The six students in James Parker's edible art carving class spent Tuesday morning turning vegetables into flowers.

At first, they looked skeptical when Mr. Parker, the owner Veggy Art in Chantilly, Va., demonstrated the fine points of transforming a cantaloupe into a bloom, and then told them to create their own bloom.

Mr. Parker, who travels around the country teaching fruit and vegetable sculpting classes, visited Aiken to teach the craft at Ways to the Heart.

"It's an ancient, skilled art," said Mr. Parker, a chef who specialized in cold food preparation before he started his own business five years ago. "It's not something that every chef knows how to do."

Karen Mohammad, who owns Ways to the Heart, invited Mr. Parker to teach the class after her friend Cecilia Pellegrino told her about him.

Mrs. Pellegrino had ordered one of Mr. Parker's kits, Centerpiece Gourmet, after her husband received a fruit bouquet while he was in the hospital. She said she "played around with it" and then showed the kit to Ms. Mohammad.

The 18-piece set, which each of the students received, includes a precision contour knife, a paring knife, a crinkle cutter and various other design tools.

Ms. Mohammad, who also teaches cake decoration and other food-design classes, said the fruit and vegetable carving required a great deal of skill.

"It's more than just holding your mouth right," she said.

The students were pleased with the results, however, when they arranged their sculpted vegetables in a basket like a floral centerpiece.

"I knew it was going to be awesome, but I didn't expect this," Ms. Mohammad said.

Sonia Chacon, a 2006 graduate of North Augusta High School, where she took culinary arts courses, has carved food in her work for caterers. She said Mr. Parker's class helped refine her skills.

"I learned how to make flowers, which I had never done before, which was really cool," she said.

Donald Gangway, a banquet cook at Houndslake Country Club, said he has been sculpting fruits and vegetables for about 18 months and was delighted when his employers asked him to take the class.

A 2004 graduate of the culinary program at the Art Institute of Atlanta, Mr. Gangway said presentation is an important part of food preparation.

"A lot of people eat with their eyes," he said.

If people think food looks good, they will think it tastes good, he said.

Mr. Parker, who enjoys sharing his skills with others, said arrangement is his specialty.

"At the end of the day, I don't care what the rules are," he said. "If it looks good, it looks good."

Reach Betsy Gilliland at (803) 648-1395, ext. 113, or betsy.gilliland@augustachronicle.com.