Arts in Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.

Coming up, we'll talk with studio florist Lissette Wyche and mixed media artist Christy Scott Arbogast.

It's all next on Arts in Focus.

Welcome to Arts in Focus.

I'm Emilie Henry.

During 2020, Lisette Wyche began designing with flowers and creating arrangements for her friends as a way to cope with the pandemic.

The result?

She fell in love with flowers and her business Lissette Floral was born.

Lissette is known for her whimsical garden style floral design, which she uses to create stunning arrangements for weddings and other special events.

Her inspiration is nature, with its airy movements and delicate forms.

Lissette translates this into her work.

Lissette Thank you so much for having me.

Let's start at the beginning.

When did you first realize that you were good at arranging flowers?

I am from Southern California and so I was raised around flowers and beautiful plants and so I always had a love for flowers.

But it began when I moved here to Fort Wayne.

I was new in the area and I needed something to do and keep myself busy.

So I started working for an event center, and there they felt that I was creative and they threw me in with the florist.

And so I just learned from her a little.

And then during the pandemic, it's when it all started, because I was at home, I was bored and I didn't want to go crazy.

So I started landscaping.

And so I did my home mom's front yard.

Yeah.

And so from then, I because I couldn't visit my friends and I know they all love flowers.

So I started making arrangements for them and dropping them off at their homes.

Well, one of my friends, she really loved what I did.

And so she's like, How much would you charge me for one of these?

I'm like, Im not going to charge you.

And so she said, Please, please let me buy a few from you because I want to give them to my friends, too.

So she was my first client and she kind of encouraged me to open up what Lissette Floral is now.

That's crazy.

Okay.

I was just thinking about you the other day knowing that this interview was coming up.

I went to the grocery store.

I love fresh flowers and, you know, bought a silly little bouquet, like, plopped it in the vase.

And I sort of, like, fussed around with trying to and I was like, I am terrible at this.

I don't have any sort of eye for for the composition.

So how long did it take you to feel confident in, in putting things together in the right spot and making it?

I mean, your arrangements are breathtaking and I can't even take a pre done bouquet and make it work.

Well, thank you.

I felt the same way the first time I was playing with flowers, but a lot of my inspiration and my, how can I word it?

Just trees, plants, gardens.

So I look at how they are airy and they're just they just flow and nothing is very abstract.

Everything makes sense.

Yeah.

So the more I look at gardens, the more I feel like, okay, I can do this.

And so that is how I felt, like I was getting more confident when my little centerpiece looked like a little mini garden.

So that's how I felt, like, okay, I'm getting better because it looks like someone's front yard.

But I've learned that flowers, they love to stay cool.

They love their dark spots.

Once they're cut, they need to stay hydrated more so than when they were in the ground.

So they need to the the more sun, the more they need hydration.

Yeah.

So the less sun the less they need hydration.

So tell me about your process when it comes to designing for an event or for for a specific client.

So say I come to you and say, I want you to do the flowers for my wedding.

And here is kind of the color palette, from there are you designing in your head before you even go to the farm, or are you are you on the job on the site?

Like deciding what it's going to be?

As soon as I have like an interview with the the client, I build the proposal and everything is based on what their theme is, their colors, even their personality.

So I take that into consideration when I am going to build a recipe.

So I call them flower recipes.

Yeah, because you could tell me, Oh, I really want my bouquet to have sweet peas.

Okay, well, maybe sweet peas are not in season.

Yeah.

So I will have to substitute that with something else.

So just depending on the client and how serious they are about a specific flower is what I base myself on.

But I want to represent.

I want my flower arrangements to represent what you want to represent for your special day.

Okay.

Now, what happens if I come to you and say, I don't know what I want?

So you do it.

You you come up with something beautiful.

I think those have been the best weddings.

Because I feel full trust.

Yeah.

And I feel like if you come to me is because you already like my work.

Yes.

So if you're giving me that freedom, I feel honored, and I do my best.

And so those are the times where just the work seems to work all around.

Because you've allowed me to do what you want me to do.

So it's just freedom.

When you give an artist freedom, then they create.

Sure.

Okay.

Tell me what it's like to put an arrangement together.

Say a centerpiece.

Do you know when it's done?

So many artists tell me painters are like It's just hard to know when you're done.

Do you have a definitive sense of.

Okay, that's it.

I have the same problem you want to keep adding a little I have to step away.

Yeah.

So I've learned that for especially, I think the most challenging piece for a wedding is the bridal bouquet.

So I leave that for last and say the wedding is Saturday.

I will design Friday.

Just your bridal bouquet.

I want to make sure I get everything done so Ill leave the bridal bouquet for Friday and say work two or 3 hours.

Step aside.

Wake up really early morning, Saturday morning, around five I'm up, rearranging, tweaking, taking away.

And so, yes, it's always hard to know when to stop, but it usually takes me two days to figure that out.

For a bridal bouquet.

When I was doing a deep dive, looking at photos of your work, some of the things you put together are so big, they're so vast.

How long does it take to put all that together?

And are you doing it yourself or do you have you hired help?

Yes, I always hire freelancers.

And here in Fort Wayne, we have a great team of we just collaborate.

We help each other a lot.

So I have my flower friends that, we call each other flower friends.

Yeah.

And so we always have that help.

But usually those big arrangements, theyre installations and we have to build or design on site.

So that will take us about what I'm going to say, two or 3 hours.

But that's just working together.

Yeah, two or three florists.

Which brings me to my next question.

Faux flowers, what is your feeling on them?

Do you ever use them?

How does that work?

I call them silk flowers because And I'm not opposed to them.

I just.

I haven't worked with them.

Yeah.

And it's not something that I think I will do in the future either.

Live fresh flowers.

They just light up a room.

You can tell.

You can.

It's the only living thing in in your area or your living room.

Whatever you want to place just one stem and it just transforms a whole room where as a silk flower, it just can't do that.

You're right.

It's just not.

It's just not the same.

Okay.

How do you feel like you have progressed and grown as an artist from when you first decided, okay, I'm going to kind of make a go of this to now?

Like I said, I'm still learning.

Yeah, I'm still learning.

And it's it's it's a process.

As long as I stay inspired and motivated, I can continue to feel like I'm growing.

But it's never going to end.

Yeah, you know, there's so many things to work with when it comes to flowers.

I just did a research and there's almost 350,000 different types of flowers, and the article I read said that if you were to study every single flower starting today, it would take you at least 958 years.

So that just tells you how much you can learn from a flower and the process and designing everything.

It's never ending.

Wholesalers around here, we get a lot of are our orders from the Netherlands.

Wow.

From South America.

Okay.

But usually during the summer time I tried to purchase local.

Yeah.

Which is whatever is in season.

Yeah but yes we we do have limitations depending on what area of the world you are as a florist.

Yeah.

So what's next?

What gets you excited about continuing to have a business that that really is to bring people joy to, to capture beauty and and give it out to people.

I think what's next for me, I really want to be able to teach and so that people can you know, you don't have to pay a florist all the time.

Yeah.

Because like you said, you just went to the grocery store and you didn't know what you were doing, you know.

So I want to be able to share what I know with others.

Yes.

And I've always been a creative person and I like challenges.

So I feel like when I really get into something, I just am passionate about it.

Yeah.

And so Flowers was one of those things.

Yeah.

So I don't know if it was in me or not, but I know I love it and this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

And I just want to continue learning so.

I would say it's year.

I can say with confidence it's in you.

Lissette I just am stunned by what you are able to put together and I really appreciate you taking the time to, to sit with and chat with me today.

Thank you, Emilie.

For more information, visit Lissette Floristry dot com.

I'm joined now by artist Christy Scott Arbogast.

Christy, thank you for being here.

Thank you for having me.

I told you when you came in, I'm especially excited because I own some of your work and and purchased it before I knew that you were going to be a guest.

So obviously I'm a fan.

Thank you.

I want to know the origin of your beautiful work.

When did you start creating these?

I don't.

I would call them social commentary.

Well, after I had my son, I really struggled with postpartum depression.

And before that, I had always done a lot of photography.

And, you know, once you have a kid, you can't leave to go do whatever you want.

Yes.

Yes.

So one day, like in my house, my mom always did embroidery and a piece of hers that I had never seen before fell at my feet.

And I just took it as a sign.

And so I started stitching a little.

Well, then when I would stitch, I would miss photography, and then when I would do photography, I'd miss stitching.

So one day I felt like what it would be like if I mix the two together.

Well, then 2016 came about and I felt very like a way to kind of have a voice and give voice to others that you know, may feel unheard so that it just kind of organically went from there.

That is incredible.

So before all of that, before you started even into photography, did you consider yourself an artist?

Did you have a creative outlet?

My mom always stitched or she would do that.

Paint by numbers.

Yeah.

Which was really popular in the seventies.

She had a bunch of children and she had a lot of stress, and so she would just sit quietly, just stitch and chain smoke away and paint by number.

What a sign of the times.

So you felt like a creative outlet in that way was just sort of natural.

So I would just like doodle and stuff like that and I would draw.

I really wanted to be a painter, but a painter I am not also same, right?

And my dad was really into photography and I always loved photography, especially vintage photography.

And in college I studied like the history of vintage photography and stuff like that.

So well, that is one of the things, one of the many things that I just love so much about your work.

You find vintage photos.

You embellish them by stitching.

Mm hmm.

But then also you add quotes and maxims.

They are just so cool.

Thank you.

Where does the inspiration come from?

Do you.

Do you have the idea first and then find the perfect photo?

Or do you find a photo?

And then the idea of how to embellish it comes?

Both.

Okay Yeah, both.

Sometimes.

I don't mean to sound weird, but a lot of times, like I go to estate sales picker sales, antique shops, thrift stores, and I'll just see something and she'll just speak to me.

Yeah.

And I'm like, Oh, that's what she really wanted to say.

Yes, that was.

I think that that is such a beautiful part of what you do as well.

It's kind of that juxtaposition between who that woman presents and or how that woman presents and and what maybe was really going on.

Yes.

So you mentioned estate sales, picker sales.

How else do you acquire these photos?

Some people just donate them to me.

I had a friend that donated a that somebody had given to her, just a huge bag of these photos from the early forties.

And they were all nuns and priests in college.

And it was they lived very differently back then.

Everybody chain smokes.

But they were young and they were playing football, you know, in a way that you never see clergy, right?

Yeah.

So that was really interesting.

But yeah, just a lot of people donate or friends have given me some.

They're like, I don't know who these people are.

Yeah.

Okay.

Do you embellish the original photo or do you scan them?

How does that happen?

In the past, I would do the original, and it was always kind of hard to part with some of them.

Yeah.

So I in the past couple of years, I scan them and then I reprint them and I go from there.

So I have a few that are original, but for a majority of them are reprinted.

I'm so interested in, in your thought process sort of before you put proverbial pen to paper or needle to photo or canvas when you, for example, got the the bag full of clergy photos, are you going through one by one and like jotting down ideas as to what you want to do on them, or do you just take it one at a time?

How does that happen?

Because I, I can't imagine.

I'm not good at, like, pre-planning.

Oh, I just kind of.

I will see something.

I'll have the idea and I'll just go straight for it.

Or sometimes I'll just have the photo and I'm like, Well, this is really cool and I know what to do, and I'll just kind of hold on to it until and then just wing it.

Okay?

Now that you are scanning and, and you have the ability to reproduce the photos, do you ever find a woman in particular that you feel like she has a lot to say?

So you use the same image.

So definitely.

I love that.

I love that.

I have quite a few and I feel like I know them personally now.

I know that sounds weird, but.

No.

but again, when you feel like you are giving voice and even if it's not to that specific person, you know, it's sort of the the general consensus, right Perhaps.

Yes.

Do you ever fear that you will run out of material, that you will run out of things to say or, you know, messages to convey?

I have a couple of times and then you watch the world news and you realize people will give you some inspiration.

Yeah, that's kind of that's what I was thinking.

I would imagine that all it takes is a few minutes.

5 minutes on the world news.

Yeah.

Is that ever depressing that you have so much to comment on?

Yes.

Yeah, I guess I hadn't thought about it in that terms, but yeah, it really is kind of sad that there's always going to be something to comment to comment on.

Yeah.

Does it help you mentally, emotionally, kind of work through your feelings to be able to express yourself this way?

Oh, definitely.

Yes, definitely.

It saved my life.

I was in that really deep that most moms go through.

Yeah.

It's being, being a new mom can be a very lonely place.

And I was an older mom.

And so your hormones are like, Yes, I relate so deeply.

Yes.

And I love that.

That you found a creative expression giving voice to, to women in large part, especially because so many women postpartum and obviously otherwise.

But they don't have a voice.

Its so hush too, people don't talk about it.

I remember contacting a couple other people that had just recently had a child and I'm like, Are you feeling this?

Well i did but I just didn't say anything?

Yes.

Where I'm pretty like very forward with it's like my own parade.

Yeah.

I'm constantly like, it's so hard.

Yeah, right, right.

Yeah.

I'm freaking out.

I'm super anxious today.

Yes.

Yes.

I wish that I had thought to channel my feelings in in a beautiful way.

Like, thank you.

Like you did.

Do you create every day?

Yes, I stitch probably anywhere from 2 to 4 hours a day.

Oh, my gosh.

I just sit there.

I watch my favorite shows.

I'm a big fan of the BBC and period dramas, the stuff that's so I just watch my my Downton Abbey or whatever.

Yes.

Which I imagine helps with your work as well.

You know, some of these women not saying what they want to say or saying it and paying for the repercussions.

That's incredible.

What do you think your work has taught you about yourself?

Oh, gosh.

To be a good listener, try to be a good listener of other people, to be humble, to respect where our history as women comes from.

You know, even in the Downton Abbey period, that was one of the like big waves of feminism.

Yeah.

And you notice that with I had talked to somebody about it like a year ago, a friend of mine, she's like, really?

And I was like, Yes, well, think about it.

They were fighting for the vote and I said they were going against social norms.

They started wearing pants.

Yeah, that was a huge thing.

They started cutting their hair in the flapper style.

Flappers were like, Yeah, huge.

Like that was a big game changer and like, kind of set the tone for, I mean, being able to be like, okay, I don't have to have my hair down to my butt or my knees.

Yeah, I can do I don't have to wear a corset.

Right, exactly.

And there are a lot that's talked about in the show.

So I think it's really interesting how they pull all that together so.

Well, obviously, I love your work and it's so incredible that you are you are a good listener.

You're more than a good listener because you hear what goes unsaid and what went unsaid and what a great way to put it.

That's how that's how I feel about it.

That yeah, that you are giving voice to, to a lot of women who are, wherever they are now are saying, well done Christy Yeah.

So thank you for the work that you produce and for turning darkness into beauty.

There's always light.

Yeah, there's always light, yeah, even if it's just a little dot.

But you found it and, and have made the world a more beautiful place for it.

So thank you.

And thank you for taking the time to sit with me.

Thank you for having me.

I really appreciate it.

For more information, find Soul Dirt Stitchery on Instagram Our thanks to Lissette Wyche and Christy Scott Arbogast.

Be sure to join us next week for Arts in Focus.

You can catch this and other episodes at PBS Fort Wayne dot org or through our app and be sure to check out our YouTube channel.

Thank you for watching.

And in the meantime, enjoy something beautiful.

Arts in Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.