Those who enjoy flowers may like to head to New York Botanical Garden, as its popular annual orchid exhibition has opened there for the 18th year.
'The Orchid Show: Jeff Leatham’s Kaleidoscope' is the name of this year's exhibition, and it showcases the exquisite shapes, colors and fragrances of one of the world’s most exotic flowers. Thousands of orchids are on display in dazzling creations and installations by Leatham, a lifestyle expert and floral designer to the stars. His clients include Cher, Dolly Parton, Tina Turner, Oprah Winfrey, the Kardashians and His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.
The exhibition takes place in the New York attraction's historic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, and it derives its name from the designs transforming each gallery of the exhibition into a different color experience, like the turn of a kaleidoscope. Thousands of orchids provide bursts of forms and colors, revealed through overhead arches, vine-inspired ribbons, mirrored sculptures, dramatic lighting and other artistic embellishments.
Visitors are greeted by purple vandas suspended above a 10-foot-tall mirrored orchid sculpture with a fountain of water streaming into a black pool. Other galleries and spaces of the exhibition, each designed in its own color scheme, include plantings of green and white cymbidiums amid grasses, yellow orchid arches and a kaleidoscopic tunnel of lights.
Exhibition programming features stylish orchid evenings, where those over 21 can experience the exhibition at night with music and dance performances, cash bars and light bites. They can come dressed in their boldest floral-inspired fashion and express themselves on the runway. In addition, Jeff Leatham will discuss how he brings his floral designs to life on February 20 at 11am.
“Color is the first and most important aspect of my work, always,” he says. “I want every gallery to be a different color experience for visitors as they move through them, like looking into a kaleidoscope. I loved kaleidoscopes as a child. You start dreaming as you look through one. People have seen the interiors of the conservatory already, but with this exhibition, I want them to look through them like never before.”
'The Orchid Show: Jeff Leatham’s Kaleidoscope' runs until April 19 at New York Botanical Garden. For further information, please visit here.
