When Russell Easterwood — one of the brightest lights of the Kansas City artworld — died in April, the rainbow lost a little bit of..

A little stubbornness has served Chentell Shannon well. As a student at Wheaton College west of Chicago, she often heard how few jobs there were in the arts. “I guess Convivial has been my response to that,” Shannon says with a laugh.

Peonies, pansies, hydrangeas and lilies of the valley are not your typical art materials, but there is one class of artists who habitually uses these and other blooms to create stunning works of art.