A series of works entitled ‘Flower Garland’ by Shaeron Averbuch can be seen in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Sydney, Australia over the next month.

Shaeron, who studied ceramics and printed textiles at Edinburgh College of Art and took a Masters Degree in Art and Architecture at the University of East London, creates various forms of sculptural installations and participatory public art.

The inspiration for ‘Flower Garland’ came during a month long residency in June last year at Europos Parkas Open Air Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania when she created a card ‘Flower Garden’ at Europos Parksa Sculpture Park. She was influenced by the abundant wild flowers in the grounds and the St Johns Day Festival at the end of June when huge bundles of herbs and wild flowers are gathered to mark the coming of summer.  The flower shapes are all based on the wild flowers found in the park grounds, which are also typical of native British species of wild flowers.

After this residency Shaeron developed a series of works entitled ‘Flower Garland’ which rapidly led to a programme of international exhibitions.  The Crafts Council selected the work for their exhibition in the Axis Gallery in Tokyo, Japan in March this year. For the exhibition she created the work in both paper and aluminium.   A ‘Flower Garland’ was also chosen for exhibition at Les Jardins de Drulon, a sculpture garden in central France, and is there until the end of October.

Shaeron was then commissioned by Perth & Kinross Council to add to the celebrations of the opening of the new Horsecross Concert Hall in September by hanging a white ‘Flower Garland’ between two lamp posts just in front of the new building. In order to create community involvement, she made stencils of the flower shapes and sprayed these all over Perth as a week long project. 

Explaining the concept she said “The idea was to create visual pathways leading back to the new concert hall. This was very popular with the public and did 'brighten up the streets'.  We had to use water soluble paints which were just a little too temporary for my liking, but at least we got permission to proceed in the first place.”

This month a ‘Flower Garland’ went on display at The Lighthouse on the exterior balcony space on the 3rd floor as part of Architecture BLOCK.  After her stencilling experience in Perth, she managed to persuade Glasgow City Council to let her do a similar attack of ‘Flower Power urban Vandalism’ along Mitchell Street Lane, next to the Lighthouse.  The installation is on display until 4 December.
 
Also this month a solo exhibition on the ‘Flower Garland’ project opened at the French Institute Exhibition in Edinburgh.  It is exhibited both inside the building in Randolph Crescent and in the private gardens adjacent to Queensferry Street until 25 November.
 
Finally,  the ‘Flower Garland’ was selected for ‘Sculpture by the Sea’, the largest international sculpture exhibition, which runs throughout November on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.