By Hannah Van Vlack
The Gallery at Flat Rock presents the 9th annual Art in Bloom Friday, August 30, through Sunday, September 1, featuring works of art paired with floral designs. The preview reception, for which tickets and reservations are required, will be held August 30, from 5–8 p.m.
This event kicks off with an evening of live music, local food and wine at the reception. Guests get the first look at this year’s works, can meet the artists and floral designers, and may vote on their favorite pairing.
The Art In Bloom main show, which is open to the public on Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., costs $5 at the door and features 20 works of visual art, each presented with a floral design. Each designer studies the work of art closely and carefully curates an inspired floral piece specifically for this show.
The show hosts a wide variety of visual art pieces, and no artists can submit works in back-to-back years, creating a unique and interesting experience for guests. “My mixed media collage Tangerine Falls from my Cascading Stripes series was selected for last year’s show,” says Melanie Hopkins, a 2023 Art In Bloom participating artist. “This series all started about 10 years ago, inspired from when I worked in broadcasting. I’d often see horizontal scan lines, light beams across the monitor in red, blue and green. I started thinking about waterfalls and rain and cascading movement and so I turned the horizontal lines of my collages to a vertical format to match this dynamic.” Last year, Hopkins was paired with floral designer Hannah Hall and was captivated by the relationship between the two works. “All the different textures and patterns of my piece were represented by the various foliage she used,” says Hopkins.
Dale McEntire, an oil painter also a part of the 2023 show, had a different process for creating his piece. “I created my artwork, Botticelli Fields, from studies I had done on location in a large field that was filled with natural flowers and plants,” he says. “A team of designers created a wonderful composition filled with color; I really appreciated the exotic quality they brought to the arrangement. The artists and designers in Art in Bloom support one another and it is a real surprise to see what evolves from the two mediums.”
Profits from this event will benefit St. Gerard House, a Henderson County-based nonprofit supporting the autism community. “As a community event,” says gallery owner Julie Wilmot, “Art In Bloom 2024 is escalating its impact by providing a fabulous exhibition and appreciable fundraiser.”
The Gallery at Flat Rock is located at Flat Rock Square at 2702-A Greenville Highway, Flat Rock. To purchase tickets, visit GalleryFlatRock.com or call 828.698.7000.
