A couple of weeks ago I set my senior students in Geelong the exercise of making an ikebana suggesting a movement. It seems a straightforward exercise, but it is not always easy. I must say I am often delighted at the inventiveness of the students in their interpretation of such exercises which are not particularly prescriptive.
Tess's inspiration came from the furious movement of billowing smoke from a roaring fire. One of the other students thought "flaming" captured the feel of this movement. Tess used a large glass vessel in which she set tortuous willow, with red materials to suggest flames.
Ellie also used tortuous willow to suggest "struggle" where the willow, from two separate kenzans, intertwines at the top of the ikebana. Low in the arrangement, unopened Iceland poppies papaver nudicaule, are "cowering" from the turmoil above.
Christine used finely-shredded Aspidistra leaves to suggest "cascading". Her placement of Nandina berries gives a focal mass with a colour contrast.
Maree's exercise was "Disassembling and re-arranging" the botanical material. In this case, a single
Crabclaw Heliconia H. bihai. The result was this striking abstract ikebana created from all the separate elements of the Heliconia. In addition to the ikebana itself, I was impressed by her courage in disassembling such a beautiful (not to mention, expensive) flower.
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... is flowering prolifically this year. Either it has been a "good season", which seems unlikely because the winter has been a bit dry; or it is because I tip-pruned the main branches when flowering first started a few weeks ago.
When I first bought this unusual vessel by the Victorian ceramicist, Paul Davis, I immediately imagined it being suitable to arrange the Flowering quince. Finally, I have chosen appropriate branches that sit well in the vessel. I added a small mass of green Goodenia ovata leaves at the base for their feeling of freshness and to visually stabilise the ikebana.
Greetings from Christopher
20th August 2023
A fun concept and lovely to see what you and your students created.
ReplyDeleteHello Gail, lovely to hear from you. The idea of representing movement in Sogetsu ikebana was introduced by headquarters in recent years. I think it is good to embrace open ended themes so that individual creativity can be encouraged. Christopher.
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