Botanical Art at the Meadows Museum, Part III

This blog is the third in the series about Botanical Art's floral creations for the opening of the Diego Rivera's Cubist Portraits at SMU's Meadows Museum.

In a bold move that honored Meadows Museum's traditional Founders room with a contemporary nod, Botanical Art maximized the impact of pure gold with striking simplicity.

Echoing the gold framed portraits of significant donors to the museum, Botanical Art created a gold leafed piece specifically for that room and the opening night of the show. Repeating the gold of the frames in the room, the design consisted of a series of gold leafed frames within frames, drawing the eye into the piece. At the center of the series of frames, a full blossomed red garnet dahlia nakedly faced it's viewers.

Held together with plexiglass dowels, Botanical Art's piece appeared at first to float in the room. Admirers curiously circled the work.

The exquisite beauty and simplicity of a single flower honored in the luxury of multiple golden frames created a dramatic moment at the Meadows, underscoring the mission of all art museums...a reverence for timeless beauty.

Thanks again to Dallas photographer Melody Hamilton for her commitment to this project and her interest in documenting the process of creating site specific floral designs.

Thank you to Marin Fiske of Meadows for her exceptional vision for floral and event decor on this special occasion and her encouragement to Botanical Art.

Continuing the story of Botanical Art at the Diego Rivera opening at Meadows Museum...Mami's imagination sparked when she found a piece of driftwood by the side of the road in one of Dallas' big thunderstorms. As an artist paints with oils, Mami paints with her materials: using persimmon and chartruse colored orchids and green grasses, she transformed a piece of nature's decay into a new work of art.


Displayed on persimmon colored silk linens, the contrast of rough wood, silk, and elegant orchids in the dining area of the museum drew the party in. Intrigued guests buzzed about the tablescape as they gathered around and served themselves. Meadows' wrought iron pieces in the room provided additional textural richness and contrast.

Photographer Melody Hamilton captured the essence of the floral decor and spirit of the party in her photos displayed here.

Botanical Art and Diego Rivera Opening at the Meadows Musuem

Botanical Art wowed the crowd at the opening of the Diego Rivera Cubist Show at SMU's Meadows Museum of Art last Friday with floral creations reflecting the spirit and strength of both the stunning architecture and interiors of the Meadows' venue, and Rivera's bold art work. Utilizing the dramatic space created in the museum by the stairwell, Botanical Art designed a floating floral wonder that kept guests intrigued where the flowers were coming from, while ascending and descending the stairs. In contrast to the world where so much is explained and made concrete by fact everyday, the mysterious quality of the floating flowers established a magical sense to the whole event.

Rich persimmon colored orchids mingled with vivid chartruse green lines of chrysanthemums and deep magenta dalias formed a focal point of color and a hint of darkness to come in the provocative Rivera works. Botanical Art's floral decor echoed both the playful and surreal aspects of the cubist show, a subliminal passageway introduction to this fascinating period and body of work by Diego Rivera.

Dallas photographer Melody Hamilton energetically threw herself into capturing the creative process, the museum interiors, and the event. She graciously shares her work with Botanical Art and the Meadows Museum for this blog.

In the next two blogs, we will describe the other rooms in the museum and the floral installations.

The artistic visionary of Botanical Art, Mami Ogata, is a Tokyo native who has resided in Dallas since 1993.
Mami got an early start in her connection to growing things having spent many of her younger years living in the Japanese country side and by the ocean south of Tokyo. She has always been aware of having a keen attachment to nature.
She studied and became a teacher in the Sogetsu school of Japanese flower arranging (ikebana). The training, experience and development of the ikebana aesthetic is evident in Mami’s work, effectively sculpture created from flowers and natural materials
Mami worked for 8 years in the floral design business before starting her own company, Botanical Art, in 2003. She currently focuses on special occasions and weddings and on transforming spaces into the visions of her clients that meet their business or personal objectives.
Mami is competently assisted by her husband JD Driscoll with a degree in theatre and a resume including 7 years at the Dallas Theatre Center under designer Eugene Lee and 6 more years with Dallas celebrity stage designer Peter Wolfe. JD brings set design, lighting and construction expertise to the business. Between the two of them, they can achieve just about anything a client wants to do with flowers to create an environment.
Mami can accommodate a broad range of floral design work, but is most stimulated by the avante guarde & experimental designs and does not hesitate to bring interesting lighting into the mix to create a desired effect, or to design original containers of stone, bamboo or Plexiglas to set off her materials and truly create original designs for her clients.
Mami thrives on the interaction with her clients and the challenge of creating original designs with natural materials that invoke the aura and mood her clients want to establish in their space or at their event.