Virtual Art in Bloom

Art in Bloom has been an annual tradition in Needham for the last 13 years. The collaboration between the Temple Beth Shalom Garden Club and Needham High’s Art Department usually takes place at the Needham Free Public Library, with the shelves on both floors topped with the art of students in all grades throughout the high school, accompanied by representative floral arrangements. The student pieces include drawing, ceramics, digital art, and many more mediums, giving students a chance to see their art on display, as well as to see the work of their peers. Paired with this are floral arrangements created by Beth Shalom Garden Club members. Usually, for the weekend in which Art in Bloom takes over the library, the place is buzzing with visitors -- members of the town, artists, and students -- coming to see the art and floral arrangements. This is one of the town events that manages to bring life at the high school closer together with the rest of the town. However, given the current circumstances this year, an in-person Art in Bloom was not possible. The library isn’t even open to people on a daily basis, and is instead using curbside pick-up as an alternative to having people inside the building. Instead of packing the library this year, the Art in Bloom organizers released a video to showcase the floral designs and art combos, which can be seen at the bottom of the page, or at http://www.needhamartinbloom.com/home.html. While it can’t replace the real thing, the virtual Art in Bloom does a great job of displaying the pairings. As the video progresses, it shows the pairs side-by-side, then switches to showcase the floral arrangement, with the name of the arranger, a description of how the arrangement stems from the art, and the materials used to create the arrangement. The slideshow then moves on to a picture of the student work, accompanied by the student name as well as the title of the assignment. On the whole, this year's Art in Bloom seems to have captured many of the important aspects of the traditional Art in Bloom. Congratulations to all the students whose work was featured this year!