This design was for a Flower Show at a regional centre famous for its annual country music festival – hence the class title.
At the time of the competition there had been many years of drought so I wanted to incorporate this into the design by using natural materials that had both a line and dancing feel.
Using a square terracotta container (thinking square dancing) I have focused on line being the dominant feature with some “dancing” placements.
The basic lines are using palm influorescence joined together with the tatami matting technique. These have large blackbean split seed pods interlaced through them and dried strelitzia leaves as the dancing component. (Click the links for these techniques.)
Silver wire scrunched up into the base is repeated with a hanging silver painted gumnut.
I have to say looking back on this design, I really don’t understand my thinking or planning for this! The judges comments are more mild than my reaction to it now.
I keep it here to remind us all to really plan a design rather than try to be too clever with an interpretation.
Judges comments: Strong lines in this design but very little dancing evident. Colour, whilst sympathetic to the title, does not evoke any feeling of joy that might be expected from line dancing activities. The small amount of glitter provided by the wire seems a last minute attempt to brighten the design in some way.
The design needed more thought to the implementation of the interpretation.