If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much more could it be worth when it becomes the inspiration for blooming bouquets? In Susan Moran's advanced floral class at Hanford High School, the students' most recent assignment has them hoping to discover just that.

Students in the class were asked to find a piece of artwork and let it be their inspiration for their arrangements, which will be shown on display at the Hanford Carnegie Museum through Saturday.

"These students have taken one year of floral design, so they are well advanced," Moran said. "They have learned the elements and principals of design and have learned how to properly arrange and care for flowers."

Among other lessons, the students also must learn to run a balloon bouquet business out of the school's floral design room.

"The kids not only learn the art of floral design, but are also taught business sense and inventory merchandising -- this part of the class helps with most of the funding," Moran said.

The class also creates arrangements for weddings and parties.

Kristyn Torres, a senior at Hanford High School, who didn't believe she had the knack for floral arranging, said the class has taught her a lot about flowers and how floral design can be much more involved than people might think.

"There is a lot more of an art form than people realize when it comes to floral arranging," she said. "I first took the class because people were saying it was an easy class, but when I got into it I found out that it wasn't that easy -- we work really hard."

Torres said the inspiration for her arrangement came from the desire to do something that represented the autumn season.

"I like country-looking arrangements, and wanted to do something that looked like fall," she said. "I went with sunflowers because they aren't dry looking, but still have colors that represent this season."

Another senior in the class, Breanne Pacheco, who has been on the FFA floral judging team since her freshman year, took a different approach and based her arrangement on an abstract floral painting.

"I looked up famous floral paintings on the Internet and found this one that I really liked -- it was really different from others that I had found," Pacheco said, pointing to a close-up picture of a flower in vibrant pink and orange colors. "I chose tulips because they were so similar in color to the painting -- I'm excited for it to be on display."

The reporter can be reached at 583-2424.

(Nov. 5, 2009)