Much of this last week has been taken up with the annual exhibition of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana Victorian Branch. This year our exhibition is being held in the foyer space of the Hawthorn Arts Centre, a community Arts Hub that has been created in one of the old Town Halls remaining after the amalgamation of smaller suburban city councils in 1994.
As the Director of the Victorian Branch I am indebted to many of my ikebana colleagues, especially those who have given their time and talents to represent the great variety of individual styles inherent in Sogetsu Ikebana. Their names are to be seen with their ikebana under the Annual Exhibitions tab on our website. Lara Telford provided an engaging and informative public demonstration at the official opening. I also need to acknowledge the assistance of the senior curator Ms Elle Groch and the Arts Centre staff. Additionally I particularly wish to acknowledge Kaye Wong, Head of the Ichiyo School, for her organisational skills in arranging the delivery of the plinths following re-painting. Lastly, thanks to Robyn Unglik for her calm management through the unexpected difficulties of building maintenance activities in the exhibition space.
Now specifically to my ikebana. In the week immediately prior to the exhibition I suddenly threw out my previous ideas when I noticed that the apricot tree in the garden needed to be pruned. I immediately realised that these beautiful branches were perfect for a freestanding 'no kenzan' arrangement.
Being winter here, dutch iris are available and they have tall enough stems to be supported by the high intersecting branches. At the beginning of the exhibition the blue tips of the flowers were visible, promising something for the future.
Three days later the flowers were fully opened, declaring their beauty to the world.
If you haven't already done so I recommend following the link to the Annual Exhibition of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana.
Greetings from Christopher
10th June 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment