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S H O R T S H O R T S
The annual event featuring exhibitions and workshops returns to Wrightsville Beach
Art & The Bloom
By CHRISTINE R. GONZALEZ | Photography by ALLISON POTTER
FLORAL artists will be drawing inspiration from paintings and other art objects, such as a wildly decorated Mardi Gras
vase, for the fourth Art & The Bloom exhibition scheduled to take place at the Blockade Runner Beach Resort Jan. 7-10.
The exhibition is a major fundraiser for the New Hanover Garden Club. The 30 or so club members will be assisted by
Harbor Island Garden Club volunteers to run the four-day event, which includes workshops in floral design, botanical
illustration and art, jewelry fashion shows, gallery art sales, and a horticultural presentation by Frank Hyman, author of
“Orange You Glad You Grow Citrus.”
“We really have to be flexible, working within COVID safety guidelines,” committee chair Barb Bittler says. “We have been very upfront
with the speakers and designers, but everyone has been excited at the thought of participating because no one has had a chance
to have an outlet for their creativity for almost a year now. We’re really excited about having something positive to look forward to.
Somebody has to be first to start having things again.”
This year’s 28 pieces of art come from private collections and the Wilmington Art Association. The eclectic topics include a grandfa-ther
and child portrait, marsh scenes and a clown. Floral designers received their assignment from a blind draw weeks before the event.
Their challenge is to replicate or interpret the art with blooms.
Winners receive a cash award and bragging rights.
“It is interesting to come see how the floral designers interpreted a piece,” Bittler says. “They may see something you don’t see. People
will stop and have a conversation around it, like in a museum. ‘Look how they captured that.’”
Above: Twenty-eight pairings of art and floral designs will fill the Blockade Runner Beach Resort ballroom during the fourth annual
Art & The Bloom exhibition Jan. 7-10. Opposite: Peggy Vineyard and Helene Pasin of the Cape Fear Garden Club won first place at last
year’s Art & The Bloom for their interpretation of “Busy Bustling” by Barbara Bear Jamison.
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