Our wonderful group, from left: Dundee, Naomi, Julia, Susan, Kate, Debra & Emily, photogaphed in Dundee’s private garden in Healdsburg, CA
Dundee with her sweet Lab, “Joyce Muriel,” who wasn’t thrilled with her floral collar.
Earlier this month I had the distinct pleasure of teaching with Dundee Butcher of Russian River Flower School in Healdsburg, California.
This was a lovely chance to share the Floral Storytelling and Floral Memoir curriculum in one of the most inspiring places for followers of our Slow Flowers ethos.
I believe our inspiration comes from “place,” and there was no shortage of beautiful scenery, gorgeous botanicals and the most to-die-for studio space you’ve ever seen.
Dundee and her colleague Naomi Mcleod, along with their volunteer Vicki McFadden, hosted our workshop for two days in which we exercised our writing skills, stretched our perception of language, and stepped outside the comfort zones as florist-writers.
One of the participants said this about the value of the experience:
“The topic interested me since I have been on a mission to find where I am going with my business and how to incorporate our family farm and tell our story.
“I plan to use this as I update and rebrand my business and where I am going with it.”
Writing about flowers . . . it’s kind of like meditation.
This is the third Creative Workshop and what I am finding most inspiring is how willing our participants suspend fear or apprehension and dive into unfamiliar exercises to express themselves through words. I salute everyone involved for the way they encouraged and supported one another — that makes a huge difference during any creative process, right?!
I love Kate’s concentration as she writes about a dahlia!
What drew people to take this workshop and invest in themselves in a new way? Here’s a sampling of the reasons:
“I lost track of my connection to creativity. I could stand behind another designer and sell someone else’s work, but not my own. I want to use flowers to tell a story.”
“I became so separate from who I am, and I started thinking ‘what would I do if I could do anything I dreamed of?'”
Our writing exercises ranged from simple botanical descriptions (describe a rose without using the word rose, for example), to playing with new ways of naming color, to journaling about our earliest memory of nature, flowers or art. The ultimate goal? To identify our “why,” our “North Star,” our personal value system that underscores our brand.
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