Chartreuse Gladiolus

Large wall art for a statement needs scale, form, and a color decision that reads from across the room. The Chartreuse Gladiolus is the vertical gladiolus form in chartreuse — it reaches upward on the wall in a way that compact round ceramic flowers do not. Chihuly Garden and Glass carries it. An institution built around large-scale color and form made a purchasing decision about this specific piece. That is the endorsement a statement wall art piece should have.

Vertical forms like the gladiolus work particularly well on walls above low horizontal furniture — the vertical reach creates a relationship between furniture and wall that round forms do not establish as clearly. On a wall without furniture below it the gladiolus reads as a self-contained botanical statement. Chihuly Garden and Glass carries it. Their installation context involves thinking about vertical elements in three-dimensional space.

The Chartreuse Gladiolus is a specific birthday gift for someone with opinions about unusual flowers — the gladiolus is not a standard gift flower, and chartreuse is not a color gladioli come in naturally. Together they create an object that is specific in form and surprising in color. Chihuly Garden and Glass carries the collection. The birthday person receives a gift that acknowledges their specific taste rather than the general category of people who like flowers.

The gladiolus is a South African bulb with individual florets arranged along an upright stem. The vertical arrangement creates a form that is architecturally linear rather than radially symmetric, which distinguishes it from most flowers in the collection. In ceramic at wall-flower scale, this creates a piece that reads as height rather than mass. The chartreuse glaze on ascending florets creates a color field that moves upward on the wall — the dynamic quality that Chihuly Garden and Glass responded to in their purchasing decision.

The Chartreuse Gladiolus with the Lime Yellow Larkspur and the Chartreuse Columbine creates a botanical study in three vertical forms across two related yellow-green glazes. The gladiolus reads as the most substantial. The larkspur as the most delicate. The columbine as the most complex. Together they create a vertical axis that the round compact forms anchor around — exactly what the tripled Chelsea collection visitors meant by you cannot make a bad combination.

The gladiolus is the birth flower for August, making the Chartreuse Gladiolus an August birthday gift for the August person who would rather receive a gladiolus than a poppy and has opinions about chartreuse. Chihuly Garden and Glass carries the collection. The August person who receives this gets a birth flower gift with art institutional endorsement from an institution known for its relationship to color and botanical form.

The Chartreuse Gladiolus hangs with a single standard wall screw using the keyhole mount on the back — the same system as every other ceramic flower in the collection. One screw, 90 seconds. The vertical form means the keyhole mount positions the piece with its stem pointing upward, which is the correct orientation. No command strips. No velcro. The gladiolus was designed to hang and has never expressed a preference for any other position.

Gladioli come in red, pink, orange, yellow, white, and purple. Chartreuse is not among these options. Chive's design team decided that chartreuse met the vertical gladiolus form's architectural quality with equal deliberateness. Chihuly Garden and Glass, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the High Museum in Atlanta all decided the chartreuse was correct. The gladiolus has not been informed of the natural color options it was bypassed in favor of. It is hanging on walls in art museum gift shops and appears settled.