WHO AM I TO JUDGE?

By Andrea Graveline. First published Spring 2021 by The College Club of Boston, Inc.

This question was made famous by His Holiness Pope Francis when asked his opinion on a current  controversial topic of the day — and he gently answered that question with this question.

In the past when I entered Flower Shows in a competition and I didn’t do quite well, I have asked “Who ARE these people judging my arrangement ?” (Somehow when I do well I don’t seem to inquire as much.) The Boston Flower Show, The Tower Hill Flower Show (Tower Hill is home to the Worcester Horticultural Society), The Heritage Museum Flower Show in Sandwich on Cape Cod are all long running flowers shows that garden club members and florists enter to showcase their floral artistry.  Well I set off to find out who are these ladies — with one well-known gentleman in the mix — and what credentials are required that qualifies this group to judge in prominent  floriculture and horticulture shows. I not only found the answer, I became a Judge myself in The Judges’ Council — a small group of members residing in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts — members who are accredited by the National Garden Clubs, Inc. headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.

I started entering Flower Show competitions about ten years ago. Some might say I veered off my career path onto a new garden path. I am a Bentley University trained accountant specializing for the last 35 years, still and happily, managing the accounting departments for certified women-owned small businesses notably for non-profit organizations — about the size of The College Club — and PR and Law firms. I worked for the first all women law firm located on Beacon Hill where 3 of the 5 partners matriculated to the Bench. Over time, I was very satisfied in employment choices and yet was missing using the “other side” of the brain, the artistic side.  I did somewhat enjoy participating in these Flower Show competitions for the first 5 years but yet was still racking up those Honorable Mentions — that’s 4^th place out of 4 entries. Accordingly I felt I needed to study The Elements and Principles of Design (the name of this discipline) to improve my arrangements in the eyes of these Judges — what do they know that I don’t, what did they study — and after approximately another five years of study I satisfied the requirements to become a Judge.

I had to take 4 courses sponsored by the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, be tested, point score floral arrangements live and under time constraints, write the schedule for a complete flower show, win blue ribbons for several floral designs (hard) win several blue ribbons for horticulture specimens (harder) and “student judge” various State flower shows along with passing another day long written exam on art concepts for floral arrangements — lights, space, color, hues, dimensions, linear design and so forth. This did not come easy to my math mind — there is only one right answer in the accounting world. Not so in this new art world.

Whom did I join in the Massachusetts Judges’ Council — Bankers, Physicians, Attorneys — women like me who were educated in other fields. We all felt that need to, especially in the latter years in life, highlight our artistic side. Some artists work with paint such as oils and acrylics, others with watercolors and pastels and than others with clay and stone and so forth. Floral Designers use flowers as their medium and as beautiful as the final exhibit can be, sadly one’s work is fleeting because one’s medium is perishable. An investment in a good camera is necessary.

There seemed to be a lot of interest in this College Club member’s recent entry in the Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts’ Art in Bloom Show; the third year I displayed. This type of show though is a not competition but rather an exhibition. The difference is clear. In a competition, you can choose the design class you want to enter — modern, traditional and so forth — but then you are judged. In an exhibition, you are not judged but you are assigned a piece of art — and many times you may have wanted to interpret a colorful, contemporary Jason Pollack piece but you were assigned a John Singer Sargent classic dark hued portrait.  Both challenging in distinctive ways.

Should there be members of The College Club who would like to explore entering Flower Shows, competitions and/or exhibitions under the guise of The College Club — you need not enter under a Garden Club although most commonly done — please contact me via telephone or e-mail — and we’ll see if we can start a group within the Club. I would be delighted to hear from you.