| dc.description.abstract | Artists of various mediums use nature as a muse. To establish nature (flowers and foliage) as a medium, this study identified floral design as an art form, reviewed the introduction of floral design courses within university art departments, and determined floral studio owners’ preference in educational backgrounds of designer employees. Research methodologies included a meta-synthesis, focus group, and survey. The meta-synthesis sourced references (n=190) linking floral design to art and its integration in art departments. Results indicated that floral design is an art form because it contains meaning and is standardized (principles and elements of design and design process), and though floral design is interdisciplinary (science and art), higher education floral design coursework is typically limited to plant science departments (agriculture, horticulture, plant and soil science, natural resource and environmental science).
The focus group (n=4) of higher education Texas Art Education Association members concluded that because the medium of flowers contain context and meaning, non-commodity floral designs are art and because members identified certain floral designs as art, coursework could be integrated into university art departments. The survey provided retrospective data from BBrooks Fine Flowers floral designs studio owners (n=106) in which results revealed owners believed floral design is interdisciplinary (primarily an art with agricultural science to lesser extent). Most designer employees attained a high school education level, but those designers with a higher education tended to have an arts degree and owners preferred designers to have an art to an agricultural degree. | en |
