HAKEA

 

On Monday last the Sogetsu Branch held a workshop on the theme of "Renka", a style of ikebana created by a group of participants and which is modelled on the tradition of improvised linked poetry called Renga. The ikebana style, Renka, was invented by Hiroshi Teshigahara the third Iemoto of the Sogetsu school. 

The modified process for the workshop was devised by Emerald Leung and Angeline Lo. In the workshop all participants made a first ikebana under a strict 15 minute time limit. They then made a second ikebana in response to another, randomly chosen, participant's first work. The process meant that each participant made two ikebana arrangements in the workshop. 

   

By way of demonstration, Emerald and Angeline created the examples below.

Emerald created the ikebana on the right and Angeline responded with the arrangement on the left.

   

Angeline then made the arrangement on the left and Emerald responded to it with the arrangement on the right. The following link will take you to the record of the meeting on the Sogetsu Branch website including photos of the ikebana.

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A couple of weeks ago I noticed my neighbour's Pincushion Hakea, H. laurina, was flowering prolifically this year. It is one of my favourite Australian flowers, which I remember from my primary school days because it grew in the school grounds. 

The flowers are quite extraordinary, being spherical with a deep pink centre from which protrude long, creamy white pistols. My childhood's eyes saw the flowers as looking like an exploding firework. The stiff greyish-green leaves tend to have a curve, often an attractive 'S' shape, and which holds well after cutting. The leaves are delightful for the sense of writhing movement they give. The flowers are frequently within the bush and are often at least partially obscured by the leaves.

This photo shows the initial placement of two branches that I secured in a vase using a vertical fixture, to prevent the branches from rotating. As you can see, the flowers are almost hidden among the leaves. Trimming was necessary...

...a lot of trimming in fact. All the leaves that were in front of flowers were removed first. Then I removed additional ones that had distracting lines. 

Next, the branches were re-positioned so that the flowers formed a mass. I then added three lines of Coast Sword Sedge, Lepidosperma gladiatum, which gave a flowing sense of movement complementing the leaves and the line on the vase. The two small yellow spheres are flowers that have not fully opened.

The vase is by the Victorian ceramic artist Kaye Poulton, who has a studio in Mooroopna.

Greetings from Christopher

2nd May 2021