Laura Dowling, who served as Chief Floral Designer at the White House from 2009 until 2015, will speak at the Oxford Community Center on Tuesday April 12 at 1:00 PM. Dowling’s lecture and flower arranging demonstration is sponsored by the Garden Club of the Eastern Shore (GCES) and will benefit the group’s Scholarship Fund.
When Dowling was at the White House, she was responsible for planning and implementing floral decorations for most major events. Her designs graced the White House Christmas, state dinners, the presidential family quarters, the public tour route, and Camp David.
Dowling has gained recognition for creating a new romantic style of flower arranging that features free-flowing lines of vines and flowers that emanate from a classical bouquet. She describes her style as being both modern and refined, yet casually elegant.
A featured speaker at leading museum and national horticultural associations, Dowling has appeared at the American Horticultural Society, the San Francisco’s DeYoung Museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Texas Floral Society, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.She is also an annual presenter at the Philadelphia Flower Show, the nation’s oldest and largest flower expo.
In February, she taught a series of Master Classes at Flower School New York. In April, she will deliver the keynote address at the Cincinnati Flower Show and then travel to Belgium to create an installation for Floralien 2016, an international floral event.
“We feel honored that Laura has added Talbot County to her itinerary,” GCES President Samantha McCall says. “This is truly a unique opportunity to hear her White House stories and learn some of the techniques that she used to create the beautiful floral displays that graced those historic rooms.”
Since 2009, the GCES has been awarding merit-based scholarships to graduating seniors from Talbot County high schools. All proceeds from this event will support those merit-based scholarships. Attendees are invited to join Laura Dowling and the GCES members for tea after her presentation.
Tickets to this event cost $50 each. To reserve tickets, please send a check to the Garden Club of the Eastern Shore, PO Box 1924, Easton, MD 21601. Reservations will be held at the door. For more information, 410-829-0712
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