OUT AND ABOUT IKEBANA

Sorry this posting is a little late and will be brief. The last month and a half have been very busy with the annual exhibitions of I.I. Melbourne and the Sogetsu Branch two weeks apart. On the weekend in between I presented an introductory workshop and last week I gave a demonstration for the members of an enthusiastic Gardening group.

This photo is the only one from that demonstration which is clear enough to show my intention at the time. Some of the materials I used came from my hosts vegetable garden. This is a single leaf of Kale and a stem of Borage placed under water in a glass cylinder. I wanted to show the silvery effect of the leaf's water repellant surface. The Borage flower arranged itself perfectly.

Another task was to set some ikebana for an open day for the U3A in Torquay. Also a situation where the busy background made photography unsatisfactory. So I re-set the the ikebana when I got home. I used a very interesting piece of driftwood with some Banksia in a suiban made by the New Zealand ceramic artist Elena Renka. This is how I configured it in the living room niche.

This is how it was set on a table in the middle of a room for the open day. An example of extending the ikebana into the space that surrounds the vessel.

Today (tonight actually) I am writing this in a hotel room in Tokyo where I noticed to my delight a waning, but full-looking moon. It was at full two days ago. Laurie and I are beginning an "Art, Architecture and History Tour' in Honshu tomorrow. I hope I will have some interesting photos to share with you over the next few weeks.

Greetings from Christopher

 9.45 pm, Tuesday 30th October

INCORPORATING THE AREA AROUND THE VESSEL

Last week my Melbourne students' class exercise was an ikebana of "Spring flowers in a suiban". Coincidently, Eugenia and Jacqueline both brought pink tulips, of two different kinds.

Eugenia's tulips appear to be one of the Parrot tulip cultivars. She arranged them naturalistically along with leaves of Spider plant Chlorophytum comosum, using two kenzans.

Jacqueline had planned to arrange her flowers under the curve of some fine stems of Silver Birch Betula pendula. However, this could not be achieved without cutting the tulips quite short. Plan B turned out to be an arrangement with two contrasting curving lines which preserved the beauty of both materials. Quietly we wondered which way the tulips would be facing the following day.

The exercise for my senior students in Geelong was to make an ikebana incorporating the area around the vessel. This is a good exercise in drawing the students attention to the space that surrounds their work which plays a vital role in the way the ikebana is seen. The completed ikebana is defined as being the plant materials, the vessel and the area in which it is situated.

Ellie arranged some red flowering Calistemon and used a green painted structure of disposable Chopsticks ('hashi' in Japanese) to extend the ikebana forward and to the right front. 

 

To extend her ikebana, Maureen has used a single, unusually-shaped piece of dried wood which has several almost right-angle turns. She has also used a complementary square-shaped vessel. The other material is a dried stem of Dock Rumex and a small mass of orange flowers.

Tess has used a lichen encrusted branch of Box Thorn Lycium and Licorice plant Helichrysum petiolare. Her materials extended both forward and to the back in this ikebana

Christine arranged two stems of dried palm inflorescence on one side of a tall black vessel to which she added three flowering stems of Strelitzia.

Ellie arranged some Nasturtium Tropaeolum flowers and leaves in a tall glass vase. She then set the vase within the curve of a large black-painted dried branch; which showed well against the table top but not the portable room-divider.

Jo's exercise was an ikebana using irises,  which apparently are flourishing in her garden. She added Rapeseed Brassica napus for its textural and colour contrast, as well as a stem of Japanese maple acer palmatum.

My own ikebana this week are two arrangements that I made for the Sogetsu School of Ikebana, Victorian Branch, Annual Exhibition.

This first ikebana uses one material only, Bushy Yate Eucalptus lehmannii. I have stripped most of the leaves from the branches and left the fascinating buds, flowers and seed pods that all occur on the tree at this time of year. I bought the interesting mid-century Japanese ikebana vase from the late Cherie Glaser a few years ago. A number of her vases and vessels were gifted to the Victorian Branch, some of which were used in the exhibition to honour her gift.

In this second arrangement I have used bare Magnolia branches contrasted with fresh growth on Oak branches. A small number of pale pink Helichrysum flowers provide a colour focus. The large pale blue vessel has a subtle crystal glaze. It is also from Cherie Glaser's estate.

Greetings from Christopher

22nd October 2023

VARIATION No. THREE

 

Two weeks ago I set my Melbourne class the exercise of making an ikebana "expressing a movement". Understandably, this led to the students focusing on the line in their ikebana. Line is an element of ikebana that the founder of the Sogetsu School, Sofu Teshigahara, spoke about in his "Kadensho".  Among his observations, he spoke about the importance of the "...enhancement of line's beauty...". Ikebanists need to find the line in their materials and reveal it to the observer. Line is usually the clearest way of expressing movement.

Marisha chose to create a cascading line with this Devils Ivy Epipremnum aureum, from Mo'orea in the Society Islands. She added a line of flowering Wisteria and a similarly blue-coloured unnamed vine. Because of the length of the principal line, her basket is sitting on an inverted straight-sided ceramic vase.

Jacqueline chose the wandering movement of a tortuous willow which she emphasised with a purple ribbon. Two red carnations provided a small focal point in the space above the opening of the vessel.

Marcia created a swirling line below the water in a glass vase.  Only two Dietes leaves were used so as not to clutter the vase. The single Ranunculus flower provides the focal point to the ikebana. 

Eugenia's ikebana made a swooping line that also was emphasised by its visibality below the water in her glass vase. The focal point in this case being three small dark-red Anthuriums.

In my Torquay class, the students' exercise was to express an "emotion" through their ikebana.

Marta's ikebana shows a single strong idea flowing upward that has arisen from a cloud of confusion, represented by the Smoke Bush at the mouth of the vase.

Judy said she expressed "loss" in her ikebana. The materials are hanging their heads and tears fall. "It is very clear" I said, and felt "sorrow" as soon as I saw this arrangement. 

 

Annie, who has returned to the class after a long break, created a cascade of "Joy" with a stem of "Dancing Lady" orchid and some green leaves.

Julie expressed an explosion of "joy' in her white and green ikebana. Her exercise became one of reducing the colour palate and the variety of materials for the successful purpose of achieving clarity.

Pamela represented "love" in her ikebana. She spoke about the variety of manifestations of love, including being swept up as well as enwrapped.

Róża used a dried palm inflorescence and line of tortuous willow in her ikebana. These materials were contrasted with a small green sprig of Leucadendron representing "hope".

My ikebana this week is a demonstration of the third variation of a Basic Upright ikebana as taught in the Sogetsu curriculum, which I had prepared for a class. I have used Coastal Tea Tree Leptospermum laevigatum and Red Valerian Centranthus ruber from the garden. My first Sogetsu teacher used to describe this variation as the one nearest to traditional western floral style because of its placement of the flowers at the centre of the arrangement and being flanked by the branch stems. However, it maintains asymmetry of design and is characterised by the elements of line, mass and space.

Greetings from Christopher

15th October 2023

BASIC UPRIGHT IKEBANA for BEGINNERS

This week I was delighted when the first bud in a couple of years opened on the Kamo Hon'ami camellia. Unfortunately the plant, which is in a terracotta pot, suffered some serious neglect from me last summer. I have been mending my ways and the little bush is looking healthier than it has since it came into our garden a few years ago. 

Last week my senior Geelong students' exercise was to make an ikebana composition "...of Mass and Line". In this exercise, either the mass or the line element should be emphasised. 

Tess made this ikebana with a strong line. She then created a small mass of pink Ivy Geranium (which might actually be a Pelargonium) that sat beneath the unusual curve of the line element. The mass was carefully constructed so that it extended beyond the opening of the vessel and had an "undulating" surface.

Tess also made this second rather bold, small ikebana in a box-shaped vessel with a corner opening. The botanical materials are a Yucca leaf, some small succulent rosettes and two dark green ivy leaves.

Ellie made an upright ikebana with two closely-spaced leaves and a mass made with two different kinds of small pink flowers.

Her second ikebana also featured pink flowers in an annulus-shaped vessel. A single line connected the two flower masses.

Her third work was dominated by a strong oblique line that came to a sharp bend and reflected back through a hole in the side of the triangular cross-sectioned vessel. The botanical materials are Bamboo and Jerusalem Sage Phlomis fruticosa.

Helen's exercise was to make a freestyle work. Her material was the unusual Salvia africana-lutea which has rust brown flowers. The irregular vessel by Graeme Wilkie proved challenging to achieve this strong horizontal design. The small bright yellow flower is Jerusalem Sage.

Maree's exercise was to make a "seasonal ikebana". She has used Japanese Maple for her branch material. The flowers are yellow Ranunculus and orange Clivia.

For my own ikebana this week I have created an ikebana arrangement from the basic curriculum. 

This ikebana is the first exercise in the Sogetsu curriculum. A "Basic Upright Ikebana". I made this ikebana as a demonstration for members of the Anglesea Art House where I presented a beginners' workshop yesterday. Despite its simplicity of design it is quite elegant. It enables the teacher to show basic techniques and design ideas; and to talk about the history and philosophy of Ikebana and the Sogetsu School in particular.

The branch material I have used is the indigenous Boobialla Myoporum insulare, which is common in coastal areas of southern Australia. The flowers are Red Valerian Centranthus ruber, which I started growing in recent years because it flowers generously and has straight stems that are so desirable for ikebana teaching purposes.

Greetings from Christopher

8th October 2023

VICTORIAN BRANCH ANNUAL EXHIBITON

This weekend the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana held its annual exhibition in the Linen Room of the Abbotsford Convent. The former convent was sold in 1975 and after a period as a campus of La Trobe University is now a  community cultural and arts centre.

The exhibition featured 45 ikebana works by Branch member teachers and some of their students, as well as non-teaching members of the Branch. It was a big undertaking and the resulting exhibition was very pleasing. The layout of the exhibition grouped student work together with the intention of showing a clockwise progression around the space leading to more advanced ikebana by senior members.

An additional feature of the exhibition was the honouring of the bequest of ikebana vessels to the Victorian Branch from the estate of the late teacher, and former Director, Cherie Glaser. Practising teachers were invited to chose one of the vessels in which to set an ikebana arrangement. These ikebana works were grouped together in the centre of the room against Shoji screens as shown in the photo above.

This photo shows a group of ikebana where the exhibitors were using their own vessels. 

Senior members were given the option of making two ikebana arrangements.

This is my second ikebana in a Japanese vessel that I had bought from Cherie some years earlier. I have used Bushy Yate Eucalyptus lehmannii with three stages of flower formation: operculum-covered buds, open flowers, and developing seed pods. The latter are against the front surface of the vessel and have yellow spikes.

My first ikebana was made in one of the bequeathed vessels, and was made by the Victorian ceramic artist John Stroomer. In his career of almost 50 years he has developed a great skill in creating crystalline glazes, in this case a very subtle pale blue.  The ikebana I created used what must be the last of Elizabeth's budding Magnolia and a leafy branch of Oak. In the centre between the contrasting branches is a small mass of pale pink to white Helichrysum flowers.  

I will eventually provide a link to further photos of the exhibition.

Greetings from Christopher
2nd October 2023