BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) A graduation decoration made by a graduate student at Cornell University’s Graduate School of Design may have been the inspiration for a student’s graduation decoration.
In her first class, the students painted a picture of a flower bed with a rose petal in it.
The petal was an abstract, geometric design by graduate student Elizabeth G. Smith and her graduate student Amanda K. Wiegman.
Smith told The Associated Press that the design was inspired by the rose petals of the garden.
The flowers were added by the students in the course of painting and sewing the bed.
Smith says the rose flower bed has inspired students to create graduation decorations since she first started working on it in 2014.
She said it’s inspired by flowers like the white rose, pink rose and orange rose.
“There are so many other types of flowers that people would love to get that rose, but I wanted to do something that was really, really unique and original,” Smith said.
“And I think that’s the inspiration of the roses.”
Smith said the flowers will be on display at the Cornell School of Architecture in May.
Smith, who is now studying to be a sculptor, said she didn’t know she was painting flowers before she started.
“It just kind of hit me,” Smith told the AP.
“I had this idea for a flower-shaped bed and I just thought, well, that’s kind of neat and something that you could put in a house, that would make it more of a centerpiece than just a decoration.”
The graduate students at Cornell’s Graduate Student Design Program paint flowers in their classes.
(Courtesy of Elizabeth G Smith)The graduate student’s inspiration for the design came from her love of the rose.
The roses are part of a larger design that includes flowers, but the graduate students painted them without the rose, so it didn’t have a flower shape.
“I wanted to make it a bit more abstract and a bit less flowery than the rose,” Smith explained.
“So I went with a bit of a more geometric and a little bit of rose.
And that’s how the rose is drawn.”
Smith painted a small rose in her graduate students’ class.
(Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Smith)Smith said she wanted to give students the opportunity to create their own design, and she wanted the graduates to get their own ideas.
“If you see something you like and want to do it, we have a lot of classes on how to do that,” Smith recalled.
“It’s not a project, it’s not just some painting and cutting and sewing, but it’s a really interesting process, and I think it’s really fun and interesting.”
The graduates have been working on their graduation decorations, which they will show at a graduation ceremony in March.
