Behind the scense: Home and Garden Show "Rooted In Pittsburgh"

The past month or so of my life has been absolutely dedicated to the Bidwell Training Center display at the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show.

Tim and I during our 2009 visit.

I happen to adore the Home and Garden Show! Tim and I have been going every year since we moved to the city and I used to go every year with my dad when I was younger. The big garden display by Bidwell was the most exciting display, and I was so stoked about getting to be involved with it.

It was a wonderful and immensely satisfying experience and I am so incredibly proud both of my display and my whole class's effort. It was also incredibly frustrating and overwhelming.

This year Bidwell did something a little different than in years passed. Previously the whole department worked together on a single theme. A few years ago they did the Lorax, last year they brought a forest into the Convention center and built a display around the concept of bringing nature into the home. This year each student did their own display, working independently to build a horticultural display to reflect a famous Pittsburgher (it's Pittsburgh's 250th anniversary this year). At first this seemed like a great idea. It'll make things so much more straight forward. Everyone just works on their own project and we all put them up at the show. Easy peasy.

A later stage lay out of my design

Wrong. So very wrong. I feel the need to preface this by saying that at first we needed to have a "A 10x10 horticultural related display about a famous Pittsburgher". And that was our only direction at the start. It was months ago, and the Home and Garden show was so far off in the future that it seemed purely theoretical.  Also, obviously Horticulture + Pittsburgh = Henry Phipps. This is why I picked him, low hanging fruit.

An earlier lay out concept. Watercolor.

The design process was a lot of draw, re-draw, list and re-list.  I used to work for a Project management company, and one of the things that can most damage a project's success is "scope creep". This is when you're in the midst of a project and you suddenly find yourself going "Hey, we're already here doing all this stuff... Let's do another thing too!" At first it seems fine then next thing you know you're changing your requirements (The stuff you need to do your project), your deliverables (What you're actually giving to your client at the end of a project) and basically everything becomes a big fat mess.  There was a lot of scope creep and requirements shifting through out the process. This is to be expected in any big project, but it's frustrating.

Kaitlyn giving some love while she works in the greenhouse

Another problem was artistic vision. The thing is, we certainly didn't lack for artistic vision. Our director Gary is an AMAZING designer.  If this whole process was a theatrical production (which it certainly felt like) Gary would be our Artistic director. And he was great at it. The problem wasn't a lack of vision, it was an excess. By telling each of us that we were responsible for our own production, from plants to build out, set up to signage, it became a matter of 15 different artistic visions bumping up against not only Gary, but also each other.

I could go on and on about all the reasons this project shouldn't have worked out. The time line that just never seemed to come together. The class mates who disappeared to do Gods-only-know-what instead of work on their pieces. Frustrated, angry, exhausted students still with finals, licensing exams, projects, internships, job hunting, and not to mention the rest of their daily lives looming over them.  Stressed out instructors trying to deal with the logistics of the show, all of their work, their outside lives and of course the stressed out students as well...

Move in day at the convention center.

My display on Move in day, how is this ever going to look good?!

Actually, it was almost exactly like theater. Because when it came together, and it really came together, it was beautiful. It was beautiful and the public adored it. And when it was done we all adored it, and each other again. I really enjoyed hearing all the positive comments that I got about my display, but even more so I enjoyed showing visitors the really cool things that my class mates put together.

These are a few of my favorite displays. To be honest, they're almost all my favorite in one way or another, and I want to show you all of them, but I only got good pictures of a few. 

First off I want to show you Queen Aliquippa. This display was by the amazingly talented Selima and features three seperate terrariums each representing one of the three rivers. Also a Three Sisters garden in the center. I'm going to say this a lot but my picture doesn't even come close to doing this display justice! Queen Aliquippa was the leader of the Mingo Seneca tribe during the Colonial/ Revolutionary era. Her main town and home was in the location that we now call "Point State Park". My favorite story about her (and there are plenty to choose from, it's worth your while to look her up) is that she refused to meet with George Washington. You see, at the time, it was considered polite and proper for the leader of another nation or army passing through to visit with Queen Aliquippa and bring her some presents, things like furs and rum were popular. If you didn't bring a decent present you were a selfish jerk who didn't really need to be bothered with. Well, George Washington, being a very self important 1700's man didn't understand that Queen Aliquippa was a strong leader, and a military force to be reckoned with. Instead of showing her the proper respect he showed up at her door empty handed and demanded that she do what he want.  She did not take kindly to this rude intrusion and refused to meet with him, saying that he was beneath her. He was only a general while she was a Queen. Hell yes.

Up next: Andy Warhol. I don't know if other cities have famous artists that they adore with every fiber of their being, but Pittsburgh's love for Andy Warhol is deep and abiding. His Pop Art style revolutionized art and design.  As a Pittsburgher and an Art nerd I can't gush over him enough. Jeri, who designed this awesome display, is also a Pittsburgher and Art nerd and her personal style reflects so much Warhol-esque goodness. Bright colors and unexpected little touches. Make it weird, make it funny, make it beautiful and bright and lovely.  I think her display really captures that!

Next door to Andy Warhol is Martha Graham. Designed by my classmate Andy! Martha Graham is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Her style transformed dance from the rigid, prescribed Ballet of previous generations, to the bold emotive style of modern dance. Andy encapsulated her focus on line and movement and form with his statuesque Martha Graham surrounded by beautiful blooming Hydrangeas.

My classmate Kaitlyn is an absurdly talented young woman. Not only did she design and build this remarkable sensory garden, she also did all of the art work on the signage throughout the display. Check her out on Instagram @KaitlynCaramelaCreations This sensory garden has a special place in my heart. It was designed with people with Autism spectrum and sensory processing disorders in mind, to give them a way to experience all five of their senses in a calm relaxed environment to help work with sensory integration! The Home and Garden show is a bit of a sensory over load and this garden was an amazing little respite from the day. This particular garden is also raised up on concrete blocks with wide aisles to make it accessible to people in wheel chairs as well!

Can I tell you how much I love this display? Roscoe, also pictured, is a real character and I really enjoyed being with him in class. He would get SO JAZZED about his display. He had an amazing vision for it and watching it come to fruition was so cool! Also, I am a big fan of old musicals, and Gene Kelly is just dreamy. How can you not love Singing in the Rain made with Vinca Vine?!!

And finally, my display. A turn of the century sitting room packed with popular plants of the era. The early 1900's was a BIG time for botany, and everybody who was anybody had giant palms (like the towering Kentia Palms in my display) and big fluffy ferns. Boston Ferns were bred and gained almost instant popularity during this period. Also I have multiple Wardian cases filled with strange and interesting specimens (like Venus Fly Traps), and a whole bunch of fun and interesting succulents.

Which brings me to the main focus of my display...

My Succulent Chair!  Constructed from a wing back chair and covered in over 100 living succulents this right here was my baby for the show. It was a huge project but one that I think really paid off!


Want to know more about my chair? Stay tuned. That's next week's post!

Want to see more of our Home and Garden show display? This is the last weekend of the show, it'll be up at the David L. Lawrence convention center until 10pm tonight and open tomorrow (Sunday) until 4. 

Want to know more about the famous Pittsburghers featured in our display? Check out the website that I made for the show (Each page was linked to a QR code on the display signage so people could look it up!)
https://sites.google.com/site/btchomeandgarden/

If you can't make it you can check out these articles and interviews with our fearless leader Gary Baranowski:

From the Tribune Review: 
http://triblive.com/lifestyles/dougoster/9542029-74/garden-pittsburgh-exhibit
Includes an excellent video that you should totally check out.

From the Post-Gazette:
http://www.post-gazette.com/life/garden/2016/03/04/Famous-Pittsburghers-rooted-in-Duquesne-Light-Pittsburgh-Home-Garden-show/stories/201603060104

From a TV Spot on Pittsburgh Today Live!
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/video/3370961-bidwell-training-center-gardens-at-home-garden-show/

I hope that everyone who came to the show loved it as much as I do. And I hope you got a chance to check it out.

Next blog post: The Succulent Chair!