GEELONG JAPANESE FESTIVAL

 

Yesterday three of my Geelong students and I participated in a one day Festival organised by the Japanese Association of Geelong. It was held at the Geelong Show Grounds and offered a wide range of activities, and displays of Japanese material culture. The activities included taiko drumming, cosplay, musical events, martial arts, bonsai and origami workshops. The material culture included contemporary and traditional clothing, domestic ceramics, fabrics and Sogetsu School ikebana. Over the course of the day more than 4,000 people attended the event.

On the stage in this photo are the finalists in the cosplay competition.

Here are half of the passionate bonsai artists who remained at work throughout the day. The other half of the bonsai artists were in a second row of tables behind this one.

In the middle of the hall my students and I had a satisfyingly busy day answering questions about ikebana. We were also surprised to meet people we knew from our community who had an interest in some aspect of Japanese culture that we had not known about.

I asked my students to create two ikebana arrangements each for the event. 

My student Anne made these two examples above, which are exercises from the early part of the curriculum.

Ellie, a senior student, made these two ikebana arrangements. Each being a different way of emphasising water.

Christine, also a senior student, made these two ikebana works. The second one is an ikebana incorporating man-made material; in this case, strips of copper and brass.

My first ikebana uses spent Agapanthus stems from which I have removed the seeds. I added some Leucadendron with red stems and inflorescences. I removed some of the leaves to show the red of the  Leucadendron stem, and placed dried Agapanthus to highlight the inflorescences

For my second ikebana I used two pieces of Moonah  driftwood on one side of the arrangement. Then I set two smallish leaves of Strelitzia nicoli, and three disbud Chrysanthemums on the opposite side. The third Chrysanthemum was  placed at the mouth of the vessel behind the leaves, because the work could be seen from behind. This "neatened the mouth of the vessel" where the leaf stems enter, which is an important teaching in the Sogetsu School. 

The large cylindrical vessel is by Graeme Wilkie.

Greetings from Christopher
20th April 2026

 

EMPHASISING THE DIAGONAL LINE

Late last year we had some very strong wind-storms which badly damaged a large Pomaderris bush . It was sited against a side fence in the garden that screened the neighbouring property. After removing the damaged branches I decided that I really needed to replace the whole bush. The gap left was 2.5 metres in diameter.

My remedy was to fill the space with two small Banksia praemosa plants and two hybrid Grevillia plants. Gardening does school us in the practise of patience.

Elsewhere in the garden...

 ...I was surprised to notice one of the Japanese quinces Chaenomeles japonica had produced a large yellow fruit, 7cm in diameter. 

When I looked more closely I counted 10 fruit altogether. Possibly enough to make a single small pot of marmalade!

Recently I had picked a number of Aspidistra leaves for some ikebana practise. I then placed them behind a door in a vase with some water and forgot about them. 

Six weeks later I found they were in a transitioning stage as they started to dry. I thought the colours were particularly beautiful and their lines most elegant. I set them in a red glazed vase by Alistair Whyte in a recessed shelf. The translucence of the leaf on the right was richly enhanced by the overhead light.

This year the Belladonna lilies Armaryllis belladonna, were about three weeks late from their usual flowering. I am sure the delay was caused by the drier-than-usual summer. Their pink trumpets were very eye-catching and ideal for an ikebana arrangement.

Above is my ikebana from two weeks ago. The Golden Rod Solidago canadensis needed to be replaced. However, the Agapanthus stems, which had started to turn yellow, still looked fine.

I started by trying to fill in the triangular space between the dried flower-heads with the Belladonna flowers. However, only one stem was long enough. This meant I needed to change my idea. Instead, by leaning two of the Belladonna stems to the left, I was able to create a cascading diagonal line of flowers above the leaning Agapanthus stems. This created a very different movement to the first ikebana.

Greetings from Christopher

12th April 2026
 

PHOTINIA

Autumn is in the air, warm sunny days with little wind.

Laurie and I had a walk through Taylor Park in Torquay, where I took this photo of a large flock of ducks. After I took the photo I noticed that a duck was sitting on the table beside the older gentleman. 

In the Melbourne class I had set the students the task of making an ikebana using succulent materials.

Jacqueline used a Japanese footed-vase in which she arranged three different materials. The principal line to the right is a stem of silver dollar plant, Crassula arborescens. In the centre is a single small leaf from an Agave attenuata . And on the left is a single "Black rose", Aeonium arboreum. 

Eugenia used a modern ceramic vase made from intersecting cylinders. The striped succulent on the right is Haworthiopsis, behind it is a Sedum flower and the fruiting stalk of another succulent. On the left side Eugenia draped some 'Air Plant'  Tillandsia-subg-diaphoranthema.

Marcia arranged her materials in a hand-made vessel with a large flat surface and a narrow slit. She also used the 'silver dollar' plant and a green form of Crassula.

During last week we spent three nights visiting friends and family in the hilly country about 100km north of Melbourne. This is a very scenic part of the state with a much higher rainfall and lower winter temperatures than on the coast. Hence there are beautiful gardens to visit that look like this one: Forest Glade Gardens. We were taken there by our friends Colin and Tony who live at Woodend. At the back of their garden the Photinia P. glansmispel x fraseri , hedge had recently been pruned which resulted in new growth of strikingly red leaves.

I was permitted to cut some stems of the Photinia, from which I then made two complementary ikebana arrangements in tapering conical glass vases, one white and the other black. The tallest branch on the right side is the main line of the white vase and the low line on the left is from the black vase. Each of the  two ikebana arrangements is complete in itself; however, because of the flattening effect of the photo and being only one material, this is it not obvious.

Greetings from Christopher

5th April 2026