THE LAST STRELITZIA

For those of you who have a chance to visit Melbourne during the next three weeks I would like to strongly recommend an exhibition at the NGV Australia gallery in Federation Square.

 The exhibition "Found and Gathered", features two women artists, Rosalie Gascoigne (1917-1999) and Lorraine Connelly-Northey (Born 1962). Many Sogetsu Ikebana practitioners will know that the late Rosalie Gascoigne studied ikebana with Norman Sparnon in the early 1960s and went on to develop a unique style of 'found object' sculpture. In 1982 she was the first female artist to represent Australia in the Venice Biennale of that year.

Above, Gascoigne's  "Pink window" is her first assemblage that incorporated metal, which she attached to the window frame. For her, the work evoked loneliness, as she imagined a country woman looking out across an empty plain from the window.

This work, "Pieces to walk around" is intended to evoke the shifting light and shades of grey in the countryside.

Lorraine Connelly-Northey's  "...work is inspired by her maternal... (indigenous) heritage..)." She uses found objects which she re-works to reference traditional indigenous cultural objects. (NGV curatorial signage)

 Above, a traditional string-bag form, made from metal mesh and wire.

"Possum skin cloak: Blackfella road", almost 2.7m wide, made from rusted iron and tin, fencing and barbed wire, is the artists' response to the desecration of aboriginal remains during the construction of a road near Swan Hill.

I found these works quite very powerful in their symbolic representation. Also, they are extraordinary in the way the artist has created soft textural impressions from stiff and harsh  materials. To me this exhibition is very compatible with the Sogetsu perspective because of its focus on line, space, texture and a restricted colour pallet.

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Some weeks ago I made a couple of ikebana arrangements using Strelitzia from the garden because it was coming to the end of the flowering.

I made this ikebana first, being drawn to the gentle curve in the longest stem. I chose two other flowers and found that they were able to complement the movement of the principal line. The ceramic vase by Graeme Wilkie, was chosen because of the corresponding lines on its surface. These flowers are from the Strelitzia juncea plant in the garden which has only very tiny leaf margins at the end of the pointy stems. Therefore I have used some New Zealand Flax, Phormium, leaves to create a mass of three rectangular box shapes placed horizontally.

Three weeks later there was only one Strelitzia flower left in the garden and we were about to have a heavy down-pour of rain.

Hence "The last Strelitzia" . I should add, last for the season, as the plant is looking very healthy at the moment. Again I have substituted other leaves to make a mass. In this instance, three stems of Umbrella Grass, Cyperus alternifolius. I have cut the ends of the leaves so that the three groups of leaves are different sizes. This also makes the lines sit straighter as they do not droop at the end, giving a more modern geometric look to the ikebana.

The spherical ceramic vase, which I bought in 1972, is by the late South Australian ceramic artist Don Jones. I clearly remember being drawn by the sight of this vase, from a distance of many metres. It remains a favourite.

Greetings from Christopher

29th January 2022

CORYMBIA FICIFOLIA

Late last year I attended the last of Emily Karanikolopoulos' Master Classes. As usual, she set a challenge for all the participants. We each drew lots for selected vessels and materials to go with them. However, Emily had chosen vessels from her collection that she had found difficult to use. She had also paired the vessel with materials that ordinarily would not be used with the vessel.

I had drawn a lot which included two matching rectangular ceramic vessels with a large wave-shaped surface. On the convex part of the surface is a shallow circular depression, just deep enough to hold a kenzan. The material with these vessels was a large, heavy stem of Mahonia, and a small bunch of Crocosmia flowers. The  shape of the Mahonia stem was such that it was most suited to being arranged at a slant. However, it was too heavy to be arranged at a slant in a kenzan. I improvised by splitting the stem onto a cross-bar that I wedged horizontally across the circular hole.

As you can see I set the second vessel on its side so that its mass balances the Mahonia branch as well as giving depth to the whole work. In the circular hole I set a small branch of Mahonia leaves and a floret of Crocosmia. I also drew the ends of the Mahonia leaf-stems together to make a loose ball to give it a more controlled shape and smaller volume than when left naturally.

This link will take you to Emily's posting about the Master Class including photos of other ikebana made on the day.

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In the garden...

...the Corymbia ficifolia, which seemed to suddenly produce an abundance of buds... 

 

...is now flowering. I decided that I should ensure that I use some of these intense red flowers while I have the opportunity. 

The vase I wanted to use is by the South Australian ceramic artist Bec Dawson and was given to me by the South Australian Branch of the Sogetsu School. Its shape is irregular and the glaze is predominately black except for a small area at the top where it is bright red. The next question in my mind was what other materials to use with the red flowers.

The answer came to me unexpectedly when I walked past this patch of variegated Agave americana, growing on the verge of a nearby street. What caught my attention was not the spectacular large leaves, but some of the smaller ones that had died and dried a charcoal grey. These leaves also had very interesting textures and shapes. Their very sharp thorns had not softened so I used thick gardening gloves when I gathered them. 

Four of the leaves have been wired together and sit around the mouth of the vase and an attached bamboo skewer projects into the vase to secure them in place. The Corymbia flowers provide a forward leaning mass with some leaves providing a green contrast. The red against the black and the strong lines make this a quite dramatic ikebana.

Greetings from Christopher

22nd January 2022

 

ORIENTAL LILY

Last week I posted two photos of ikebana works created by my friend Michael. Here is one more that he had sent at the same time.

It took me a few moments to realise the context of this ikebana by Michael. His previous photos, which I showed on last weeks posting, were of the exercise "Complementing a work of Art". However, this ikebana is of a different exercise. It is an ikebana showing "Colours in Contrast". The vivid blue of the painted dried material and the vase are opposite on the colour wheel to the orange of the flowers and the Fire Croton, Codiaeum variegatum leaves which are snuggling on the right rim of the vase. The simplicity of the design and the use of only two contrasting colours make this a striking ikebana.

At the beginning of December I participated in the "Sogetsu Awakening" on-line exhibition by the Sogetsu School Branch of New South Wales, to belatedly celebrate its 60th anniversary. The link above will take you to the page which shows a video of the exhibits. If you scroll below the video you will see the individual photos and artists statements where you can study each image at leisure. My contribution was an ikebana of three Banksia flowers and leaves in a black lacquer-ware vase which I posted on this blog on 12th December. 

After the exhibition I re-worked the materials in a vase by the Canadian Potter Janet Keefe.

This time I added three stems of Coastal Sword Sedge, Lepidosperma gladiatum, giving this new ikebana a sinuous rising movement. 

When I was thinking about the Sogetsu Awakening exhibition, I remembered an ikebana I created in 2010 that I would have liked to re-create. However, I was extremely busy with the renovation of our conservatory at the time and could not source appropriate material.

Here is the ikebana that I made and photographed in 2010, that I think suits the theme of Sogetsu Awakening.  The materials are Tree Philodendron, Thaumatophyllum bipinnatifidium, and Oriental Lily. Ceramic bowl by the Victorian ceramic artist Petrus Spronk.

Greetings from Christopher

15th January 2021

(Happy birthday Laurie (and wedding anniversary))
 

PINK HYDRANGEAS

My friend and Sogetsu Ikebana colleague, Michael from Florida  USA, recently sent me some photos of his ikebana. I recognised the two examples below as the Sogetsu Book Five exercise of "complementing a work of art". At a Victorian Branch Sogetsu workshop on this theme in 2017, Mr Umemura commented that he thought a more accurate translation of this topic was that the Ikebana and the art work should be in conversation with each other.

In this first example Michael has used a black and an 'off-white' contemporary ceramic ikebana vessel. The linear aspect of the  design is very strong. He has introduced a mass of curving red lines, which are secured with black plastic ties that pick up the black lines in the abstract art work, while the red lines contrast with the straight lines in the painting. Some yellow flowers also pick up the yellow of the painting. 

The red-brown tones in the next ikebana are a very good match with the colours in the painting, as is the green of the foliage. The black sphere on the lacquered board is a modern incense burner that picks up the black circle of the painting in three dimensions. It is a great touch, which also balances the overall composition. 

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In the garden the richly-pink Hydrangea has flowered profusely this year. I decided I should make at least one Ikebana featuring this material before I run the risk of heat stress ruining the blooms.

I have set the flowers in this large grey-glazed cylinder by Graeme Wilkie, from Qdos Gallery in Lorne. The grey makes a great foil for the intensity of the pink flowerhead. I have used some stems of the almost leafless Strelitzia juncea in strong geometric shapes to contrast with the spherical form of the flowers.

Greetings from Christopher

9th January 2022

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM SPIKE

On New Year's Day, guess who came visiting?

Yes, Spike! In the early evening I was about to go out to water the more delicate northern hemisphere plants, after the second consecutive rather warm dry day, only to find him at the door. It has been the kind of weather that brings the flying ants out to swarm, which may have been another reason for Spike to come into the garden.

However, a little later I discovered he was thirsty. I have been keeping the Hydrangeas well watered, given the weather. So their saucers were full of water...

...at just at the right height for a thirsty Echidna!

 

This New Year I decided I would make a traditional-looking New Year's ikebana. Two of our neighbours have very large Pinus radiata trees in their gardens. So tall, in fact that it was difficult to find an upright branch. However, one lower branch was beginning to curve upward at the tip.

The other materials are Hydrangea, a bright red Geranium, and some gold Mizuhiki. I made the vase some years ago from a piece of large diameter bamboo that I bought from a plant nursery. 

While I enjoyed this exercise, I was also keen to express the feeling of Australian summer in a New Year's ikebana. The material I wanted to use...

...was the flower of this Eucalyptus cornuta. It is one of two large trees at the bottom of our garden. Although E. cornuta is not indigenous to this area, these trees pre-date the building of our house in 1984 and were already established in 1978, when I bought the block of land; which explains the metre wide trunk. E cornuta comes from the south coast of Western Australia, like its cousin E. lehmannii.

The tree is about 10m high and, as this photo shows, has a large spreading branch. A couple of weeks ago I noticed the newly-opened flowers from our bathroom window.

They have such an interesting form and a really lovely honey-like fragrance, which I enjoy when I walk past the ikebana. The flowers, in the photo above, were well above my head height and I was only able to cut one small stem with three opened flowers.

The rest of the flowers were still "in bud" and each single flower in the cluster is covered by a long narrow operculum, which cover the greenish-yellow stamens, as you can see in this photo.

The cascading form of the side branches lent themselves to a nageire (tall vase) style ikebana, to which I added some more gold mizuhiki. The vase is by the Victorian potter Arnaud Barraud.

Best wishes for the New Year of 2022.

Christopher

2nd January 2022.