Meet Danielle Paquette | Botanical Sculpture & Impact Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Danielle Paquette and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Danielle, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
As Miley Cirus’ ”I can buy myself flowers” tops the charts, It’s time for us to understand a few hard facts about the industry and the benefits of paper flowers as an alternative…

Globally, the fresh-cut flower market is valued at $40 billion, with almost 90% of stems transported to the US from abroad or across the country. This means that each day, we are cutting approximately 10 million stems of fresh flowers worldwide.*

Unfortunately, the rising trend of artificial “silk flowers” poses a serious threat to the environment as well with harmful chemicals studies show take up to 450 years to decompose.**

It’s enough information to depress even a sunflower, I know….yet there is hope for this time-honored art dating back to ancient China with Buddhism and seen around the world.

The botanical sculptures I create are everlasting and hope to create social impact/awareness.

I use recycled and non-toxic materials, and any new paper used to honor the techniques handed down by European ancestors is FSC certified. I find most of my paper and materials from Goodwill hunts and repurpose just about any trash found laying in the desert.

Currently, most of the artistic endeavors are devoted to growing into commissioned works for brands and large physical social impact statements at modern museums. In my free time, I’ll share my process and workshops on social media to help teach others how they can create from anything with zero experience or fancy tools.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My pursuit is in the “Fine Art” of paper flowers where the desert, our collective consciousness, and futurism have led me to innovate for projects on the horizon. My personal art projects aim to show social issues in new and experiential ways.

My goal is to expand into real life in larger-scale works and exhibits. It is expensive and has required reenvisioning my work as a solo artist with grants and a small team to complete them. My dream is to be featured in fashion shows and window displays, interior digests as well as modern museum exhibits for years to come.

Finding my own personal style was a challenge and what helped was paying attention to the nuance details around me and keeping a list of things that feel profound from the mundane…maybe a word, a feeling, or a headline.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If you were to visit me I would influence you into one of my “flower-finding” missions hiking in the desert. The challenge is worth the reward when you walk for miles without seeing any life and then stumble upon a crack in the desert floor with the most vibrant, intricate, and tiny flower just thriving. It will show you a new appreciation for life, and our planet.

Tohono Chul Botanical Park and Yume Japanese Gardens and Green Things Nursery In Tuscon. Sabino Canyon Park is also beautiful in Spring and full of wildflowers.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Thank you to everyone in the PaperWitcher online community who has cheered me on.

Most of all to my family who have always supported me.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danyelepaquette/

Other: Follow me on Instagram @PaperWitcher for tutorials, how-tos, and behind-the-scenes content. Stay connected https://bit.ly/m/paperwitcher

Image Credits
Danielle Paquette