About the Artist

Tricia Paoluccio grew up on an almond farm in Modesto, California where she learned the art of flower pressing as a child. After moving to New York City to pursue her acting career, Tricia made large, botanical collages and unique cards, selling them in boutiques and on the streets of the new bustling city, she now called home. Tricia continued honing her skills and making art, even after she became a professional actor, working full time on Broadway, on television, and in film. Tricia has been commissioned by luminaries in the fashion, publishing and music industries, to create botanical designs, and has been doing original art commissions for many interior designers around the country. Of late, Tricia has transitioned to larger works of art creating prints, fabric, wallpaper and wrapping paper which can be seen on her website: www.modernpressedflower.com. Tricia's favorite flowers are weeds and wildflowers, found and collected in Modesto, California, and around their cabin in the foothills of Moccasin, California.

Artist’s Statement

There is a gut instinct I use when creating pressed flower art; a ritual to pressing the flowers; a joy of being a treasure hunter while foraging; a discipline to the task of pressing and the practicalities of maintaining the presses; patience, not knowing how they will turn out; and the zen activity of actually making art, creating with nature and putting that beauty in a new context in which it can be appreciated, honored and cherished. And, when I am finally creating a design or a collage, I am fascinated by how my brain turns off and all I am in touch with is the same gut instinct about what is beautiful. All of it pleases me and brings me such joy and I hope it does the same for you. When Covid hit, the day our schools closed in New York City, we immediately flew to self-quarantine in a little log cabin my parents built in the foothills of California. When we arrived it was cold and hailing, but throughout the spring, we saw the acres of foothills surrounding our little cabin come to life with wildflowers. Throughout the entire spring, completely isolated from the rest of society, I witnessed daily miracles of new flowers popping out of the ground…waves of Indian Paintbrush and Buttercups, Butterfly Mariposa Lilies and Larkspur…dozens and dozens of beautiful wildflowers I had never seen before! The daily ritual of foraging was truly life giving and stood in such starkness to what I knew was happening in the world. In that span of a few months of living there, I picked hundreds of flowers and pressed them. Though I have been pressing flowers and creating art from them for decades now, most of this art is a result of that special time. And now, this land is on fire. California - like the rest of the west coast, is burning, and I am grateful that I could preserve some of nature’s beauty in this way, to honor Mother Earth’s miraculous gifts, to hopefully elevate an art form that has been around for centuries, and to celebrate the resilience and beauty of wildflowers and our own spirit and ability to survive.