Hi Desert Iris Society Best Artistic Design Winner 2013

By Andi Rivarola

Last month I had the good fortune to be a judge at the Hi Desert Iris Society's Spring Show in Lancaster, California. The show was fantastic with lots of bloom, and a fair amount of participants made the show a great success in my eyes. Nevertheless, many of the members mentioned strong winds in the days leading up to the show, but I did not see any signs of it. Stalks were well groomed and there was a nice variety of iris specimens.

I went home with a very uplifting feeling due to what I'm about to recount.

The young lady on the picture below, a teen and youth member, won Best Artistic Design beating all other entries -- all adults included -- in the advanced, novice and intermediate categories. The other two judges and I were completely fascinated by the design's completeness and utter commitment to the theme, which was Andy Warhol. (All the themes were named after real artists in history). Well, Warhol's pop art theme was masterfully recreated to the teeth. Her arrangement included a pot that represented Warhol's Campbell Soup can, and the irises included four different colors to also match the four-color creations by the master.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Katherine Shannon, Hi Desert Iris Society Artistic Design Winner for 2013.