There is a famous quote, “Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower.” Fine artist Edwina Lucas and Anastasia Casale, owner of Sag Harbor Florist, have joined forces to create a shared vision of flower power in an art exhibit running at the shop through September 1.
For 25 years, Anastasia has been a crucial floral creator on The East End in both retail and events, a master conductor of the symphony of color, texture, and fragrance. Lucas has been an avid fan of the gorgeous, bloom-filled shop, searching for the perfect subjects for her stunning oil paintings, often aided by the staff who love seeing the resulting portraits.
“I knew Anastasia not only from her shop, but she did the flowers for my wedding which were amazing,” said Lucas, “I wrote to her that even though it was raining on the day, I walked into the room and it was like the sun came out with all the flowers.” Like many appreciative customers who walk into the florist shop, Lucas likes to simply pause and absorb all the beauty. “They all know to just let me stand there for a minute to take it all in.”
With a mutual fan base on social media and in the Hamptons, the two women decided to collaborate, having Lucas hang some of her works in the historic brick building on Bay Street.
“She curates the shop so beautifully,” said Lucas, “Anastasia’s taste is impeccable, and I was so honored that she asked me to join in this project. If you watch her put the flowers together, it is like she is an artist putting a painting together. She has an eye.”
For Anastasia, this show feels especially close to the heart. Long before founding Sag Harbor Florist, her love for flowers began not in the garden, but at the kitchen table, where she painted watercolor wildflowers alongside her mother, an artist. Those early moments — held in color and quiet attention — are still present in every arrangement she creates. In Edwina’s brushwork, she sees a kindred spirit, someone drawn to the fleeting and devoted to holding it still for just a little longer.
Of the hanging of the show, Lucas commented, “It’s not a gallery, so there are untraditional spots to display the work. The flowers reach up to the paintings, and it is art imitating life. There is a table with poppies, and the poppy painting is above it.” You can almost see the pastel roses nodding to their painted counterparts.
The show also offers customers the chance to purchase some of Lucas’s work, which is both classically reminiscent of the Dutch Masters and contemporary in its larger-scale flower compositions. Lucas said, “There’s an approachability to the paintings where you can envision them in your house because the shop feels like a home. It shows you a way to live with art.”
The creative and visual power of nature is crucial to both of these independent women, and their happiness is indeed found in the sharing of flowers.
