Floral Art: Imposed or not - it was fun!

Islamabad

The Floral Art Society (FAS) Rawalpindi-Islamabad chapter organised a competition titled ‘In and Out’ for its members - both experts and novices - which involved an ‘imposed’ set of rules. This means a class that is not pre planned as the competitor has no idea what the prop will be like or what the plant material will be. Everything is provided and the competitor can only use her tools. The competitor can leave out any plant material, water source or accessories provided but here is no restriction on using everything. The requirement is to make an exhibit which is proportionate to the space given, keeping in mind the elements of design. The competition was judged by Asma Ansari, Nusrat Bilal and Wiqar Unnissa Boolani.

After the given time of two hours, and while the judges were deliberating, the rest of the meeting began with the recitation of the Holy Quran followed by the secretary's report, presented by Nasreen Mazhar who spoke of last month’s activities and plans for the future, as well as announced the next meeting which will be in July. President FAS, Ghazala Abdullah informed members about the ongoing preparation for the national exhibit being prepared by the club for display at the World Association of Floral Artists (WAFA) show being held in Barbados in June. Discussions among senior members resulted in a consensus and they eventually decided to make an exhibit based on the colourful truck art Pakistan is well known for. She then gave the members a peek at the peacock prepared by Farhat Zaman – an excellent example of this senior member’s expertise in designing with plant material. Other members are preparing the common symbols used in truck art – roses; eyes; fishes; owls and so on. These will be displayed aesthetically on a stand, while a miniature truck will also be part of the whole exhibit.

Farhat Zaman requested members not to use plastic bags to save the deteriorating environment and showed a practical bag designed by the Peshawar chapter of FAS. “They are very active on this score as well as saving heritage sites,” she said appreciating their good work.

While announcing the results the judges emphasized on the important points to be considered by the participants while developing a design in an imposed class and pointed out that while some arrangements were very good, the main them of ‘in and out’ had not been followed leading to rejection. The winners were as follows:-

Seniors: Tabassum Rizvi, Arshee Javed, Hina Kamran and Nasreen Mazhar (highly commendable).

Novices: Farhat Shahid, Amna Abbass, Faiza Shahid and Tabassum Anjum (highly commendable).

Prizes were presented to the winners, while judges and the birthday girls of the month were presented gifts. It was a fun morning with a lot of goodwill and camaraderie among the members, resulting in a memorable end of the season event.