Noda is known for his unusual arrangements, which combine traditional and modern materials in different scales. His clients include American and Japanese corporations, restaurants, retail, and museums. 

Lutfi Janania
On view May 31–June 5
Lutfi Janania is a Honduran botanical artist raised on a bioreserve among the rain forest and mountains in San Pedro Sula. His sculptures, comprised of exquisite dry and hydrated natural materials, are surreal, unrealized portraits of the artist’s imagined worlds. Janania was the winner of season two of HBOMax’s Full Bloom and his studio, ROSALILA, is located in Brooklyn, New York.

Doan Ly
On view June 7–12
Doan Ly, founder of a.p. bio, is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice integrates the fields of floral design, photography, and video. Ly’s work has been published in Vogue Spain, China, and Italy; The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Kinfolk, among others. Her commercial clients include Moschino, Victoria’s Secret, Carolina Herrera, Zara, and many more. Born in Vietnam, Ly immigrated to the United States at the age of eight and grew up in Minnesota.

Manu Torres
On view June 14–19
Manu Torres is an artist based in Portland, Oregon. His floral arrangements often involve a dialogue between the artificial and the natural, incorporating paper, fabric, paint, and feathers to imitate and exaggerate natural beauty in a hyperreal way. His work has been featured in Elle Decor magazine and he was also named by Domino magazine as a top new floral designer to follow. His recent solo exhibition at Russo Lee Gallery was an ArtForum Critic's Pick.

Emily Thompson
On view June 21–26
Emily Thompson is the founder of Emily Thompson Flowers in New York City. Born in Vermont, Thompson earned an MFA in sculpture from UCLA. Inspired by the eighteenth-century theory of the picturesque, she has designed dramatic naturalistic arrangements and installations for the Obama White House, MoMA’s Modern restaurant, Bergdorf Goodman, T magazine, Jason Wu, and other notable clients.