AUTUMN IN MELBOURNE: the exhibition

Below is a photo of a sculpture by Sofu Teshigahara. I believe it was brought by him to Australia on his visit in 1967 along with a number of similar sculptures. It is made of carved cypress and covered with aluminium sheeting. I have been told that a number of these small sculptures were stacked vertically together to make a larger work at that time. During his visit he also presented a very large sculpture to Canberra's National Capital Development Commission, as reported in The Canberra Times, 27th September 1967.

A further search has revealed the same sculpture being used in advertising for Norman Sparnon's second tour to North America in early 1982. If you look closely you can see it is on the righthand side of two sculptures set on the sea wall with the Sydney Opera House in the background. 

I have used the same sculpture in this year's 50th anniversary exhibition of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana. In keeping with the theme of 'Autumn in Melbourne' I have added the dried heads of  sunflowers that I grew last year and two stems of rose-hips.

The exhibition has been a great success with 901 visitors to the beautiful and strikingly modern Yarra Gallery in Federation Square in the heart of Melbourne. I have posted a slideshow of the exhibition on the Victorian Branch website. Click on the coloured text and then go to Members Exhibition 2014 to view them: Autumn in Melbourne.

Greetings from Christopher
31st May 2014.

Don't forget to check Emily Karanikolopoulos blog. (Click on coloured text to link to Emily Karanikolopoulos' Tokyo blog)

Mr KAWANA VISITS MELBOURNE

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana invited Mr Tetsunori Kawana (click on the coloured text link to his website) to give a public demonstration and conduct two days of workshops for Sogetsu members. His demonstration was held in the Deakin Edge hall at Melbourne's Federation Square. The centre piece of his demonstration was a large scale bamboo installation designed to respond to the striking architecture of this glass enclosed space. The installation was created earlier that day by a team of volunteers including members of the Branch and their family and friends working under the direction of Mr Kawana.

After Mr Kawana created four large ikebana in vases, the installation was further enhanced by the addition of other botanical materials. Evan Demas and I are the two assistants working from within the structure. Mr Kawana is directing from the front.

Below is the final spectacular creation that amazed many of the new initiates to such an ikebana performance.

Next are the four arrangements Mr Kawana created in large vases

Four workshops were held two days later in a church hall and attended by Sogetsu members from around Australia and New Zealand.

I was able to attend two of the workshops. The first theme was 'Using one kind of material'. Everyone used camellia leaves that were supplied. Below is a photo of my arrangement in the workshop. I massed the leaves at the end of the branch after intertwining the stems. Mr Kawana's critique was that the stems were rather too tightly entwined and that the stem of the leaf on the lefthand side should be going sharply in a different direction (or removed). I was unable to make the correction at the time.

The second workshop theme was 'Using a suiban without a kenzan'. I arrived late and had to use three agapanthus stems from the provided materials. I added a single New Zealand Flax leaf.

Mr Kawana's critique was that the leaf was interfering with the lines of the principal material and should be placed as shown below.

Next week I will post photos from the Members' Exhibition.

Greetings from Christopher
25th May 2013

Don't forget to check Emily Karanikolopoulos blog. (Click on coloured text to link to Emily Karanikolopoulos' Tokyo blog)

AUTUMN LEAVES in MELBOURNE'S GARDENS

The theme for the 50th Anniversary Exhibition of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana, Victorian Branch is 'Autumn in Melbourne'. Our forebears who established the gardens in the second half of the 19th century in Melbourne have left us a great legacy of many, now mature, exotic trees from the northern hemisphere. This results in a rather european feel to the city and is in marked contrast to the natural vegetation of this part of the world. So the season of autumn is more immediately apparent than out in the countryside where native vegetation predominates. Below are some photos I took this morning of colourful autumn foliage in the Domain Gardens.

My eye was caught by the mass of plane tree leaves piled up against this gate.

Here is an interesting contrast of luminous looking smoke bush leaves with branch of blue green eucalyptus cascading from the left of the photo.

For people in Melbourne on Wednesday May 21st, the demonstration by Mr Kawana will be a must see. If you are quick you will be able to get a ticket through the following link. Click on the coloured text: Mr Tetsunori Kawana's demonstration. As I mentioned in last weeks posting, the Victorian Branch Exhibition will be open from 11.00am to 6.00pm at Yarra Gallery Federation Square from Tuesday 20th to Sunday 25th

In this weeks ikebana I have used some wisteria leaves and orange trumpet flowers in a ceramic vase made by Shigeo Shiga (click on coloured text for further information), the highly influential Japanese ceramic artist who worked in Australia for many years.

(Click on coloured text to link to Emily Karanikolopoulos' Tokyo blog)

Greetings from Christopher

50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION PREPARATIONS

This has been a busy week with continuing preparations for the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School's 50th anniversary celebrations that I mentioned last week. I am responsible for the members' exhibition and one of the tasks has been to paint all of the plinths needed. 

Below is the promotional material for the two major public events for the week. For people in Melbourne on Wednesday May 21st the demonstration by Mr Kawana will be a must see. If you are quick you will be able to get a ticket through the following link. Click on the coloured text: Mr Tetsunori Kawana's demonstration.

Otherwise please come and see the members' exhibition at the Yarra Gallery in the building pictured below. The exhibition will be open from 11.00 am to 6.00 pm Tuesday 20th to Sunday 25th May.

This week's ikebana is student work from a recent class I gave. The first exercise 'Showing the lines at the base' is from Book 3 of the Sogetsu curriculum. This exercise requires clear strong lines rising cleanly from the vase. The first example is by Marcia who has used bare branches forming a strong vertical movement with Manchurian Pear (pyrus ussuriensis) leaves as an accent. 

My correction for this work was to place the leaves to the rear of the right hand branch. This has emphasised the strong vertical line on the left of the arrangement thus drawing our eyes up and then down again to the vase

The second arrangement, by Niki, is shown after 'correction'. The lines at the base are emphasised by being separated into two uneven groups creating a space between the lines. The asymmetrical arrangement of the spent flower heads brings the lines together at the top of the work. The lily flower in the centre reaches forward and the bud to the rear giving the work depth.

The third arrangement by Margaret is also from Book 3 of the curriculum: using 'Colours in the Same Tonal Range'. The materials are a yellow strelitzia, chrysanthemums and berries. Her bold arrangement brings the rich feeling of autumn colours enhanced by a strong yellow vase.

(Click on coloured text to link to Emily Karanilolopoulos' Tokyo blog)

Greetings from Christopher

9th May 2014

IKEBANA on a GRAND SCALE

Later this month the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana will celebrate fifty years since its founding by Norman Sparnon. In the third week of May a members' exhibition will be held at the Yarra Gallery in Federation Square in the heart of Melbourne. The branch is also hosting a visit by Mr Tetsunori Kawana who will conduct a public demonstration and two days of workshops for Sogetsu practitioners. (Click on coloured text for further information about Mr Kawana)

Mr Kawana was the guest of Ikebana International Melbourne in 2009 when, with the assistance of 30 ikebana teachers from around Australia, New Zealand and South Asia, he created the huge bamboo sculpture 'Five Elements: Water' at the National Gallery of Victoria. (Click on coloured text to view a video about the making of Five Elements: Water). I was privileged to be one of those teachers. The image below is of Mr Kawana working on the sculpture.

The next photo was taken on the day the work was completed.

These next three photos were taken a couple of months later and show the sculpture in its setting and how its colour mellowed.

                       

This weeks ikebana is an example of the Sogetsu curriculum exercise of 'Taking into account the colour of the vase'. The delicate botanical material are flowers from a succulent and I have used similar toned paper around the vase.

(Click on coloured text to link to Emily Karanilolopoulos' Tokyo blog)

Greetings from Christopher

4th May 2014