Flower pounding on cotton

Harvest, arrange, and hammer out a cathartic art piece. Flower pounding is exactly what it sounds like with extra little twists. Flowers, fruits, leaves…anything with a pigment goes, and as you slam these materials into the fabric you release their colors and echo their forms from the growing season! From hulk smashing the most delicate flowers to gently tapping leaves to get accents or layers, we will walk you through everything from selection, harvest, and hammering your pieces together. For this project, we’ll be using cotton fabric that’s 45” x 25” to make an elaborate floral table runner that could also be split into a bandana or divided for other projects. We will pretreat the fabric to make the colors more vivid and more colorfast. 60 - 90 minutes.

General Information:

We recommend navigating to the Observatory Drive and Babcock Drive corner. Plan to head north on Babcock Drive. The entrance to the garden is on Babcock Drive. You are welcome to drop off in the circle but we are not allowed to park there. Google maps will sometimes confuse the garden’s address (620 Babcock Dr, Madison, WI 53706) and navigate to Leopold Residence Hall.

Street parking is free on the weekend. Consider near the Garden on Babcock Drive (lot 34), near Porter Boathouse on Babcock Drive (lot 35), and near Babcock Dairy (lot 40). There is paid parking in the Observatory Drive Ramp next to Steenbock Library (lot 36). Lot 36 costs $4 for the first two hours. More information about parking on campus can be found here: https://transportation.wisc.edu/visitor-parking/

Workshops are held rain or shine. In the event of inclement weather, we will move inside the DC Smith Greenhouses and do things there. Should this need arise before the start of our program, then participants will be notified via email two hours prior to the event. If the weather looks unfavorable please check your email before heading out. All the needed plant materials will be brought to DC Smith Greenhouses (465 Babcock Dr, Madison, WI 53706).

Host or Publisher Friends of Allen Centennial Garden