Guests left with smiles on their faces and all five senses delighted after a tour of the Paine Art Center’s most recent exhibit, Rooms of Blooms. Spanning March 5-15, the exhibit was composed of several elements including contributions from a variety of florists throughout the Winnebago area as well as installations from the Paine’s own staff.

Aaron Sherer, Executive Director for the Paine, praised the event as an opportunity to shine a spotlight on local artists.

“Floral design, I’ve learned, is an art form, and this is a showcase for floral designers to show off their talent,” he said. “I’m constantly amazed at just how talented they are at their ideas and how they work.”

Event volunteer Pat Seimold is constantly impressed by the creative presence of the artists.

“All the florist shops have such incredible imaginations,” she said.

The Paine pulled from multiple sources of inspiration in order to create a unique experience for all guests.

“I would like to say it was a really original idea, but it’s not, we kind of stole it from about three different things,” Sherer said. “Art museums across the country do something called Art in Bloom. That is where they pair a florist with a painting, and they do an artwork inspired by it. Then at wedding shows they do over the top tablescapes, so that is taken from wedding shows. Then finally, because we are a mansion, we have rooms, so Rooms of Blooms.”

This year, florists were provided with a Mexican mask to inspire them in their creations. The masks are part of a travelling exhibit which the Paine specifically chose as part of their vision for diverse pieces.

“We’ve been trying to do multicultural focused exhibitions,” Sherer said.

Sherer was concerned that the abstract pieces would provide too much of a challenge to the florists but was relieved to see that was not the case.

“I didn’t know how they would feel about these masks because some of them are quite dark and spooky, but they love it,” he said.

The masks were also a point of intrigue for Sheila Glaske, the Paine’s Curator of Horticulture, who designs the display inside the conservatory.

“My part was inspired by the Mexican masks inside the mansion,” she said.

Glaske, aligning with the Paine’s multicultural goals, wanted to find something in common between multiple countries.

“Something beautiful that the United States shares with Mexico because of migration is the monarch butterfly,” she said.

Hence her decision to create a show called Monarchromatic, combining multiple influences in her floral arrangements.

“It’s a made up word that combines monarch butterfly with monochromatic because the exhibit is all orange,” Glaske said.

Monarchromatic also featured multiple large mossy arches, which Glaske remarked are practical as well as pretty.

“The arches in that room were actually brought in from the gardens. We brought them in so they wouldn’t freeze into the ground in the fall,” she said.

The intricate displays understandably take significant time in advance, taking weeks to months for artists to compose. Then, once the installation has been designed upon, there is the issue of constructing it.

“Most of the planning came in the summer because it takes a while to think of the idea,” Glaske said. “The whole show took us about two and a half weeks to put up with the five of us.”

It’s a sharp contrast as, back at the mansion, the show remains a mystery until a few hours before opening.

“We really don’t know what this show is until Thursday morning when we open. We are promoting it, selling reservations, trying to get people to come, but we leave on Wednesday like, we’ve got nothing,” Sherer said.

Outsourcing the designs to florists in the community offers distinct interpretations, but it comes with its challenges.

“It’s a huge commitment for florists. Floral business is a hard business, they usually don't have enough staff, they usually have too many commitments and flowers are super expensive,” Sherer said.

A few years ago, Sherer noticed that the florists were getting burnt out coming back year after year with the large commitment, so Rooms of Blooms was changed to every other year.

“This is the 11th show, but we’ve been doing it for like 17 years. We did it five years consecutively and we heard from the florists that it’s too much,” he said. “They’re like, we’d rather go all in and do it every two years and just blow it out of the water.”

By opening day, it always comes together, and employees and volunteers alike find it very rewarding when it does. Seimold says she always sees the results on guests’ faces.

“Everyone comes in and they leave smiling,” she said. “You don’t disappoint anybody.”

Glaske appreciates the novelty of a floral exhibit during the winter season, and so do guests.

“My favorite part is watching our visitors just see a glimpse of spring at this time of year. I like the excitement that visitors give off when seeing the show,” she said.

Rooms of Blooms is a favorite exhibit for Paine employees and visitors alike.

“I love everything the Paine does, but Rooms of Blooms ranks very highly because it is very social,” Sherer said. “People will come in groups and talk way more than any of our other activities. It’s very chatty and that’s kind of as good as it gets in the art world. People not just looking but engaging and enjoying and doing it together.”

by Isaac Considine-Buelow

Published March 20, 2026

Oshkosh West Index Volume 122 Issue VI

Paine exhibit leaves hope blooming in hearts of visitors desperate for spring