Arts Review: “Floriculture”

The last time community arts promoter Pastiche House presented a show, it was the November 2022 performative collaboration between aerialist and baker Odile Du and actor and painter Kaci Beeler in Sky Candy’s soaring interior at Springdale General. After an eclectic matchup like that, it’s little surprise that this past weekend’s exhibition, “Floriculture,” brought tattoo artist Rita von Lehe and florist Ashton Chase together to fill the Vortex’s Pony Shed, an exquisitely repurposed greenhouse, with a mix of their contrasting yet complementary visual creations for a single night.

Friday, May 26, saw the Shed’s walls of glass fully decked with Von Lehe’s monochrome watercolors of myriad botanicals, the natural beauty of leaves and petals rendered near photographic with skilled precision, accompanied by Chase’s bold arrangements of fresh flora on the tables and shelves and hanging from the window frames within the intimate space.

And whose idea was it for the two artists to join forces?

“I was contacted by Pastiche House because one of the founders had been interested in my tattoo work,” Von Lehe told us, “and was curious if I’d consider a collaboration, and who I might like to work with. A florist came to mind immediately and, while searching around Austin, Ashton’s work caught my eye. Her use of vibrant color and unusual compositions seemed like the perfect contrast to my black and gray organically flowing illustrations. As a tattooer, my work is focused on capturing the intricate details of flora and fauna and their symbology for my clients – and finding fun ways for the designs to flow on the body. Using live botanicals from a talented florist is just another way to appreciate nature using a different medium than my norm, which is watercolor for this event. When Ashton creates a floral arrangement for a client, I imagine it being the same process as taking a list of someone’s favorite plants and creating a tattoo design.”

“What I find compelling between tattoo art and floral arrangements,” said Chase, “is that one lasts forever and the other lasts a week. Rita also has the stunning ability to capture the movement of flowers in her work and I love that. I studied theatre in college [and] I remember my sound teacher, Eliot Haynes, comparing the short-lived nature of our art to the Tibetan monks who spend a great deal of time creating sand art. They then destroy it as a reminder of the impermanence of life. I was very moved by that analogy, and I view floral design in the same way. Florists spend so much time selecting, processing, caring for, designing with, and transporting flowers so they can be appreciated for a short window of time, until they die. You’re lucky if you get a great photograph or a painting from them, but the real thing only exists for so long. And then it’s time to start over and create again.”

Pastiche House’s “Floriculture”

Rita von Lehe
211 N. Main St., Taylor
Tue.-Fri., 11am-7pm
ritavonlehe.com

The Spotted Poppy (by Ashton Chase)
thespottedpoppy.shop

This article appears in June 2 • 2023.