(SOME) MEMORIES OF SUMMER

 

February marks the beginning of the academic year in Australia. The summer holidays are over and life resumes a more familiar and structured pattern which, for me, includes teaching ikebana classes. For the first classes of this year I gave some of my students the task of making an ikebana to the topic, “memories of summer”. I enjoy setting such topics from time to time. They are neither a technical exercise nor prescriptive, so they mean that the student is free to interpret. Thus the student has to think about their own individual response to, and their interpretation of, the meaning of the words.

In my Torquay class...

...Marta set two plants with distinctive summer characteristics. On the left a branch with winged seeds from a Sycamore, Acer pseudoplatanus and on the right a branch of a Golden Rain Tree, Koelreuteria paniculata. This has both newly formed seed pods and tiny yellow flowers occurring at the same time.  

Coralie set two different stems of inflorescences that were in their seed-forming stage. On the right is Dock and on the left Giant Honey Flower Melianthus major. The leaf is also from the Giant Honey Flower. 

The Melianthus seed pods had a subtle pink colouring which I found particularly beautiful.

Judy arranged a collection of five pink-toned flowers in the Maze-zashi style in a suiban, including Hollyhock and Geranium. 

The Maze-zashi ikebana derives from the 'seven grasses/flowers of autumn' and are associated with the Rinpa school of painting. In my Melbourne class two of the students also did this exercise.

 Marcia arranged her seven tonally-related materials, which gave a dry summery feeling to her work.

Eugenia's Maze-zashi included seven materials ranging from bright flowers to seeding grasses and an unusual Canna lily with dark variegated leaves.

In my Melbourne class two of the students had other exercises. 

Marisha had the task of making an ikebana that “took into account where it was to be placed". In an earlier version of the Sogetsu curriculum this exercise was described as "incorporating the area around (beside) the vessel". She has used a palm leaf, Golden Rod Solidago altissima, and a yellow Oriental lily.  

Jacqueline had the exercise of making an ikebana arrangement to be hung on a wall. She made a framework with dried corky Elm and added Camellia branches with most of the leaves removed. A small dusty-pink focus was made with some umbelliferous plant, possibly Ajwain Trachyspermum ammi.

This week I was invited to pick some Agapanthus, that had gone to seed, from a friend's garden. The stems had long sinuous S-shaped curves that looked very beautiful.

I was also interested to notice some dark colouring on the seeds that, at a distance, looked bluish. This prompted me to find some blue flowers to go with the stems.

When I was experimenting with the possibilities of these two lines, I was delighted with the form of the space between them when they were in the position above. The irregular space had a feeling of an Art Nouveau shape; which is really not surprising given the particular lines. I have set them into a mid-century Japanese ikebana vessel so that they arise from the opening without touching the sides. I then added a column of Plumbago, Plumbago auriculata, flowers on one side so that the space remains open. I think the placement of the flowers also allows the lines to remain the main feature of the ikebana.

Greetings from Christopher

5th February 2023