THE SURF COAST ARTS TRAIL

This weekend has seen an annual arts event promoted by our local Surf Coast Shire. This is the local government council in which my home town of Torquay is situated. The event is the Surf Coast Arts Trail. Over the weekend artists and art groups in the Shire open their studios and class rooms to the general public to show-case their work. 

This year, at sixty-five locations around the shire, a huge variety of arts and crafts have been on display. My local ikebana class has again been one of the participant groups in the event.

     

In the couple of months before the Arts Trail I noticed that this Manchurian Pear, pyrus ussuriensis at the Lions Village was due to be pruned. A request to the Manager meant that my class was given permission to have the prunings, from which we could make our sculptural ikebana. The unexpected gift of the prunings turned out to provide a theme and visual coherence to the small exhibition.

Kim used just two branches and no fresh material in his work. The elegant lines are held in place by very tall, 60 - 70cm, glass vase.

Giana has also inverted a branch to emphasise the lines where the branches separate from the main stem. She has added two large flowers of Banksia Praemorsa, from her own garden.

Róża has placed her branches upright in a red painted bamboo vase, emphasising the vertical lines. She also used Banksia Praemorsa flowers and a small group of leaves.

Val has placed her principal branch across the top of her tall rectangular vase. It has been secured by discreet wiring to the smaller branch on the right, which is stabilised on the table surface. She has added Banksia Coccinea as a focal point.

Rhonda has used a hand-built ceramic vase with a very narrow opening. The branch has been secured across the vase using a vertical fixture. She has also used Banksia Coccinea as her focal point.

Well, this will look familiar to readers who have seen last week's posting. I have re-used my exhibition piece from the Ikebana International Exhibition in Melbourne. Before transporting this structure home to Torquay (100km) I did have to remove the Cushion Bush leucophyta brownii and then re-attach it again. I was pleased to be able to photograph the work against a plain background and front-on rather than at an angle, as was the case at the exhibition.

Next week Roadside Ikebana will come to you from somewhere on the train between Vancouver and Toronto, as Laurie and I are heading to Canada for a few weeks' holiday. My posting could be even later than this week as apparently there is no wifi on 'The Canadian' (train).

Till then, greetings from

Christopher

12th August 2018.