Lightscape

On Sunday night last week Laurie and I joined the last throng of nighttime visitors to the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne to see the large number of installations using a variety of different types of light sources. This included lasers, LED, and coloured flood lighting. The event was called 'Lightscape'.

This installation of a forest of giant artificial flowers was sure to make people, at least those old enough, to think of "...Cellophane flowers of yellow and green, towering over your head..." a line from the Beatles, "Sgt Pepper's" album.

I found this field of poppies floating over the pathway quite delightful. The green hanging stems were softly lit from within; I suppose by optical fibres.

The Gothic arch gave this installation the name, 'the Winter Cathedral'. It spanned one of the paths...

...and entranced people. Being a relatively brightly lit space, it was popular for taking "selfies". The following link takes you to a gallery of photos of the event.

Meanwhile in my Melbourne class...

...Marisha's exercise was to make an ikebana emphasising water. She used a tall rectangular vase and small spherical one. The tall vase held a stem of Camellia with a single flower. A curving line of Eucalyptus arched over to the spherical vase, which had another stem of Eucalyptus submerged beneath the water.

Jacqueline's exercise was to make an ikebana incorporating some "unconventional" (artificial) material. She found this expanded cardboard packaging and thought its lattice-like appearance would be an interesting contrast. The difficulty was  that the material did not have enough strength to be self-supporting. The solution was to use it like a lattice wrapped around the shallow vessel that held her botanical material. 

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Last Tuesday the Melbourne Chapter of Ikebana International held its Annual General Meeting. As the Director of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School I was required to give a brief demonstration, along with the other Heads of Schools or their representatives. The demonstrators were asked to make an ikebana that is representative of their school. Unlike the older traditional schools, the Sogetsu School does not have a signature style of ikebana. However, the Sogetsu School encourages freedom of expression in advanced students and practitioners. I decided therefore to select for my principal material something that particularly drew my attention. I chose a large piece of dry material, the leaf base of an Abyssinian Banana, Ensete ventricosum. This material has a beautiful texture and a sinuous curling line that reflexes back on itself.

The dried leaf base is 23cm broad and reaches 45cm from the middle of the vessel to its full extent on the right. I have contrasted both the texture and line with a mass of Dancing Lady Orchid. A single curved Aspidistra leaf is placed so that it highlights the end of the the dried material.

The vessel is by the Melbourne-based ceramic artist Isabel Wang.

Further photos from the Ikebana International Melbourne Chapter meeting can be viewed through this link.

Greetings from Christopher

13th August 2022