Annual orchid show mixes living plants with sculptures of flowers made from plastic bags

Two thousand flowers are in bloom right now at the New England Botanic Garden's annual orchid show. But tucked among the living plants are dozens of sculptures of orchids made from single-use plastic bags.

The exhibition is called "Patterns in Bloom" and is the brainchild of New England artist Molly Gambardella. She says she researched as many of the 28,000 different varieties of orchid as she could to craft her sculptures.

"It's overwhelming, at least for me at first, when I was trying to pull patterns and shapes and find that common thread to really be inspired from," said Gambardella. "But really the part that was overwhelming, the diversity, ended up being mainly what I focused on. There's 61 sculptures throughout this installation, but every single one is unique."

Gambardella made the sculptures by heating up the bags, which formed them into a thicker plastic that she could then bend, shape, sew and paint into different kinds of orchids. Gambardella said the process could be tedious, but working with the bags in this way was important to her.

"It's really something that I find joy in, and I admire people who use their hands," Gambardella said. "In a world of mass produced things, how can you find different possibilities? Like plastic bags being defined as a single use purpose? There is no way ... these [the flowers] are all from single use bags, like that definition means nothing."

"Patterns in Bloom" will be on display through March 17. You can find more information on the installation here.