SOGETSU ANNUAL EXHIBITION at ABBOTSFORD CONVENT

Several weeks ago I set my Melbourne students the task of making an Ikebana  Mass and Line’, combined with using dried or bleached material.

Jacqueline created a spreading style ikebana using two vessels. Her dried material was a long branch of driftwood that was supported on the black vessel the larger was set a mass of orange Clivia flowers and leaves. The smaller vessel held a single flower.

Marcia set a dried Allium stem in a vessel with a mass of Lilac Syringa,  flowers and leaves.

Eugenia set a line of Siberian dogwood Cornus alba, in a white vessel with a mass made using Viburnum plicatum and dried Kelp.

Aileen set a line of dried vine in an annular vessel with a mass of Wisteria flowers.

My ikebana this week comes from my archive of past works. I have chosen them because this weekend I have been very busy participating in the annual exhibition of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School. Also the Branch has held a workshop led by Master Instructor, Oizumi sensei. in conjunction with the exhibition. The theme of the workshop was to make a flat object, washi paper, into a sculptural three dimensional form. I have not had the time to process the photos from the workshop.

The two photos below are earlier examples of using paper in an ikebana arrangement.

In this example from 2009 I used newspaper which I "pleated" into flame-like forms and added dried Dracaena draco stems and part of a dried seed pod.

In this ikebana I created two large hemispherical forms from pale green washi paper. They were placed around a deep green vessel in which I set two Hyacinth flowers.

If you are in Melbourne today you may visit the Annual Exhibition in the Linen room at the Abbotsford Convent cultural centre, 1 St Heliers st, Abbotsford.

Greetings from Christopher

16th November 2025 

 

 

HARMONISING COLOURS

This winter our house was surrounded by scaffolding while maintenance work was being undertaken. The project was rain- delayed for some time and the garden was neglected more than usual. Now that the maintenance is finished I am really enjoying the changes that spring brings to the garden. 

Yesterday, after hanging washing on the clothes line, I turned around and was startled to see this mass of climbing rose flowers on the north-facing side of the wire fence. They were not open at the beginning of the week. This rose was planted by our neighbour some years ago and has progressively extended along the fence. Because we are on the sunny side of the fence we benefit most from the flower display. A little bit like the Japanese idea of "borrowed scenery". Only in this case, accidental not planned.

Fortunately for our neighbour, in late winter to early spring they get most of the benefit from our Japonica Chaneomeles. So the benefit of seeing into each other's garden is a reciprocal one. 

Recently, I set my Torquay and Geelong students the task of making an ikebana using materials with at least three different colours.

Róża used Aeonium succulents in the orange-yellow-green range, set in a copper suiban that harmonised with the materials.

Pamela also used the same range of colours with two different Broom Genisteae flowers and Garden nasturtium Tropaeolum majus* flower and leaves. A bare branch provided support for the light materials.  

Lyn's materials were in the green-yellow-orange range. She used Euphorbia, two different Leucadendrons and a Grevillea.

Coralie created a divided ikebana and with effectively two sets of colour combinations. On the lower left blue and green and the upper right, orange to red. The materials are: left side, Strelitzia and right side Nandina and Japanese flowering quince Chaenomeles.

In the Geelong class, Ellie arranged Alstromeria and button Chrysanthemum in yellow and two shades of orange.

Helen used materials in the orange-yellow-green range: Aeonium and Clivia. Her use of clear glass vases led to the interesting creation of space below the waterline in the vases. 

Maureen's ikebana is an example of mazezashi; that is, an ikebana using a variety of materials. In this example of the exercise she has used five kinds of flowering materials. The more materials used the more difficult this exercise becomes.

The photo  below is of an ikebana I made in late September when the Tamarisk Tamarix was in flower.

This is an example of the exercise; "Taking the colour of the vessel into account".  In this instance I have clearly chosen the vessel because of its close colour harmony with the Tamarisk. I have added a single leaf of Acanthus A. mollis for its textural and colour contrast.

The vessel was pit-fired with organic materials including seaweed and, I think, splashed with copper glaze. I bought the vessel in Portland, Victoria, about forty years ago. It is stamped "Cobboboonee". If anyone knows the maker's name I would be pleased to hear from you.

Greetings from Christopher

8th November 2025

* Did you know "Garden nasturtium" is not related to the Genus Nasturtium? 

I didn't, and I bless (and support) Wikipedia.

 

SCOTCH BROOM

Signs of spring are well and truely with us, many exotic bushes are flowering profusely.

I was really surprised when I saw this large mauve-coloured Echium candicans cascading over a near by fence. The fence is about 1.8m high.

This other example, in another nearby garden, has bluish flowers.

In recent years I planted Red valerian, Valeriana ruber, in a small area of our garden. In this case, the pink variety. I find these flowers particularly useful for the flower element, when demonstrating the basic styles in the early part of the Sogetsu curriculum. 

Also flowering profusely in our garden, and currently producing a blaze of yellow in the afternoon sun, is Scotch broom Cytisus scoparius. Its perfume is very strong, so the number of stems needs to be limited in ikebana.

At the last class with my Melbourne students I had set the exercise of "Taking into account the shape of the vessel".

Eugenia used a unique ceramic tetrahedronal-shaped vessel. In it she set a naturally-curved single Strelitzia flower stem and leaf from her own garden. The aperture of the vessel is very small but was able to hold the materials in these positions that suggest a strong movement.

Jacqueline used a blue-coloured metal vase that was extremely narrow front-to-back. She arranged two differently-coloured Asiatic Lilies Lilium. The tall straight lines of the pink lily reflect the vertical lines of the vase while the single curving line of the Clivia leaf contrasts with the vertical movement.

Marisha used two curving stems of branching Leucadendron to contrast with the straight cylindrical form of her vase. The fluted funnel form of the deep red Lily flower also contrasts with the form of the vase.

Marcia said she came across this S-shaped Iris stem in her garden and was pleased that it would complement the lip of her vessel. On the other hand, the straight stem of the Alium contrasts with the vessel. 

This week I decided to make an ikebana demonstrating the harmony that can be achieved by using only materials that are adjacent, that is beside each other, on the colour wheel. In the English translation of the Sogetsu curriculum this idea has been rendered as: "Colours in the same tonal range". However, this creates some confusion as the word 'tone' in visual art, is used to mean the lightness or darkness of a single colour. More specifically the muting a colour by adding grey.

I started this ikebana with the small branch of Scotch Broom Cytisus scoparius, with its bright yellow flowers. In the middle is a mass made with Euphorbia, which is a lime-green and on the left are two leaves of deep green Acanthus mollis. 

The cylindrical Bizen ceramic vase is by Isezaki Jun.

Greetings from Christopher

2nd Novwember 2025