Ana Thompson: Botanical Artist
We are not meant to thrive inside our homes and apartments. Humans need a connection with nature and plants. What’s up to us is how we choose to make that connection.
For some, growing plants indoors gives them the boost they need. For others, it’s about getting outside and connecting with the earth by gardening. For some people, growing things isn’t as much of a possibility.
It’s exactly these kinds of people, the plant lovers who are artistically-minded, who Botanical Artist Ana Thompson is drawn to create for. Her business, Mirage & Bird, is all about celebrating a lifetime of blooms, even if they aren’t alive.
Ana has gravitated toward the beauty of the Sonoran Desert and celebrates it through her work, but her life in the Pacific Northwest is what drew her to flowers in the first place. Working at a floral studio, wrapping the bouquets of real flowers is where her craft began.
“I took every single scrap I could home and I just loved them. The flowers kind of taught me what to do with them.”
She understands there’s a perfection in the way the natural world works, everything is a certain way. So, in her creations, she wants to make something realistic, but also with a little whimsy.
“The natural world is perfect and it has so many systems and logic that it’s not for me to argue with them. I don’t care for a design style that’s going to be convoluted or showing a lot of control…I want to always have that dance of encouraging the plants to come my way and letting them be how they are.”
Even though the plants she makes don’t provide oxygen like real plants do, she believes they will still provide the boost of nature that everyone needs.
“The permanent plants are going to emanate the same colors, they’re going to have the same effect on our psyche.”
That’s the vision Ana has for her artworks, that people will be filled with joy whenever they see their permanent plant.
“I want people to connect with nature…even if they’re not naturally alive it is still that reminder.”
For more information about Mirage and Bird, visit the website. Follow Ana on Instagram.
Director, Cinematographer, and Editor for this episode is Peter Fuhrman.
Produced by Peter Fuhrman.
