COMBINING MATERIALS

 

Recently in Melbourne I set my students the task of making an ikebana which incorporated both Australian native and exotic materials. In the past, traditional ikebana had rules about the appropriate combinations of materials; the flip side of which was that there were combinations that were considered "objectionable" *. 

These old rules have their reasons and logic. The Sogetsu School, however, releases its practitioners from such rules; so no combination of materials is prohibited. The challenge is to make such unlikely or difficult combinations in our ikebana work so that the finished ikebana is coherent.

Eugenia created a space between a branch of (unidentified) Acacia and Kangaroo fern Zealandia pustulata, in which she set a single red rose.

 

Marcia also set a large mass of fine-leafed Acacia, to which she added Euphorbia.

Jacqueline harmonised the colour of curving lines of Eucalyptus leaves with a vase she had made. These were contrasted with two bright red roses.

Marisha chose two principal materials with harmonious colours, Eucalyptus leaves and stems of Leucadendron . She added some small branches of Thryptomene in the space beneath the main lines.

Aileen's principal material was Acacia aphylla set in a clear glass vase. A floral focus of two pink orchid flowers has been set in the embrace of the entwined curving lines.

My ikebana this week is a partial re-working of an Ikebana I made at the AGM of Ikebana International Melbourne Chapter last month.  

For the original arrangement I used only Australian native materials. On the left side is a Eucalyptus I bought for its grey stems and seed pods (I think E. pterocarpa). In the centre are three Banksia paludosa flowers. The dried woody line is Billardiera heterophylla,  a climber that I had used as a ground cover in the garden, but which had died.

This week the native materials I wanted were not available. I decided to remake it with two Cymbidium orchid stems from the conservatory and four Strelitzia leaves provided by my student Maureen. This re-worked ikebana is currently in "Labassa", a National Trust property in Caulfield North, Melbourne. It is one of many ikebana works on display by members of Ikebana International Melbourne for this weekend only. My work is on a dining table and therefore was made to be viewed from both sides.

 

Here is the other main view. The rest of the exhibition is being photographed and will be uploaded to the I.I. Melbourne website in due course.

The vessel is by the Australian ceramicist Alistair Whyte (1954 - 2023).

Greetings from Christopher

14th September 2024

 * Page 76. Condor J. "THE FLOWERS of JAPAN and THE ART of FLORAL ARRANGEMENT". 

Hakubunsha Tokyo 1891 publisher.