20 March 2021 – 27 September 2022
Throughout history, people have seen flowers as vessels to project all kinds of meanings and messages. At our birth and death, flowers have always been by our side. Flowers have instilled in us great meaning and symbols. In turn, we cultivate flowers to help convey our deepest emotions, signal change, and celebrate life stages. The exhibition In Bloom: Nature and Art explores the impact of the flower motif through the prism of Ukraine’s traditional arts and crafts and the works of its preeminent artists of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. In Bloom showcases more than 50 artworks by 21 artists, and over 60 art objects, all highlighting floral themes. Among the artists featured in In Bloom are Alexis Gritchenko, Jacques Hnizdovsky, Vasyl Hryhorovych Krychevsky, Nina Klymovska, Luboslav Hutsaliuk, Mychajlo Moroz, Oleksa Novakivsky, and Arcadia Olenska-Petryshyn. Numerous traditional art items are on view: woven kilims, women’s costumes, embroidered shirts, intricately decorated Easter eggs (pysanky), and ceramics from the Hutsul region. The exhibition is curated by Jaroslaw Leshko, Professor Emeritus of Art, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, and Lubow Wolynetz, the Museum’s curator of folk art.