Local Artist Yvonne Shortt Creates Flower Sculptures

Local artist Yvonne Shortt collects flowers but instead of using them for beautiful arrangements she takes them apart and puts them in a jar. " I take a rose and pick it apart, " said Ms. Shortt. Ms. Shortt collects all kinds of flowers; from Lilies to Chrysanthemums and at any given time she can have between 2 to 20 different flower parts in one of her jars.

What does Ms. Shortt do with the parts? Ms. Shortt creates sculptures. First, she decides on the color of the base to hold the sculpture and depending on the type of wood she is using, she will paint the base. The color of the base is largely influenced by the colors of the sculpture. Next, Ms. Shortt sketches her sculpture on paper. Then, she creates a rig out of copper wire to hold up her sculpture. “The rig is like the bones,” says Shortt. “It’s what keeps the sculpture standing.’ Ms. Shortt’s rig is made of wire and held in place with some sort of screw that extends into the base of the wood piece. Creating the rig makes it easier to arrange the flower parts to form her creations.

“Currently, I am interested in creating creatures with the flowers because the flower pieces will change over 3-5 days and this means my sculpture will undergo a physical change not of my own making,” says Ms. Shortt. She finds it fascinating to see what becomes of what she creates over several days when exposed to air and humidity. This way of creating is also a way that takes nothing from the environment. When Ms. Shortt is done with the flower pieces she composts them. Sometimes she even uses them to make tea. In this way the work has a zero footprint.

To create the works can take from 1 to 30 hours according to Ms. Shortt. However, within one week her creatures have typically withered away to just the rig. Her sculptures are beautiful, fleeting, and in some ways sad.