Museum comes into full bloom with flowery artifacts exhibition

The University Museum looked like a greenhouse last weekend as it played host to the fourth annual "Artifacts in Bloom." The three-day exhibition, which attracted more than 1,000 visitors, showcased "living" displays of many of the Museum's artifacts. About 50 of the best floral arrangers in the Delaware Valley took part in the event. "The arrangers created floral art arrangements inspired by objects on display throughout the museum's second-floor galleries," University Museum spokesperson Pam Kosty said. For the exhibition, the arrangers -- some of whom have been prize-winning exhibitors at Philadelphia Flower Shows -- were given an artifact and asked to respond to it in any way they chose, Kosty added. One arranger, H.R. Draper, given Byzantine glass perfume bottles, set dried roses and "hearty orange fruits" over the folds of richly textured cloths and fabrics. Various items of glassware, including several clear artifacts, stood in the center of the piece. "I tried to recreate the feeling of opulence during the Byzantine Empire," said Draper, noting that he placed a string of white pearls over the entire exhibit. Draper added that each object in the exhibit had a significant relationship to the original artifact. He used the oranges, which are native to China, to symbolize the significance of Byzantine trade with the East during that time. Kosty said the Artifacts in Bloom exhibition allowed arrangers the rare opportunity to be exceptionally free and artistic in their work. "This exhibit gives the extraordinary opportunity for creativity for artists," she said. "These arrangers really like to do this because it's fun and it's not competition," Kosty added. Draper, who used his own items -- fruit and flowers -- in his piece, said the exhibition did not enforce as many rigid restrictions as competitive floral events. "Here it is possible for me to use materials to my own personal taste and style," he said, noting that the exhibition adds a degree of life to the museum artifacts. "Most of the criticism of museum exhibits is that it's very clinical and almost cold," he added. "But look at how beautiful all of these exhibits are." The University of Pennsylvania Museum's Women's Committee organized and sponsored "Artifacts in Bloom." Other events of the weekend-long event included a talk on glass flower-making and a dinner-dance celebration.