60 YEARS of SOGETSU IKEBANA in VICTORIA

The Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School was established in 1964 by the late Norman Sparnon (1913 - 1995) who was born in Melbourne. He became a Master of both the Sogetsu School and the Ikenobo School. Mr Sparnon, and his wife Mary, managed the administration of the Branch until 28th November 1977. On that date, the inaugural meeting of the Australian Sogetsu Teachers Association, Victorian Branch was held in the Malvern Town Hall.

This year is the 60th anniversary of the Victorian Branch. To celebrate the event we have invited Kosa Nishiyama, a Master Instructor of the Sogetsu School in Tokyo, to be our special guest. 

The public event to mark this significant milestone is a live demonstration of ikebana to be created by Nishiyama sensei.

Date and time: Thursday 31st October, 7.30pm - 9.00pm
Venue:The Edge in Federation Square, Melbourne.
Tickets: $75.00 

Tickets are available through this link,

  Master Instructor, Kosa Nishiyama's demonstration. 

To coincide with the Master Instructor's visit, the Victorian Branch is presenting its annual exhibition. This year it will be at the Whitehorse Artspace gallery. The exhibition will take place over four consecutive weeks and involve a weekly change of the ikebana exhibits. During the first two weeks, some of the ikebana works will be arranged in vessels of the City of Whitehorse's extensive ceramics collection. 

Open: Tuesday to Saturday from 26th October to 23rd November. 10am - 4pm (Saturdays 12noon - 4pm).

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In July I noticed the yellow fruit on the Ginger lily Hedychium gardnerianum, had started to open revealing its red berries. The colours looked especially intense against the green of its broad leaves.

 

An interesting subject for an ikebana, and a demonstration of the beauty that is to be found in plants even after the flowering has finished. 

The stems of the plant are very stiff and cannot be manipulated easily. So I placed it on an angle to create a sense of movement, using a black and red-glazed, faceted vessel for additional colour contrast. The vase is by the South Australian ceramicist Rebecca Dawson.

Greetings from Christopher

13th October 2024

LILIUM BUDS

Recently I asked my U3A students in Torquay to make an ikebana in a suiban to be placed on a table, so that it could be seen from all around. The model for this arrangement is the Sogetsu curriculum variation No 6. This variation has the three principle lines radiating so that from a bird's eye point of view they divide a circle into equal parts.

This is Coralie's ikebana. She has used Eucalyptus for two of the lines and a fine-leafed material for the third. Freesias are partially hidden among the massed material in the centre.

At my Geelong class, Anne made her first freestyle arrangement. We discussed the idea that this means following fundamental principles of ikebana, but not the patterns of the early exercises. She arranged several  branches of pink flowering blossom of different lengths. Their placement is asymmetrical and the kenzan is off-centre in the suiban. Her second material, three stems of daffodils Narcissus, were placed at the back so that they were seen through the screen of branches. 

The senior students' exercise was to make an ikebana incorporating bare branches in the two-step approach. This means first creating a self-supporting structure, which is then incorporated in a vessel with fresh materials. 

Ellie used some dried honeysuckle Lonicera caprifolium, outside her vase, which was contrasted with a mass of dwarf Nandina and Chrysanthemums. A further mass of finely branched material was placed at the back. 

 

Maureen's branches were a fine branching material that had some mustard-coloured lichen. In the photo, the lichen is on the thicker part of the righthand branch. She added some yellow Leucadendron that was supported by the branch material; thus managing without the use of a kenzan.

 

Jo's exercise was to make an ikebana using 'Green materials only'. It made me laugh to see the use of two apples and one Monstera leaf. I thought it was a cheeky-looking ikebana!

Maree set her 'Green materials only' in two shiny metal tins. The curving green lines are the grass-like leaves of a Xanthorrhoea which are very strong and springy. It is the tension of the leaves that is holding smaller tin at the tilted angle.  The other materials are Dianthus 'Green Ball' and a single small Arum lily Zantedeschia leaf.

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A couple of weeks ago I bought some Oriental lilies Lilium, for an event, then did not need them. Being surplus to requirements, I arranged them at home. They are very large flowers, even at this unopened stage, and needed a strong second material to visually balance them. A single large Strelitzia leaf was sufficient for this purpose. The lily stems cross each other so that all the buds are pointing in the same general direction.

The vase is a mid-20th century Japanese ceramic ikebana vessel.

Greetings from Christopher

6th October 2024