american flowers week ~ June 28 to July 4 ~ Celebrating American Grown Flowers in all 50 States

The 2023 American Flowers Week artwork was created exclusively for Slow Flowers Society by April Lemly, an artist, illustrator, and former flower farmer based in Los Angeles, California.

April is a long-time friend of the Slow Flowers Movement who previously owned and operated Kamama Flowers in Sequim, Washington. You can listen to our 2018 interview with April on the Slow Flowers Podcast here. She has been a teacher, a graphic designer, a small business marketing coach, a flower farmer, and floral designer. We love her artwork (seen at aprillemly.com) and her playful illustration techniques that depict mostly female characters, animal, and plants. 

Recently, our founder Debra Prinzing connected with April to discuss her story and her relationship with flowers and nature.
AFW: April, can you describe yourself as an artist?
AL: At my core, I’m a creative and I’ve had the luck to fall in love with many different mediums. And when I fell in love with working with flowers, I was able to say, ‘oh, flowers are just another medium for my art.'”

AFW: Describe your path to becoming an artist.
AL: I had been making art since I was a child. I wanted to be a teacher, so my bachelor’s degree had an emphasis on teaching art to elementary-aged children. I taught art at a juvenile detention center in Los Angeles County for many years. But I knew I wanted to pursue a master’s degree and further evolve as a human being and an artist. I earned a MFA in graphic design in 2008 at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. My early work was mostly branding and print design, but painting and drawing has always shown up in my projects.

AFW: What are you currently working on?
AL: During quarantine, I was able to focus more on my career development and I began taking illustration classes. So yes, I still design annual reports and marketing collateral, but I’m really loving this move into illustration. I’m currently focused surface design and illustration for paper goods, greeting cards, and journals.

AFW: We love your playful, graphic style! What inspires you?
AL: I’ve always been a ‘nature child’ at heart. I love animals. I love wilderness. Flora and fauna are my muses. They all show up in my work. A woman I work with says, “people will buy your joy.” As long as I keep creating work that I am really passionate about, the joy shows up.

AFW: And it’s clear that you are confident around color!
AL: I love bold color, yes, and I’m pretty free with it in personal projects. Of course, when I’m working with a client’s branded palette, the project scope always drives the design.

AFW: Before we talk about your illustrations for American Flowers Week 2023, tell us about the chapter of your life when you were a farmer-florist.
AL: I was living and working in Portland, Oregon, and my home garden was like a quilt of flowers from all the previous owners — for example, a rose garden over here and succulent rock garden over these, peonies along the house and so forth. It was beautiful! I was making vases of flowers for friends and family and it was suggested that I should grow flowers and design for weddings, kind of as a weekend project. We knew someone who was getting married, so I volunteered — and it kind of blossomed out of that. A local organization called EcoTrust had a “Meet Your Farmer CSA” event and I signed up for that. I was the only florist there at the time! From that, I gained a half dozen CSA customers and that was really how I got my name out.

AFW: What time period did that cover?
AL: I started Kamama Flowers in 2013 and grew flowers in Portland until 2016. Then, I farmed in Washington for two years after that. Now that I’m in “concrete” Los Angeles, I miss it. The flower farmers and florists I knew and worked with in the Pacific Northwest are part of a wonderful community with so much heart and soul and respect for one another. They share and help one another — and I don’t have that here.

AFW: Great memories of a time when you were more deeply immersed in flowers, right?
AL: Definitely. I was so honored when we started to discuss working together for the American Flowers Week artwork. I wanted to honor that time (when I grew flowers) and how special it was for me. And even though I don’t have that business anymore, I do have such fond memories of that time and I really am grateful for all of it.

AFW: Your illustration captures that sense of community! The gathering of different growers and their diverse appearances is really symbolic. We’re hearing really positive responses!
AL: I wanted it to reflect how society ought to be represented, frankly. I tried to draw some of the people as gender-neutral; I have the hippie guy with the peace sign on his shirt. I’m not really sure who the child belongs to. It was all intentional.

AFW: What was your technique to make this piece?
AL: It is a digital illustration, all done in Procreate. I usually start with some reference imagery. I drew the background and land first; then the people; and then the flowers and the little details. I have to say that the flowers were actually the hardest — the center bouquet had so many different iterations. But finally, I landed on the sunflowers. Who doesn’t love sunflowers?

AFW: Yes, it is the quintessential American flower! And by the way, although this is a two-dimensional drawing, there are layers of texture throughout it!
AL: Even if I’m drawing an owl or a bat, I love texture, so I try to put that in.

AFW: Thank you, so much, April!
AL: It was really fun. I’m happy with it.