Featured artist uses plants in her art

Gardener Brenda Greuel is the April artist-in-residence at the Cedarburg Cultural Center.

Greuel, who works from her home in Thiensville, is a lifelong self-taught gardener who finds inspiration in the horticultural world.

She has offered a line of organic plant-based handmade soaps since 2009, when she established the Conscious Bath Company.

Greuel’s interest in plant-related activities, growing houseplants and landscaping led her to grow a small moss garden that opened a world of curiosity and expanded her interest in plant arrangements.

Her art, which brings the outdoors inside to create a tranquil moodiness to interiors, may be viewed in local offices and retail spaces in Ozaukee County. Her most recent work is a ceiling installation at Art of Joy in Cedarburg.

Greul’s preferred designs combine preserved moss with living plants, as evidenced by the wired succulent arrangement she created for her daughter’s marriage and which will be displayed at the center during April.

She enjoys incorporating found objects into her designs to create a style that considers the sustainability of used objects, repurposing and upcycling whenever possible and creating true one-of-a-kind art pieces.

Greuel will design a three-dimensional living succulent plant form, assemble a terrarium, make handmade paper, create a moss wall art hanging and pressed-flower greeting cards at the center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 4, 6, 11, 13, 18, 22 and 25.

She will also offer a living Kokedama Moss Ball Workshop on Earth Day, Saturday, April 22 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Kokedama is a style of potting plants in a ball of moss and displaying them on a dish or suspended in the air. During the workshop, participants will learn to prepare the soil, individual plant care, how to pack the plant’s root ball and bind it within a ball of moss and take home their own kokedama art piece. 

The class fee of $49 for center members and $59 for nonmembers includes plants, the soil and clay, sheet moss, sphagnum moss and twine needed to make one moss ball to be hung or used on a standing display.

For more information, visit www.CedarburgCulturalCenter.com.

The Cedarburg Cultural Center at W62 N546 Washington Ave. is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and from noon to 4 p.m.  Sundays.