ROADSIDE IKEBANA: August 2013

EXHIBITION PREPARATIONS

This week my students and I visited the Qdos Gallery in Lorne to see the ceramic works in progress in anticipation of our annual exhibition. It is important to see the forms and their scale to help us to prepare ikebana that with 'marry' with them. So now our serious preparations must begin.

The Qdos anagama kiln.

The photo below is of Graeme Wilkie, ceramic artist, and my friend Michael, in the Qdos Studio shop.

Most ikebanists in Australia end up with collections of branches and various dried materials that 'may be useful one day' in their gardens or garages. This requires the support and forbearance of anyone else who shares the household (thank you Laurie).

So I have been inspecting my students collections and discussing design ideas for the September exhibition.

The tenth annual exhibition of ikebana and ceramics at the Qdos Gallery, Allenvale Rd Lorne, will be opened on Sunday 22nd of September 2013 by the Japanese Consul-General to Victoria Mr Hidenobu Sobashima.

This weeks ikebana is a small arrangement I made with a single stem of camellia at a recent meeting of Ikebana International Melbourne. The celedon glazed vase is by Ann Geroe.

Greetings from Christopher

24th August 2013

RETURN TO VICTORIA

We are back again to the south coast of Victoria, a return to much cooler weather and the typical strong winds of later winter and early spring. The Brisbane/Goldcoast Branch of the Sogetsu School is to be congratulated on its 50th anniversary and the celebratory activities the members created. (See my last two postings).

I took these photos a few weeks ago on a sunny but cold day. The first four are in a near-by nature reserve.

Pink Heath (Epacris impressa), Victoria's floral emblem, glowing in the winter sunlight.

The next two photos are of Correas that were beside the path shown above. We have both the pink and green form in our garden.

This week I was pleased to see that my Japanese Flowering Quince (Chaenomeles) had more flowers than last month.

I made the ikebana below using some red flowering branches. After a week in the vase the new buds were progressively paler as they opened.

This next ikebana is one I made for our friends Heather and John, when we had dinner at their house. The vase is glass and it is back lit by sunshine reflected from the floor tiles.

Greetings from Christopher
17th August 2013

BRISBANE / GOLD COAST 50th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION

During the last week I came across these eye-catching poinsettias as we walked along the riverbank in Brisbane.

I was intrigued at how insignificant the flowers are, 'though they are dramatically set off by the red of the new leaves.

We also visited the Queensland Art Gallery where this sculpture by Sofu Teshigahara was on view in honour of the Sogetsu Branch's 50th anniversary celebration. According to the Galleries curatorial note "the Japanese Consul brought eternity to the Gallery from Japan coinciding with a visit of Teshigahara made to Brisbane in 1967".

On Wednesday we travelled north of Brisbane to Ninderry where Nick, one of Laurie's cousins, and his partner, Sabrina, live. After lunch we all walked to the top of the hill to see this the view to the sea.

On our way back down the hill we came across a herd of kangaroos grazing by the roadside. This female had a 'joey' in her pouch.

This is Laurie and his cousin in the driveway of Nick and Sabrina's lush garden.

I raided the garden for the stunning heilconias and clivia berries in the arrangement below, which was my contribution to the exhibition. The larger seed pods are from the African 'tulip tree' (spathodea campanulata) that came from the garden of another of Laurie's friends.

I tried to create a graduated transition of colour from the pink of the vase to the bright red of the heliconias. This first photo shows the space I have created at the left hand side of the vase. Unfortunately I did not have sufficient length to the principal stem, a point of correction that Mr Kawana noted. This second photo gives slightly more sense of the depth at the back of the arrangement.

The photo below was taken on the first day of the workshops led by Mr Kawana at the beginning of last week.

Below are further photos of the exhibition. I am afraid some of them are rather grainy because of my camera settings. Not all of my photos were successful, so not all arrangements are included. The first photo shows the birthday cake being cut by Joy Lane, who attended the first class that Norman Sparnon held in Brisbane fifty years ago. On the right is Judith McCulloch the Director of the Brisbane/Gold Coast Branch.