Always in bloom: HoMA’s famed Flower Group keeps the museum alive with stunning floral arrangements

Past the entrance gates, in the museum lobby, are a pair of elegant floral arrangements greeting HoMA visitors as soon as they arrive. Two more rest in alcoves by the Central Courtyard, while another display accents the HoMA Cafe.

Every two weeks, the museum’s famed volunteer flower team creates this drama-in-a-vase. Led by Holly Marchant and consisting of Erin Choy, Brian Choy, Joyce Tomonari, Kitty Wo, Leila Diamond, Joanne Chang, Tracie Iha, and Rosemary Eberhardt, the group continues a long-standing tradition—it dates back to 1927, the year HoMA opened as the Honolulu Academy of Arts. They take to new heights a program that has included May Moir, one of Hawai‘i’s most revered floral designers and gardeners, who was part of the group from 1950 to 1988.

“This museum is nearly a hundred years old, and those niches have been here since the inception,” says team member and museum trustee Kitty Wo. “So, I think that was part of what our founder, Anna Rice Cooke, had intended.”

With a different member leading each design, no arrangement looks the same. The group meets early on Wednesday mornings, tackling their projects with verdant leaves and dried branches strewn around them, and by 10am, finished designs are ready to enchant visitors.

Material world

The talented floral designers find inspiration everywhere, from museum exhibitions to holidays, as well as available materials, like a chef motivated by seasonal ingredients. The group kicked off April with a sculptural look—twisting and winding hala and bent plexiglass, held in a vessel as contemporary as the botanical display.

“You can see that we don’t always use flowers,” says Erin Choy. “We also use unconventional materials.” For the group, playing around with unusual mediums, such as recycled products like corrugated cardboard and plastic six-pack rings, excites them. It’s also sometimes necessary.

“We used cardboard muffin holders once,” recalled Joanne Chang. “We were going to be busy, and we wouldn’t be able to come back to change the water out. So, we used materials that didn’t need water.”

True to their commitment to sustainability, the flower team often reuses materials from past projects. In fact, many members have areas in their homes for storage. They often leave the museum with plants in hand, planning to dry and later apply them to an upcoming display.

“I love the dried elements, the dried branches,” shares Wo. “There’s so much character to them. And they have many lives because we can reuse them again and again, so it’s fun to see them transformed with each arrangement.”

The most popular material with the group? Anthuriums. Besides their tropical beauty, the plants are available in many colors and lengths—a fun challenge for the flower team members to work with. They’re also practical. “Anthuriums last long,” explains Tracie Iha. “And they can withstand the heat and humidity in Hawai‘i.”

Left image: This arrangement in Central Courtyard consists of hala and bent plexiglass.
Right image (from left to right): Joyce Tomonari, Kitty Wo, Tracie Iha, and Joanne Chang

Creating arrangements, evoking feelings

Most of the team are qualified ikebana teachers specializing in Sogetsu. “It’s the youngest and most contemporary school of ikebana, so it involves a lot of greens, a lot of sculpture,” says Joyce Tomonari, who led the team for more than ten years and has 27 years of experience in Sogetsu. “Our master teachers from Japan say, ‘If you can’t make the plant more interesting or more beautiful than it already is, don’t cut it because nature is already so beautiful.’”

A guiding Sogetsu principle is to enhance—not overshadow—nature’s beauty, which leads the group to focus on creating movement and balance with their materials. “We like movement because it expresses more emotion to the person looking at it,” says Tomonari.

“The arrangements add to that whole immersive experience we’re looking for—seeing and feeling with all our senses,” says Wo. She also notes that the floral presentations offer a unique and memorable experience for many visitors, showcasing the lush greenery of Hawai‘i in a way they might not have seen before.

“When you come into the museum, you know you’re somewhere different,” says Wo. “You know you’re in Hawai‘i. The whole idea of a museum that embraces the outdoors, I think that is something we incorporate with the flowers.”