Beyond Flowers: Collecting & Arranging Natural Objects by Gerd Verschoor
Since coming to the USA three years ago, Dutch artist Gerd Verschoor has captured the imagination of the design community, with his still-life compositions and performance-art pieces made primarily with natural materials, often recycled found objects. In this book the artist explores the art of collecting and arranging the natural objects of every season. Flowers are vitally important in his work with daffodils and tulips nestled in a wreath fashioned with the dead branches and leaves of winter, heads of creamy roses, separated and mixed with their thorny stems and scattered around a summer table setting, and sprays of blue spruce, narcissus, apples, and silver balls combined in a Christmas still-life. The author attempts to show that by abandoning rules and conventions, the reader can encourage their own creativity and allow it to flourish in a distinctly personal way.