TWO BANKSIA FLOWERS

In my Melbourne class recently, the students had a variety of different exercises which reflect some of the range of ikebana exercises in the Sogetsu curriculum. The most immediately obvious way of describing this variety is to say that it varies from "naturalistic" to contemporary "freestyle" ikebana. There is a big shift between these two ideas. 

In naturalistic ikebana, the focus of the ikebanist is to refine the lines and elements of the material to reveal its natural form and the feeling to be represented or expressed. Contemporary freestyle ikebana focuses on discrete elements of the material, which are then used to create a design that may be completely abstract.

Julie completed a basic naturalistic nageire exercise in a tall vase. The particular difficulty in this case is that the student had also to practice the method of demonstrating ikebana. In the Sogetsu school it is a requirement that the demonstrator faces the audience and creates the ikebana from behind. The ikebana shows the autumn to winter transition, with most of the leaves on the branches having fallen.

Marisha's exercise was to incorporate artificial material in her ikebana. She has used a sheet of pink translucent wrapping-paper that shelters some of the materials and picks up the colour of the small Thryptomene flowers. Dendrobium orchid leaf stems provide the lines in the ikebana. 

Jacqueline's exercise was "Deconstruction and Re-arrangement" of the materials. She separated the petals, leaf clusters and stem from red roses. These elements were then placed to make a small table-top installation, with a bottle of red sparkling wine and a glass that spills red petals.

The following three students' exercise was to make an ikebana using repeating shapes in two vessels.

Eugenia made triangular forms with Umbrella Grass, Cyperus alternifolius. The contrasting material is a Bromeliad flower and the spent flowerheads of Clivea with small red berries - one of which emphasises the end of a line made by an Umbrella grass stem.

Margaret's ikebana was set in contrasting vessels of the same shape that have been linked together to create a sculptural form. The simple design made with just three leaves of variegated New Zealand Flax has a strong sense of movement. To maintain the strength of the design, no floral material is added.

The starting point for Marcia's ikebana was the large triangular vessel. She has emphasised its shape with multiple lines of Umbrella Grass that also connect to the smaller colour-matched vessel at the front. Nandina domestica leaves provide a contrasting mass at the front.

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Following the Ikebana International Melbourne photoshoot I posted about a couple of weeks ago, I deconstructed my ikebana to transport it back home. The bark that I had used as the main subject had started to dry out and curl. As a result I decided to re-set the banksia flowers only.

Here is my simple ikebana of two Coastal Banksia flowers,       B integrifolia, in a bowl-shaped vessel by the ceramic artist Greg Daly. I have added three small side stems of Tree Fern, Dicksonia antartica, to give some additional mass to the space within the bowl. The bowl itself has a rounded base so that it sits at a slight angle. It has a rich yellow and turquoise lustre glaze. The yellow and green of the plant materials complement the vibrant glaze.  

Greetings from Christopher
2nd July 2022