Despite COVID-19, the 10th year of Art in Bloom featured at Eccles Art Center has concluded in Ogden, Utah with artists showcasing both traditional art and floral art interpretations. Twenty-five local floral artists visited the center two weeks before the competition and selected works of art that inspired their beautiful and creative interpretation counterparts. They then brought in their designs for judges and the community to view and award.
Director, and former AIFD designer, Pat Poce AIFD instituted Art in Bloom 10 years ago when he took on the Director position. Pat shared that he wanted to bring awareness to and involve another type of art forms, besides the more “traditional” 2 dimensional and 3-dimensional art. “Florists are artists, and I wanted to bring attention to the art of floral design”.
Director Poce typically uses a certified floral designer as a judge, or a florist that’s in good standing with AIFD, coupled with an artist judge, and a judge who has some kind of artistic background but that doesn’t work in the industry. They select 1st through 3rd place winners in fresh flowers, permanent botanicals, The Ned Favero Award for Excellence, The Eccles Art Center Award of Merit, and, of course, The People’s Choice Award. Winners receive cash prizes and lovely hand created ceramic awards. All awards are privately funded.
Even though Utah has been plagued with COVID-19 along with the rest of the country, it did not stop local florist from participating. Pat explained, “We lowered the entry fee price, so that the competition would still be available to florists that were negatively impacted by the virus. However, the only real thing we lost was the floral class that we previously had available at the Center. We only had to limit the number of people that could walk through and visit the show in the building at one time, and we had the same number of designers enter as last year.”
Pat Poce started his floral career at 16 years old in 1968. He worked his way up through the ranks sweeping, driving, began as self-taught designer, and eventually became manager of Jean’s Blossom Shop before traveling the circuit teaching and training and earning the accreditation of AIFD. Pat’s goal is to continue to grow Art in Bloom by educating people about what and where floral artistry comes from. He wants them to understand that the artistry comes from a professional florist so that they see they are getting unique works of art.
The following Artists placed and took home awards for their interpretations at this year’s Art in Bloom:
Derek Greene, interpreting “Watcher in the Wind” – First Place Fresh Florals
Rachel Nelson, interpreting “Gypsy” – Second Place Fresh Florals
Alma Filipovic interpreting “Forever” – Third Place Fresh Florals
Andrew Barnett interpreting “Just Chillin’ Out” – First Place Permanent Botanicals
Jewel Greene interpreting ”2 Good Friends 2” – Second Place Permanent Botanicals
Shonda Cunningham AIFD “Stay Close” – Third Place Permanent Botanicals
Kierstin Howell interpreting “Just One More” – Ned Favero Award for Excellence
Kassandra Alvey interpreting “Living Like a Fish” – Eccles Art Center Award of Merit and People’s Choice Award
