Flowers played a central role in Victorian visual and material culture. This workshop explores the nineteenth-century fascination with floriography—the “language of flowers”—and considers how Victorian artists employed floral symbolism to communicate themes such as love, memory, fidelity, hope, and purity. After examining examples of paintings and their botanical symbolism, participants will create their own symbolic bouquets using a selection of fresh flowers. Drawing on historical floriography while making their own interpretive choices, attendees will leave with a unique floral arrangement and a deeper appreciation for the ways flowers communicated meanings in Victorian art and culture.

Carey Gibbons is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art History at the University of North Texas. She specializes in Victorian art and design, the histories of illustration and graphic design, connections between art and science, spiritualist art, intersections between art and religion, and the digital humanities. She has published on the work of Arthur Hughes, Jessie Marion King, and Evelyn De Morgan.

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