Last week my Melbourne students' exercise was to make an ikebana "in a suiban without using a kenzan". It is one of the more difficult exercises in the Sogetsu curriculum and one of my favourites. I like the way that the space within the work is emphasised especially beneath the branches, drawing attention to the surface of the water. (No water was used in this class).
In this instance the students were to use "Winter branches", meaning the leafless branches of deciduous trees, which are characteristic in the northern hemisphere winter.
Marisha used Mulberry branches which proved to be quite difficult because they are very flexible and moved in spite of being held in place by discreet wiring. The flowers are two stems of Lisianthus Eustoma.
Thank you, to Marcia who provided additional branch material.
On Saturday of last week I attended an Ikebana International, Melbourne Chapter, workshop led by Emily Karanikolopoulos with the theme of using previously unseen material. A delightful challenge because preparation is not possible. Three varied materials were at each place on the tables when we arrived They were all that each person was to use. We had been advised to bring a suiban and a nageire vessel to allow some flexibility.
My material included five stems of Umbrella fern Sticherus, a small bunch of Iceland Poppies, and two stems of Centaurea "Dusty Miller" which I discarded because their volume was small and not very harmonious with the other material. My big challenge was the main material, the Umbrella fern. I do not find this fern appealing because, as the name suggests, it has the appearance of a miniature palm tree. I did not want to end up with a suiban containing forest of small palm trees. My solution was to change the appearance of the fern.
Looking from above the fern presents a circle of radiating fronds. I decided to turn them into semi-circles and set them facing forward on one side of my tall blue vase. Four such semi-circles were lined up on the left side of the vase with a space between each of them. I then placed the three open poppies between the ferns so that they were partially obscured. Fortunately, the largest poppy was a vivid orange contrasting well with the bright green of the fern. I spent at least 30 minutes creating a fixture so that the semi-circles would not rotate.
I re-set the ikebana when I got home and was pleased that the flower responded well to the warm water and the overhead light by lifting its head to look up.
Click here for more photos from the workshop.
Greetings from Christopher
16th July 2023
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