Illustration by Alexandra Nelipa
The Art Guild will collaborate with the Orchid Society for an April showcase and festival.
By Tiffany Anne Bermea
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
Orchids will be blooming with spectacular colors and exotic species from all over the world in San Antonio this April.
During Fiesta, the Alamo Orchid Society and this colleges Art Guild will be collaborating as they showcase art and orchids together.
The orchid show and sale is noon-4 p.m. April 15, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. April 16 and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. April 17 at The San Antonio Garden Center, 3310 N. New Braunfels Ave.
Admission is free.
The Art Guild is made up of students who are art majors.
Exhibitions Coordinator Dante DiPasquale said, “The goal of the guild is to get students involved in more of the art scene as well as provide portfolio critique and help students with deciding what university to go to after SAC.”
The Alamo Orchid Society is a nonprofit organization that educates members and the public about orchids.
Orchid show publicity co-Chair Ken Levi contacted the visual arts department at SAC in the fall. Levi has worked with students in the art department and purchased some of their artwork.
Levi said, “We are a group of people who’ve been around since the 1940s, and we have weekly meetings at the Lions Field on Broadway. We have an orchid show once a year.”
They are part of a bigger society called The American Orchid Society whose members share a love for orchids.
DiPasquale said, “After talking to Ken in person, we discussed and decided that it would be a great opportunity for us as artists to get our names out to the public, but also demonstrate how our time in the studios represents the art department.”
About 5,000 square feet of orchids will be displayed, and the Art Guild’s challenge at the festival is to transform the orchids into a creative work of art that compares the supreme artistry of nature and visual artistry of man.
It was Levi’s idea to combine the pair.
“I thought it would be a great experience to combine the two things, to combine the art from SAC with the orchids during our orchid show,” said Levi.
The festival showcases three public displays that are all near the garden center. The orchid show will be the first display, where there will be colorful and rare orchids blooming.
The Art Guild will be the second display with original art.
The third display is at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, where a special Fiesta event called “Viva Botanica” is planned.
It is up to the artist to decide how to use the orchids as art.
“Some of them will look abstract, some of them won’t look like orchids at all,” Levi said. “Some of them will be like literal pictures.”
Vendors at the festival will include Clown Alley Orchids, Ecuagenera, E.D. Huntington Orchids, LA Orchid Connection, Miller’s Tropicals of Texas, Orchids and Tropicals, Spring Orchids and Stoneware by Ann.
The Art Guild’s original paintings, sculptures, photos and ceramics will complement the theme of orchids.
“We’re not talking about an orchid show; we’re talking about an opportunity for SAC,” Levi said.
The eight members of the Art Guild are working hard to produce as much art as they can for the show.
“We have members who are sculpting, painting and drawing and are even collaborating with each other to knock out some incredible work,” DiPasquale said.
Orchid enthusiasts and those who are beginners are encouraged to attend.
Call Levi at 210-734-0112 or email DiPasquale at ddipasquale@satx.rr.com.
