BANKSIA ERICIFOLIA

A recent exercise I set for my Torquay students was to "take into account the colour of the vessel" when making their ikebana.

Lynn used a shallow trough-shaped vessel which had a mustard- coloured glaze. I think the material on the left of the arrangement is one of the subspecies of Grevillea juniperina, which has yellow flowers, that picked up the colour of the glaze. The other material is not identified. Her arrangement used two strong lines which she crossed creating an interesting form, with space beneath the branches emphasised.

Corralie used a cherry-red bowl-shaped vessel. Her principal material was Swan River pea Gastrobium celsianum, and the secondary material being Nandina. The stronger lines of the Swan River pea were placed to curve toward each other.

In Melbourne, I set my students the task of making an ikebana "with leaves only" in a tall vessel. Marcia used a single Artichoke, Cynara cardunculus, leaf with a graceful "S" curve as her principal material. This was supported by naturally curving Narcissus and Helleborus leaves

Eugenia used a large Monstera Monstera deliciosa leaf with interesting colouring as a result of it beginning to wilt. She cut a large section off one side to create a strong line from the central rib of the leaf. Because this leaf was so dominant she added only two New Zealand Flax Phormium tenax leaves which had harmonising colour as a result of sun damage. 

Jacqueline's principal subject was the dramatic lines she created with the placement of two New Zealand flax leaves. These lines were emphasised by the placement of two Acanthus leaves on the right side of the ikebana. 

My ikebana this week was made for a demonstration I gave to a small group of Japanophiles on the Surfcoast. After initially demonstrating some ikebana with northern hemisphere plants, I then made the above ikebana using Australian native materials. The fresh material on the left side is a trimmed branch of Banksia ericifolia which has three new-season flower spikes. There is also a single spike from the previous season in the centre of the ikebana that has begun to form seeds. On the righthand side, a dried Moonah Melaleuca lanceolata branch curls around the vessel. 

The vessel is by the New Zealand ceramicist Elena Renker.

Greetings from Christopher
14th September 2025

 

CHAENOMELES

Two weeks ago I set the senior students of my Geelong class the task of making an Ikebana "taking into account the shape of the vessel". This exercise may include repeating the overall form of the vessel with the botanical materials. It may also include exploiting some aspect of the vessel's form to develop the ikebana.

In this case, Christine has chosen a squat ovoid vase in which she has set purple ornamental Kale. She has then added circular loops of New Zealand Flax Phormium, that has been shredded then dried.

Ellie chose an interesting vessel that can be stood vertically, as used here, or placed horizontally on its narrow side. The position she has used allows for a dramatic upward surge of the Tortuous Willow Salix, lines.  A single red Leucadendron flower provides a floral focal point.

Jo has used a flask-shaped vase with two openings. This has enabled her to emphasise the space below the line of the Banksia blechnifolia branch by the placement of a single leaf in the lower opening of the vase.

Maree has used a vessel with two openings made from a folded ceramic cylinder. She has placed her materials to follow the vertical and horizontal lines of the vessel. Her botanical materials are two Strelitzia flowers and both fresh and dried leaves of New Zealand Flax.

*          *          *          *          *

In the garden...

... Laurie drew my attention to a mess of overturned soil where there is an ant nest beside the path and under the stone edging. What could have done that other than an Echidna?  "Spike", or a relative, has returned to the garden after an absence of more than a year.

We actually first noticed the echidna as it appeared from beneath the small deck at a side door, before we noticed the digging evidence. 

Being inside behind glass and moving very stealthily, I managed to take these photos without disturbing the visitor.

We were delighted to be visited again in spite of needing to clear the soil off the path. It was a very warm sunny day after a stretch of cold weather and we were not surprised to see the Echidna lying on the warm decking for quite a while.

The warmer weather is welcome and heralds the change of the season to spring.

I noticed that the Japanese Flowering Quince, Chaenomeles has put out lots of leaves recently and is less dramatic than the bare flower-covered  branches of mid-winter.

I made this ikebana several weeks ago. The line of the branch with so many flowers caught my eye and I decided that its shape was strong enough to not require additional material.

The small vase is by the Victorian ceramicist Graeme Wilkie.

Greetings from Christopher

6th September 2025.

ACANTHUS AND ARUM

At class in Geelong, my new students continue working on the basic exercises of the Sogetsu curriculum.

Sussie made her arrangement using Swan River Pea Gastrolobium celsianum, and pink Proteas.

Naree used Dutch Iris Iris x hollandica, for the principal line and its support, and Alstromeria for the hikae.

Maree's exercise was to make a cascading ikebana. I think the branch material is Cotoneaster microphyllus. The flowers are one of the new varieties of hybrid Gerberas.        

My challenge to the senior students was to make an ikebana incorporating Narcissus, and at least one other kind of flower.

Ellie used her Narcissus to create a mass at the opening of a tsubo vase. She then added Dutch Iris and three pieces of coloured wire mesh to create a light structure of flowing lines.

Christine placed white Narcissus at the mouth of the vessel, then added a mass of wattle on the left side. She placed bare Elm Ulmus, branches on each side of the ikebana that seem to frame the arrangement.

Maureen created a mass with white Narcissus in a yellow glazed shallow bowl. She added two small florets of other, unidentified white flowers to the rear of the mass. A single dry branch, also of unidentified material, forms an ascending line with multiple fine loose curves.

In the absence of available Narcissus, Helen created a naturalistic arrangement with Dutch Iris. I think this is a new hybrid as it has warm olive and fawn colours on the flowers.

This week I made my ikebana using a single Acanthus leaf that I had prepared for a demonstration last weekend. I set it in a black vase and added two white Arum lilies Zantedeschia aethiopica. I placed the leaf so that the central rib and veins on the underside are clearly visible, and a small part of the upper surface of the leaf is visible at the tip. 

The vase is by the Japanese-born Australian ceramicist Terunobu Hirata.

Greetings from Christopher
31st August 2025

FOUND OBJECT INSTALLATION

  

Last week I participated in a series of events in Launceston, Tasmania, with some of my colleagues from the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu school of Ikebana. The events were organised by Eleanor Button, and mostly took place across the week at the National Trust property, Franklin House.  

Other events were held on Tuesday at the School of Architecture at the University of Tasmania, Launceston. The space we were offered was the vast Curtin Hall, in which some installation work was proposed. When I saw the photo above and the plans of the space I could see we were being challenged. By definition, installation art needs to relate directly, physically or visually to the space which they occupy. The works need to create a dialogue with the space. 

In the photograph above, the colourful stackable chairs caught my attention. I thought they would make an interesting material to use which was quite specific to the space. To illustrate my thinking to my colleagues, I showed them a photo...

...in which I had created this assemblage using the chairs in our conservatory. 

In the past my students and I had made installation work at the Qdos gallery in Lorne. However, in those cases we used botanical materials which we related to the physical structure of the building and ceramics made by Graeme Wilkie.

Here Andy McCabe is assisting me with the structure that was already almost completed.

This is my completed installation, an assemblage of "found objects" *. I used steel framed chairs of one design with three different colourways in the upholstery. There are only two chairs touching the floor and forming the base of the assemblage. The chairs were interlocked without using any "ties".

The huge wall of glass made photography difficult in the space so I used a couple of notice boards to background the structure.

Andy volunteered this apple as an organic material to contrast with the chairs. Please imagine a row of five oranges on this chair. I did not have the opportunity to buy the oranges.

Elsewhere in this very large space, I assisted Aileen Clarke in the creation of another structure using man-made and botanical materials. The structure was made with two metre lengths of square-section wood which were screwed together. Dry and fresh branch material was added to create contrasting lines and mass.

Here is Aileen with her finished structure. 

Greetings from Christopher
24th of August 2025

* Rosalie Gascoigne a Sogetsu Ikebana trained artist became one of Australia's most famous sculptors working in the "Found object" style.

 

 

LEAVES ONLY IN AN UPRIGHT VASE

This week I set some of my Torquay and Melbourne students the task of making an ikebana arrangement incorporating any kind of Narcissus and one or more kind of some other flower material. It is the season for Narcissus flowers and I thought the additional challenge would encourage the students to think "outside the square". I am pleased to say that I was not disappointed.

Lyn created this ikebana with the principal subject being the strong diagonal line made with two variegated leaves of New Zealand Flax Phormium. These lines are balanced by a counterposed linear mass of yellow Daffodils at the base. A small pale green Anthurium sits low down behind the line of the flax.

Coralie also made a simple ikebana with a strong design using two Aspidistra leaves and three Daffodils for the main elements. She has emphasised the space between and under the leaves. Her second flower material was an Anthurium provided by her class-mate Lyn.

In the Melbourne class, Jacqueline arranged a single stem of white Narcissus Jonquilla low in the group of green Chrysanthemums. She also set a stem of Jasmine Jasminum, curving over the surface of the water on which she floated a large number of Jonquil flower heads.

In a modern Japanese ikebana vase, Eugenia placed three Daffodils as the focal point in her ikebana, setting them beneath a large ornamental Kale . The branch material is Leafless Acacia A. aphylla, from her own garden.

Chen's exercise was to make an Upright Variation No 1 in the Nageire style. I think the branches are from an Ash tree Fraxinus. The floral material is one of the many Grevilleas. In this variation, the Shin line is placed opposite the Support line and leans toward the rear. This dramatically opens up the space between these two lines.

Aileen's exercise was to create an ikebana using leaves only, in an upright vase. She used a Monstera leaf as the principle material which she cut in quite an interesting way. Look closely at the upper left of the leaf. Her additional materials were Fatsia Japonica, showing both the upper and lower sides of the leaves, and a single strong angled line of New Zealand Flax. 
 

My ikebana this week is this same exercise. Once again, one of the leaves on the Tree Philodendron Thaumatophyllum bipinnatifidum in the conservatory has started to turn yellow; so it has become the main subject of my ikebana.

I set the leaf in a tall black vase which has three openings, one at the top and one on each side. To complement and contrast with the Large leaf, I added two New Zealand Flax leaves that were heat damaged on one of the extremely hot dry days last summer. The upper surface of those leaves developed interesting markings in several shades of brown. I felt that the large yellow leaf required strong accompanying materials as well as a visually strong vase.

Greetings from Christopher

17th August 2025

A DIAGONAL LINE OF FLOWERING QUINCE

 

This year part of the clump of red Japanese Flowering quince Chaenomeles, seems to be flowering more prolifically that in previous years.

I must have planted this Flowering quince about thirty five years ago. It is a delight to see part of this bush as I look from the west-facing kitchen window, especially when the late afternoon sun shines through the petals.

There is also a white Flowering quince in the garden. It was grown from a cutting and given to me by my colleague and Ikebana friend Joan. 

The third variety of Flowering quince in the garden is this one that was given to me by a former work colleague and friend Shirley. Appropriately, it is called Chaenomeles "Apple Blossom".

I have a new student in my Geelong class who recently created a Basic Upright ikebana, the first exercise in the Sogetsu curriculum. 

Susie did not have suitable branches and so I suggested that she use her long stems of Gladiolus for the principle lines and the seed head of Bursaria spinosa for the Hikae, 'flower line".

I asked my advanced students to make an ikebana "Using Camellia with Pine and or Willow". 

Maree used a very interesting vessel made from a folded ceramic cylinder, which has two openings.The lower part of the cylinder extended the left side. That leftward line was balanced by having the fine Tortuous willow Salix, curving to the upper right. Two variegated Camellias, provide focal points and the freshness of live material.

Maureen also used Tortuous willow, in this instance a thick branch that was placed outside the vessel to create a dramatically strong diagonal line. Two white camellias created a floral focus.

Christine placed her curving branch of Tortuous willow in a suiban so that it made an arch of multiple irregular lines. Nestled beneath the arch is a single, bright red Camellia flower, also curving to the right.

Helen used a large glass vase in which she set a single straight branch of Japanese Black Pine Pinus thunbergii, at a shallow angle to the right. Two pink Camellias create a floral focus at the opening of the vase. The clear glass gives a feeling of lightness to the ikebana.

Ellie also used a large branch of Tortuous willow which she extended to the right of her lacquered vase. The floral focus on the left side of the vase draws attention to the short thick base of the willow branch.

For my ikebana this week, I was delighted to be able to use some of the red Flowering quince from the garden.

Here is the work placed in the living room wall niche. I have used a single branch of the Flowering quince. The diagonal line that extends from the lower left to the right side are separate side-branches that attach to the main stem very closely together. I have put a kink in the highest branch so that it reinforces the movement of the main diagonal line. A mass of Geranium leaves sit at the opening of the vase. Some fixing techniques were necessary to hold the main line at this angle as the righthand side was relatively heavy.

 

I took this photo against a screen and from an elevated position. This is more true to how the ikebana looks in the niche when viewed from a standing position.

The vase is by the Japanese born Australian ceramicist, Terunobu Hirata.

Greetings from Christopher
9th August 2025