Last Tuesday at the meeting of Ikebana International Melbourne the guest speaker was Ema Shin, a Japanese-born, Australian textile artist of Korean descent. Ema's presentation had been planned for July 2021, however a Covid-related lockdown prevented the meeting from taking place at that time. Ema spoke about the way her creative work has evolved from printmaking to three dimensional textile sculptural work involving a variety of techniques.
Her recent work has focused on the depiction of the female body, including internal organs as well as flowers, as "...symbols of her life and emotions...". In particular, her embroidered soft heart sculptures represent the "missing women" of her own ancestry whose names were not recorded in the family's genealogical records. Images of Ema's work in this link are included with an article about her exhibition earlier this year.
At the meeting Ema demonstrated tapestry weaving on a small portable hand loom. As is the custom when there is a guest speaker at meetings, members are encouraged to make ikebana related to the presentation. Below is the ikebana I created in which I improvised with a textile-covered Japanese wine-bottle carrier instead of a vase.
The fabric is an olive green with a subtle dull gold brocaded pattern. The materials are Forest Bell bush, Makaya bella, flowers and Dietes grandiflora leaves.
Last year I made the ikebana below...
...in response to viewing Ema's work online. I must admit I am happier with this earlier work, in which I wrapped a single line of a branch in two shades of red wool as a direct reference to her work. The fresh pink material is a stem of Bougainvillea flowers. This link is to the Ikebana International Melbourne blog for more photos from the meeting.
In the garden a couple of weeks ago...
...the bush of Spanish Broom, Spartium junceum, started to flower. The bright yellow flowers were vibrant in the bright sunshine and became my chosen ikebana subject for a vase with a very narrow slit-like opening.
The particular challenge with the vase is that it is deep and with the narrow lateral opening the materials tend to lean forward or to the rear. However, what are such challenges for but to find a solution!
I have used two stems of Broom that each have straight almost parallel lines, and a single stem with a zig-zag form. The single stem, placed on the right, is angled forward and creates a loose open space. The two leaves of Kangaroo fern, Zealandia pustulata, provide a mass that visually holds the lines together.
As you can see the vase has a turquoise glaze on the top half and is creamy white below. It was made by the Japanese-born, Australian ceramic artist Hiroe Swen. More images of Hiroe Swen's ceramics.
Greetings from Christopher
13th November 2022
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