District V Annual Meeting Part II: Unusual Arrangements

The program for this meeting involved demonstrating creative modes of arranging materials for design shows. These weren’t the type one would display on your dining table, but rather to impress show judges with one’s knowledge of design principles. I am continually awed by the mental machinations that come up with these ideas!

Four types of designs were displayed. The first,  is explained in the design books as: “the Armature Form is created by the exhibitor and supports plant material and other optional components. The Armature is imaginative and made from plant or man-made material, or may be a combination of both. It is greater in proportion than the combined other components. The armature is self-supported, or may rely on a container/s or other devices. In this case the armature was black painted candlesticks of varying heights with black cookie cooling racks becoming a scaffolding atop them. A few green chopsticks here and there and a minimum of flower and greenery additions completed it.

The second was a Vibratile arrangement where a decorative black spiral was hung with small wired bells that would respond to movement and present a tinkling sound. Maryge selected bright red Gerberas and a potted bit of greenery to complete it.

The third was an Op-Art design that was created to give implied visual motion–particularly evident in the cloth backing with a zowie-wowie pattern. Red vases, silvered plant material resembling wires and yellow Alstroemeria finished the design.

Last was a time-consuming design (according to Marilyn Potter) with many parts: grasses woven in a framework, 3-D plant materials like pods arranged in a frame, yellow roses in a pave form framed, upright plant materials like yellow Alstroemeria and purple Liatris at varied heights along with a fan backing and a tall columnar accent of bamboo(?).