Lynn Jenkins’s Pressed Flower Art

At a Glance

Age 34
Hometown Lafayette, Louisiana
Online magnoliafloralpreservation.com, @magnoliastudiosla on Instagram

There was plenty of seafood, too, but for Lynn Jenkins, the real harvest of her family’s trek to go crabbing at the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in remote Cameron Parish was not found in the dark Gulf waters, but on the side of the road.

Along their way southwest, the grassy shoulders blurred from greenish-brown to blood orange-red, as the path bloomed in native Indian blanket flowers like a warm quilt. Pull over, she told her husband, John. They picked bunch after bunch of the sun-bursting flowers, also called firewheel, for obvious reasons, and filled the car with them.

Moments like these are planted deep in the artistry of the Lafayette maker, as if the colors and curves of flowers were made for the safekeeping of something as precious as a memory.

“That trip inspired me to create a print series of location-based pieces, which we plan on launching next year,” says Jenkins, the founder and creator behind Magnolia Studios, the pressed-flower brand she launched in 2020 for her jewelry, glass art pieces and petal-filled prints. “It’s a slow project, because we have been traveling all over Louisiana collecting flowers and botanicals to preserve. But I’m very excited to share it come next spring.”

The wavy grey tin roof and siding of the Warehouse — creative home to a mixed-media arts collective in the boho Freetown neighborhood of Lafayette — gives way to a giant sunflower door announcing the entrance to Magnolia Studios, named after Jenkins’ daughter, born just before the pandemic and the birth of the brand.

Inside, the artist is deep into jewelry production for Festival International de Louisiane, creating batches of her popular Split Daisy earrings, but she’s making time to experiment, too.

There’s a wall lined with the flower presses John built and they stuffed with name tags and cardboard dividers and newspapers to soak up the moisture — a six-week process at least — and in front of it sits a large wooden work table on which Jenkins has laid rows of flowers plucked from her home garden and stained glass like the disparate pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Her gaze wanders over to this makeshift mosaic, but she’s busy arranging shards of petal-shaped glass ready to be fused in the kiln her friend has just gifted her.

“Sometimes I’m feeling very monochromatic, and sometimes I go for a wild contrast,” Jenkins says. “Oh, we need more stamen action so this really looks like a flower.”

Whether it’s cutting glass or working with resin or layering flowers for colorful effects in a jewelry piece, Jenkins has never shied away from trying new things since launching Magnolia in the spring of 2020. She and her husband had long been managers of popular Tex-Mex eatery Taco Sisters, but she felt the urge to do more.

“I was channeling my energy of being a new mom, of needing a creative outlet, and it just blossomed from there,” Jenkins says. “At first, I was doing everything from my kitchen table.”

To share her creative bravery, she began hosting monthly workshops last summer, inviting anyone wanting to learn how to press and place flowers, or wrestle with resin and glass.

Still, Jenkins finds the most joy in creating custom pieces from the meaningful flowers people bring to her. Part of a wedding bouquet, a memorial arrangement or petals held tight from a first date. These display pieces are caretakers of memories — of a passing afternoon, or maybe an entire life — protected by glass and hung with heart.

“It took me a while to learn how to connect to the weight of that but not carry it,” she says. “It feels good to bring some sunshine into the lives. That’s been the gift to me.”

Jenkins’ passion for preserving memories for her clients is rooted in the vivid imagery of her own childhood. Growing up, she spent part of every summer at her grandparents’ home in Cotopaxi, Colorado, a rural village saddling the Arkansas river. In the unending fields there, Jenkins would pick and press wildflowers with her grandmother.

For years, she would occasionally stumble upon a forgotten flower, flat but still vibrant somehow, and in some sense still alive in the pages of an old book. Suddenly, like turning to a chapter she’d last read years before, Jenkins was transported back to Cotopaxi on the sunny day she picked that flower with her grandmother.

“I feel incredibly fortunate to have this childhood foundation and to be deeply connected to something as powerful and beautiful as these memories,” Jenkins says. “And I want to provide the same connection to nature and focus on preserving moments in time with my own kids.”

Q&A

When not working, what do you and your husband and kids like to do for fun around Lafayette? We love taking our kids out on our canoe at Lake Martin. We also love to go camping, so we spend a lot of time at Chicot State Park. There is also a very secluded beach spot we like to go to in Cameron Parish; it feels like you are on the edge of the earth. It is truly beautiful. We prioritize spending time outdoors as much as possible.

Many writers and artists have mused about flowers for centuries. Do you have a favorite quote? One by Claude Monet, “More than anything, I must have flowers, always, always.” I actually have this tattooed on my chest. Its meaning runs deep for me.

What’s your advice for people who want to turn their passion or a hobby into a creative business? I genuinely believe that if you possess a true passion for it, you’ll attract your following. Authenticity can’t be faked, in my opinion; when you have a genuine connection to the artwork you’re selling, people can sense it. So, my sound advice would be to really hone in on what makes you happy, find locals who connect with your work and take it from there. Community is everything.