A VASE VISITS ITS HOME GROUND

Last week at the Art Gallery of South Australia, my colleagues - Ray Bywaters (Director of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana, South Australian Branch) and Maureen Arnott (Deputy Director) - and I were interviewed by the Curator of Asian Art, Russell Kelty, about our installations in the Pure Form Exhibition (see last week's posting). Following the interview the three of us gave an ikebana demonstration in the Cafe space of the Gallery.

 

As this photo shows the event was well attended. I counted in excess of 60 attendees who paid close attention throughout our presentation.

The presentation was a team effort. The three presenters spent the previous two days in preparing our work and in detailed planning of the process of the presentation. Each of us prepared two ikebana arrangements. In the back row of the photo are Ray Bywaters and me; in the front row are Maureen Arnott and, to the right, our assistant Lea Lawrence. 

This photo shows the six completed ikebana on the two trestle tables, being arranged for viewing at the end of the demonstration.

Ray was the first presenter. This photo shows her creating an ikebana which included Casuarina and Banksia coccinea. Unfortunately, it did not photograph satisfactorily after the demonstration.

However, this was Ray's other ikebana featuring Eucalyptus pleurocarpa, one of those beautiful Australian native plants with strong structural qualities. The square-section stems and flower buds are covered in a distinctive white waxy bloom. The 'mass and line'  ikebana worked well in the bold mid-century ceramic ikebana vessel from Japan. 

Maureen's second ikebana was set in a modern stainless steel box-shaped vessel. A diagonal opening across the front allowed the placement of pale pink everlasting flowers that were reflected in the stainless steel surface. 

   

The principal material was dried seaweed, Kelp, which had a strong sculptural quality. It was set at the top of the vessel and provided a sheltering space for one of the pink flowers, while a mass of them projected from the front of the vessel.

My second ikebana was set in a spherical ceramic vase that I had brought to Adelaide for this event. I had purchased the vase, by the South Australian ceramic artist Don Jones, in 1972 when I was living in Adelaide. The vase was the first one that I bought that year. Most of the ceramics I bought at that time were "functional pots", largely things to use in the kitchen. At the time I did not realise that I was laying the foundation for a ceramics collection.

In the vase I set a single Waratah, Telopea speciosissima, extending forward and slightly to the left. Then I added loosely swooping lines of Coastal Sword Sedge, Lepidosperma gladiatum to create an asymmetric balance to the mass of the vase and the large flower.

Greetings from Christopher

15th October 2022