CALENDAR
|
NOTEWORTHY
|
RECIPES
|
FE ATURES
|
EVENTS
|
NE NEIGHBORS
Flower Child DRIED FLOWER PETALS BECOME COLORFUL ARTWORK IN THE HANDS OF AN ARTIST WITH A VINTAGE FLOWER PRESS. WRITTEN BY LESLIE CRISS PHOTOGRAPHED BY JOE WORTHEM
A
pril Ford Beasley has had a penchant for picking petals since she was a little girl in Itawamba County. Just ask her artist mom. “From the time she could walk, she was always drawn to flowers,” Laura Summerford said. “She’d pick tiny wildflower bouquets.” Beasley doesn’t mind her mom’s reminiscence of her childhood. In fact, she nods in agreement. “I do like to call myself a flower child,” Beasley said. “I love flowers, always have. My favorites? Sunflowers and daisies.” The 27-year-old Beasley has, in the past year, parlayed her love of flowers into an artistic preservation project. After a serendipitous discovery of a vintage flower press in an antique shop, Beasley made a purchase, went home and began making silhouettes from dried, pressed flower petals. Her first silhouette was of the state of Mississippi. Since her initial piece, Beasley has done silhouettes of animals, paw prints, children’s handprints, cardinals, koi fish and much more. Silhouettes of the Ole Miss Colonel Rebel have been very popular. Beasley has done commissioned pieces, and her work is on display in her hometown of Fulton at Farmhouse and also at Farmhouse in Tupelo. Working with dried flower petals has been a learning experience that has involved lots of trial and error. “Spring and summer are the best times to work,” Beasley said. “It’s just hard to find flowers growing in the winter, though not impossible.” Beasley grows some flowers herself and makes use of those growing in her mother’s yard, but others she finds on roadsides. She
32
INVITATION | M ARCH 2020
