INSPIRED BY NATURE

This week my students and I created ikebana in association with an exhibition of Botanical Art by members of the Friends of the Geelong Botanic Gardens, at the Wintergarden Gallery (art@Wintergarden) in Geelong. The gallery is run by Jill Shalless an accomplished artist and teacher who is respected for her active engagement with community groups of local artists to whom she provides opportunities to present their work. The beautiful building, originally a Congregational Church, has an interesting history and was only converted into a gallery, shops and cafe in 1989. In this general view of the gallery the art works are displayed on the outer walls.

We have created our ikebana in front of screens placed against the balustrading and  chose our materials from among the huge variety of subjects in the artworks exhibited by the Botanical Artists. This first ikebana is by Nola Bird and features Pomegranate.

Ellie Welkamp used Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata). As a subtle contast she placed a small number of white chrysantemums in the centre rear of the arrangement which can be seen behind the pine cones.

Christine Denmead chose helleborus as her subject in this work with a dried branch. The branch had a purple lichen that picked up the same colour in the flowers. 

I created a 'kabuake' (two group) iris arrangement in a large suiban. This is a more traditional arrangement, rather than a typical Sogetsu freestyle work. The flowers came from Christine Denmead's garden.

Greetings from Christopher

4th October 2013