Florilegium

a gathering of flowers

New works by Joseph and Melinda Ostraff

Opening Reception & Artist Talk: Saturday, October 10, 2026, 3 to 5 PM

On view through October 31, 2026

Nüart Gallery presents Florilegium: a gathering of flowers, new

collaborative works by Joseph and Melinda Ostraff. The exhibition opens with a reception,

artist talk, and walkthrough on Saturday, October 10, 2026, from 3 to 5 PM, and remains on

view through October 31, 2026, at the gallery's Bergamot Station location.

Florilegium takes its title from the botanical florilegium, an illustrated compendium of plants

that flourished in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Part scientific record and part art

object, the florilegium was an act of collecting and ordering the natural world. Melinda and

Joseph Ostraff take up that tradition in a series of paintings shaped by a visit to The

Huntington in San Marino, California, whose gardens exemplify the careful selection,

arrangement, and cultivation of plant life found in historic gardens.

The work draws on a long lineage in Western garden design, particularly the enduring idea of

the garden as a return to Eden: a place of harmony, order, restoration, and beauty, whether

understood literally or metaphorically.

Founded 25 years ago, Nüart Gallery has mounted more than 250 solo and group exhibitions

and represents forty artists whose work is held in major collections.

The gallery has anchored Canyon Road in Santa Fe for 25 years and opened a second

location at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica in 2023.