MASSED EXPRESSION

This week Roadside Ikebana comes to you from Adelaide, South Australia. We came to visit a long-standing friend of Laurie's whom we have not seen for several years. While here we visited the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium of South Australia.

 

There is a current exhibition of Glass work by Dale Chihuly. The photo above shows just one of the out-door sculptural installations of blown glass by this 81 year old artist.I was particularly intrigued by the fixing of the approximately 3m tall red glass spear-like forms. They were set in large, randomly arranged logs, as well as in the surrounding soil. To my eyes the whole installation had a decidedly "ikebana feel".

If you have an opportunity to visit Adelaide before 29th April next year this exhibition is certainly worth a visit.

Following the workshops conducted by Master Instructor Kosa Nishiyama a couple of weeks ago in Melbourne, there was much discussion among my students about what they had learnt. 

Jo especially wanted to revise the exercise of making an 'Ikebana incorporating paper'. In our discussion I suggested that it was important to think about the particular properties of paper. In the ikebana above, Jo has rolled irregular lengths and widths of  brown paper strips. These she has arranged in a tumbled-looking fashion. A single red Callistemon flower provides a textural and colour contrast. The vertical wall of the suiban is made from a single strip of clay that wraps around the base and harmonises with the paper in form and colour.

Maree's exercise was to make a sculptural form using "unconventional" (man-made) materials only. The principal lines are made from malleable garden stakes made with coconut fibre which harmonise well with the form of the unusual vase. She has added a cone of bright-pink thick rubber matting, within which sits a ball of thick green cord. On the black mat is a ball made from papier-mâché. 

The senior members of the class were asked to make an ikebana using massed materials only. This was inspired by an article about "Mass" in the Winter 2023 edition of the Sogetsu Magazine. The Iemoto, Akane Teshigahara, referred back to the expression of mass created by Sofu Teshigahara. In this expression of mass, the undulating surface is dense without gaps between the elements. It is also comprised of a variety of materials.

Ellie created this ikebana witn Chrysanthemum, Tea tree Leptospermum, Smoke bush Cotinus and Queen Ann's lace Daucus carota.

In her ikebana Christine used Lisianthus Eustoma, Geranium, Tea tree Leptospermum (I think) and Aeonium.

Maureen used Smokebush Cotinus, Leucadendron, Marigold Calendula officinalis and Red valerian Valeriana ruber.  She suggested that I photograph the ikebana from above as the arrangement looked more dense from this angle.

As this was the first time I set my students an ikebana arrangement of Mass according to the revised definition, I presented two examples.

I made this "Massed expression" ikebana with leftover materials, as an experiment in a tall vessel. It has only three materials  perhaps too few for the exercise.

My principal demonstration example has five materials gathered from the garden. On the left is a mass of gumnuts from a red flowering Corymbia ficifolia. At the front is a small mass of Aeonium rosettes. A larger mass of Aeonium flowers curves around from the right to the back of the arrangement. It passes around the darker green mass of Echium flowers gone to seed. In the middle at the back is mass of red Valerian also gone to seed. The ikebana vessel is a high sided ceramic box. 

My critique of both of my arrangements is that I did not leave a space at the mouth of the vessel. I had prepared the masses that afternoon and the demonstration was the first time I had actually made this arrangement. 

Greetings from Christopher
18th November 2024