Portia Munson's Flower Mandala series has certainly grabbed some attention. And no wonder: at 44 by 66 inches, these prints are hard to miss.

"There's a certain kind of strangeness when you increase the size [of the flowers] which becomes apparent," she comments. Perhaps it's no coincidence that Munson began this series in 2001, and it has evolved simultaneously with the post-9/11 state of the world.

The images are created by laying flowers directly on a scanner used as a large-format camera, and enlarging the scans in high resolution before they're printed on large rag paper.

Munson is used to working big. Her installations also include room-sized heaps of pink plastic and such artifacts as tampon applicators and Barbie-doll brushes.

We see a lot of flowers in Munson's work. Her installation piece, "The Garden," creates a room of artificial flowers, its ceiling covered in floral-print dresses. The gender statement is not entirely lost once her medium has changed.

"Flowers are the sexual organs of plants," she says. "The flower is attracting bees and bugs to be pollinated and to procreate. I can't help but play with the flowers. Maybe it's just natural for me, maybe it's a little perverse."

So where is the connection between her poignant installation pieces and the evocative flowers on the wall?

"Each is about arranging and ordering," she explains. "Taking things which are common, and changing how you see them based on how they are arranged."

Her current show at SUNY Ulster combines a signature installation, "Pink Project; Mound," with her Flower Mandala series and several paintings.

Munson is represented by the PPOW gallery in Manhattan. Her show will run from October 12 through November 10 in the Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery at SUNY Ulster. (845) 687-5113; www.portiamunson.com.