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Text by Cathy Gordon • Longstreet Collection Photography Courtesy of Jalan Jalan Miami, inc.
Clippers in tow, Madeline Longstreet is always on the prowl for unusual plant
life. One day, she spotted some enormous, elegant elephant ears in a neighbor’s
front yard. “After eyeing them, I decided I had to have them,” recalls the
artist. Longstreet Collection, her collaborative venture with her son, Robert,
is known for its dramatic, oversized botanical prints in monochromatic tones.
The elephant ears with their showy, heart-shaped leaves fit the bill for a new,
large-scale series she and Robert were planning. She made a mental note to ask
the neighbor for cuttings at the end of the growing season. “But next time I
passed, they were gone!” She slammed on the brakes and made a mad dash for the
neighbor’s door. After a little polite chitchat, she was foraging for foliage in
the garbage. It hasn’t been a short road to success for the Longstreets, but
it certainly has been a scenic one. “Most of my material comes from my shade
garden, but I’m always looking wherever I go,” says the St. Louis, Missouri,
resident. “I try never to stop along the highway, but I’ll whip onto a service
road to snag whatever plant catches my eye. I found my first prairie grass along
some railroad tracks. It was lovely!”
(d) The neighbor’s elephant ears, transformed and framed. (e) Images of prairie grass, dogwoods, sunflowers, lilies, and other plants in the Longstreet studio. (f) Madeline and Robert discuss a botanical print. For years, Madeline, who majored in fine arts, happily captured the nuances of the human face as a portrait painter. But she was also drawn to the intricate details found in nature, fondly recalling her grandparents’ gardens in the South. Leaves, whether needlelike, fan-shaped, round, or scalloped, were a source of intrigue. “My fascination with nature’s forms eventually swung me around, and I switched from doing portraits to painting gardens.” One thing led to another and soon she was drying ferns. Pressed and displayed in a wood frame with their botanical names hand-drawn at the bottom, the pieces were a hit at local art shows. “I realized that the public liked monochromatic, simple presentations,” she says. “But I wanted to carry it forward into a fine art design.” Robert helped with photo processes he learned at the School of Art Institute of Chicago and Washington University, Madeline’s alma mater. Soon, they were producing images on pillows and floor cloths that caught the eye of national magazine editors. A 10-page spread in 1994 led to trade shows and eventually their first major client, Ethan Allen. “That was a huge boost,” Robert recalls. “We could see a future market for us.” The Longstreet
Collection, rooted in a blend of alternative photography and contemporary
printmaking, had arrived. “Our spirit is experimental—we make our own pinhole
camera, mix our own emulsion, and sensitize our own watercolor paper,” Madeline
explains. “It’s very much a handcrafted product.” |
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The upscale Lane Crawford store in Hong Kong recently put in the largest
order to date. “We did a series of tulips in bright colors, and they bought
enough so that they have an exclusive throughout China,” Robert says. The
Longstreets’ handiwork crops up on television occasionally, adding cosmopolitan
style as backdrop accessories. One of their earliest projects adorned
chronically lovelorn columnist Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment in every episode of
the pop-culture classic, Sex and the City. “Warner Brothers called me up and
said they’d like to use our fern series on a new pilot program, but I didn’t
understand what it was and discredited it as some hokey, racy thing,” says
Madeline, laughing. “I wasn’t sure I wanted my ferns on something called Sex and
the City.” She eventually signed the permission form, but didn’t see the show
until reruns. “You know how starving artists are,“ she says. “I didn’t have
cable at the time.” The Longstreets’ Route to Success a dynamic duo’s tips: Develop an original style and protect yourself by filing for a copyright. When possible, farm out certain duties to others so you can focus on the creative, fun side. “I employ one person to handle customer service and invoicing and I also outsource for the framing,” Madeline says. “Makes me a happy camper.” Keep a positive attitude. Persistence pays off. Require full payment before shipping out the product. If possible, attain a 50 percent deposit before starting the work. |
