Mundane objects became art in the transformative hands of resident designers whose compositions announced the arrival of Spring at a recent Special Events display.

Melissa Pope’s centerpiece is a full-bodied burst of fruits, flowers and vegetables. Photo by Joe Mengel.

The theme of “Art in Nature” brought thoughtful interpretations of fruits, flowers and vegetables to display tables in the Club Center lobby and entrance to the Dining Room. It was a luminous show of color, line, and form, the very elements of art.

More than 20 participants showed a variety of materials including bonsai, roses of multiple hues, cactus, carnation, yellow and white daisies, lily, iris, hydrangea and more, along with groups of vegetables and fruits. While a heady array of floral works dominated the show, there was ample space to enjoy new ideas with familiar materials.

A witty take on vegetables explored by Ginnie Jobe combined carrots sculpted into flowers springing from a bed of broccoli in a parsley border. She repeated the lark again with trimmed and crimped radish heads sprouting from a “pool” of green snap peas.

“Hey, I can do that at my home!” said an admiring resident eyeing Susan Durfee’s simple but strategically balanced bouquet of lemons, limes and greens.

Connie Will brought a touch of exotica to the show with a surprising display of vegetables found in an Oriental market — fat green bananas, twisted sweet potato, dragon’s fruit, orange horned melon, okra and garlic.

Roz Rocco provided visual, textural and aromatic delights with roses snipped fresh from her garden. Photo by Joe Mengel.

Orientalism was also on the mind of Natalie Tennant with an ikebana arrangement using blue oak grass, azalea branches, tiny pink roses, marrow, and dusty miller, all materials found in her garden.

An original oil painting by Betty Lindsay, a frequent contributor in our art gallery, was matched by her identical arrangement of luscious vegetables using broccoli, tomatoes, corn, eggplant, and squash, all ready for the soup pot.

Bunny Norwood brought to memory “…A green thought in a green shade”( Andrew Marvell,17th c. poet) with her monochrome arrangement of greens in a Dollar Store purse covered with moss and containing a variety of succulents.

We thank all our creative designers including Gustavo Maroni, Anne Botto, Candy Owens-Mengel, Lucie Johnson, Eunice Kraybill, Jean Wilburn, Becky Walker, Cynie Russell, Marvine Hilkey, Betsy Nininger, and Pepita Huddleston’s Breakfront Committee for their swirling, soaring, artful reminders of the pleasures of living here at the Meadows.

From resident Public Relations Committee member Dorothy Mahan