Our historic and cultural relationship with flowers touches a deep creative genius in world culture. Flowers form a direct connection with the beauty of the natural world and the cycle of the seasons. It is the seductive power of flowers that has served as the inspiration for literature, music, dance, culinary and visual arts.

Many cultures utilize flowers and their attributes to celebrate important life occasions including romance, birth, worship, success, commemoration, and death. It is with this multifaceted theme of “flower” and the cultural significance of traditions associated with the veneration of flowers that the idea for the exhibition Flora started to bloom.

The Roswell Museum and Art Center’s permanent collection has a beautiful selection of works by artists that have celebrated the flower through the mediums of painting, photography, sculpture, and printmaking. Some of the featured works for Flora include Henriette Wyeth’s untitled floral still life with roses, a wood carving by acclaimed New Mexican folk artist George Lopez, and the elegant lithograph White Chrysanthemum by Betty Hahn. Flora will also feature the work of Roswell artists Alex Kraft and Diane Marsh. Kraft's dynamic ceramic sculpture Vile Fruit is a contemporary counterpoint to the contemplative still life painting Anton’s Flowers by Diane Marsh.

As the days grow longer stop by to visit the Roswell Museum and Art Center’s Spring River Gallery and experience the power of the flower.