Canceled last January following one of the worst hurricanes in North Carolina’s history, floral designers in North Carolina will gather again for Art & The Bloom. The exhibition and competitive judging takes place January 9 through 12, 2020, at Blockade Runner Beach Resort in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

Look for demonstrations and workshops in floral design and flower pounding, botanical illustration and art, millinery fashion shows, gallery art sales by the Wilmington Art Association, and a presentation+book signing for Gardening with Confidence by Helen Yoest, garden writer and founder of Bee Better.

Now entering its third year, the New Hanover Garden Club‘s Art & The Bloom has attracted art will come from private collections and the Wilmington Art Association. Floral designers receive their art assignment from a blind draw weeks before the event.

The Designing Divas, a five-member team of nationally accredited jurors and flower show school instructors, will judge the 2020 floral design competition. (Pictured, above left, is Designing Diva Bess Treadwell)

Affiliated with the National Garden Club and hailing from Florida, the Designing Divas will present two floral design demonstrations and a wedding flower design workshop.

Linda Koffenberger, a botanical illustrator from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, will present a workshop on how to draw butterflies using colored pencils. Ms. Koffenberger is an award-winning national artist creating works in colored pencil, egg tempera, and watercolor.

Kim Fisher, a North Carolina floral designer originally from the District of Columbia, will lead a workshop on creatig a coastal-style woodland tabletop setting. Pat Carlson will conduct a workshop on the art of flower pounding, creating beautiful note cards and framed fabric art from flowers.

New Hanover Garden Club, the organizer of Art & The Bloom, is federated through the National Garden Club and Garden Clubs of North Carolina. The event’s proceeds will benefit gardening projects and scholarships for nonprofit organizations. All activities will be held at the host hotel, Blockade Runner Beach Resort.

2018 “Best of Show” Award by Polly Kopka (photo courtesy of Scott Bittler)