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Taken from Poughkeepsie Journal (May 25, 2008)
The festival florist
Artist's arranging of flowers a spiritual stage experience
by John W. Barry - Poughkeepsie Journal
Anthony Ward starts a flower arrangement as he
demonstrates what he creates for Michael Franti
during concerts. (Kathy McLaughlin/Poughkeepsie Journal) |
His floral arrangements have framed gatherings hosted by celebrities so famous they need only one name - Madonna, Uma and Ethan.
Anthony Ward's personality radiates, whether he is performing for thousands, dressed in a tie-dyed shirt and dark sunglasses, or sitting in a chair, with a regal air, dressed in a wool suit.
Ward can be found throughout the year at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck. Tucked among the trees and rolling hills of northern Dutchess County, he probes the possibilities that lie within stamen and sepal, pistil and petal.
Ward runs workshops at Omega called "Being With Flowers: Floral Art as Spiritual Practice." The next workshop is scheduled for October.
You can check out another side of this multidimensional man Saturday, when he performs with Michael Franti and Spearhead at Hunter Mountain in the Catskills during Mountain Jam IV. This music festival runs Friday-Sunday and is staged by Woodstock-based WDST (100.1 FM) and guitarist Warren Haynes, a member of the Allman Brothers Band and Gov't Mule. Rolling Stone in its May 29 edition named Mountain Jam one of the top eight music festivals in North America.
"There is something to be said about throwing a big party for 10,000 of your closest friends and putting together an amazing experience, an amazing three-day weekend experience that becomes the highlight of a person's summer," WDST owner Gary Chetkof said. "There is just a magic to putting together amazing music, with fans who appreciate it; and there is some formula or chain reaction that just makes it all worthwhile to do it and to be able to see it come together."
Gov't Mule kicks off festivities
Gov't Mule will headline Friday and Saturday nights. Bob Weir and RatDog and the Levon Helm Band play Sunday. Dozens of other bands will play throughout the weekend.
Franti, who has performed at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, Bearsville Theater and Woodstock Playhouse, delivers a cross between rock, funk, hip-hop, rap and soul.
On selected songs, as Franti and his band, Spearhead, perform, Ward creates elaborate, stunning, multicolored and complex floral displays on stage. He has also in the past adorned Franti's stages with flower arrangements.
Combining his background in dance with his flair for flowers, Ward moves to the music, waves stems as though they were sabers and adds sight to Franti's sound.
Ward melds flowers with the funk. With him on stage, the backbeat blossoms.
"Its very colorful, what he does," WDST "Morning Show" host Greg Gattine said. "It just adds another element to the performance."
Ward's deep connection to flowers can be traced to his childhood. His paternal and maternal grandmothers were "strong, opinionated women, who ran the show."
Each, Ward said, was an "amazing gardener."
Ward's maternal grandmother, he said, "would totally transform … when she went into the the garden … she became this soft, angelic woman."
Ward said a flower garden provides a "sense of connection with the earth."
"Especially," he added, "when you are putting your hands in the earth. That's where I really got my connection with flowers."
Ward had his first garden at 13. He grew radishes and shared his first harvest with his family at dinner.
"My mother asked me to bless the food that night," Ward said. "It was a way of getting positive attention in the family.
Ward said his garden "was a place I could go and feel connected to the whole thing - life - you know?"
Ward studied ballet in high school and received a scholarship to the Roland DuPree Dance Academy in Los Angeles.
Didn't want to go to NYC
He was on the cusp of launching a successful career, but would have had to move to New York City to take the next step.
"I decided I wasn't going to do that," he said. "I didn't feel good about that."
He instead took a public relations position with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Around the same time, Ward met a man who ran a high-end, custom floral shop whose clients included Elizabeth Taylor, Sally Field and Tim Burton.
A mutual friend was getting married and she asked Ward for flowers, for the ceremony, from his garden. Ward brought the flowers - about five dozen Calla Lilies - to the floral shop owner in advance of the big day.
"He said, 'Where did these come from? Who are you?' " Ward said.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic let Ward go and he went to work for the floral shop owner.
"It was kind of a day or two into working there and I was like, 'I'm doing this the rest of my life,' " Ward said.
He worked at that shop for nine months, then moved to Santa Cruz, Calif., and opened his own shop. Ward provided the flowers for an event in Santa Cruz with Ram Dass, the spiritual teacher. A Tibetan nun who was at that event asked Ward if he could provide the flowers for an event in San Francisco to be attended by the Dalai Lama.
The organizers of that event were Uma Thurman's parents.
While operating his shop in Santa Cruz, Ward provided floral arrangements for a concert the Santa Cruz Philharmonic gave at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. Franti and Spearhead were scheduled to play the next night, so Ward, who knew the staff at the venue, arranged to have the flowers left in place.
The next night, Ward, a Franti fan, arranged to leave a floral arrangement in Franti's dressing room.
"I was leaving it there and Michael walked in," Ward said. "I said, 'This is for you.' He gave me one of his big Michael Franti bear hugs. I said, 'Thank you so much.' "
Ward gave Franti some information about his work with flowers, then took his seat for the concert.
Flowers were centerstage
"He came on the stage, holding the arrangement I made, from the dressing room, and put it on stage. He left it on the piano. I was like, 'Wow, please don't fall over,' " Ward said. "After the show, he grabbed me by the hand and said, 'Would you come with me backstage? I want you to meet my manager.' "
Franti's manager said the singer would like to have Ward design flowers for the stage at upcoming concerts. They performed together for the first time the following week, at S.O.B.'s, a nightclub in Manhattan. This spirit, these sights, and these sounds will make their way to the mountains Saturday.
"It's fun, it's like a celebration of life," Ward said of performing with Franti. "That's what it is for me. He's so joyful. … He is an example of someone walking in peace, living to uplift other people."
To learn more about Anthony Ward: www.beingwithflowers.com
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