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Denton Arts & Jazz Festival
Arts & Jazz Fest
Colorado couple transforms flowers from garden to frame
By Jane R. LeBlanc
For the Denton Record-Chronicle
More than 9,000 feet high in the Colorado mountains grow some of the brightest flowers you’ll ever see. Colorado columbines, pansies, coral bells, cosmos, roses and more sprout from the ground amidst hundreds of others, higher than most ski slopes, away from the hustle and bustle. The warm days in Bailey, Colorado, coupled with cool nights and extreme elevation, help produce an array of rich color nothing but Mother Nature could create. From there, Guy and Barbara Beals of Blossoms of the Rockies, make sure that beauty is preserved forever. The flowers, all native Colorado wildflowers, were planted in the Beals’ private garden with very specific intentions. When they are at their absolute boldest, when they are in full bloom and at full potential, they’ll be plucked from their stems and transformed into a different kind of art – pressed flower creations, colorful bouquets and landscapes made from nothing more than a wood backing, paper, glue and pressed flowers. “We move through life so quickly, that most people don’t want to take that time to collect Mother Nature’s beauty and press them and then cre-
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Properties ate something out of them,” Guy says. But he and his wife take the time, inspired by their love of nature.
The Beals will be showing more than 500 pieces at this year's Denton Arts and Jazz Festival. This year will be their third trip to North Texas.
It all started about 35 years ago when Guy, a cabinetmaker by trade, helped a woman craft some flower presses. When she completed her work, she gifted one of the presses to Guy. “All from the love of being outside, enjoying Mother Nature…and now we get paid to go pick flowers and go camping,” Guy says. Now, hundreds of creations travel the road with the couple as they make their way to the Denton Arts & Jazz Festival, one of the bigger festivals they visit. “I have a full season of growing flowers and pressing them before I can even begin to think about making the first piece,” Guy says. He and his wife pick more than 1 million blossoms each season. The patience and effort required makes flower pressing somewhat of a dying art. Thankfully, Guy and Barbara aren’t letting it.
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