CREATING SPACE

A walk around the Royal Botanical Gardens Melbourne early yesterday was rewarded with sounds and sights of some of the bird-life that manage to make the city centre their home.

This duck was quietly preening itself by the Nymphaea Lily Lake. It must have been foraging in the lake as it was spangled with water droplets.

 

These Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos made their presence known because of their raucous cries. As you can see they have been stripping the growth at the top of this very tall tree. In spite of such ravaging the trees survive.

My attention was caught by this mass of fruit that has formed on one of the Prickly pear, Opuntia, cactuses in the recently revitalised Arid Garden. The orange colour leapt out against the matte green of the large pads. Thick leather gloves would be necessary to add these to your ikebana. I will leave that challenge to others.

Speaking of ikebana, I was delighted to receive a photo of an ikebana from Leonora in Ottawa that incorporated Goldenrod, Solidago (see last week's posting). 

Leonora wrote that she had made this ikebana (back in 2016) when she was visiting her family in Nova Scotia. I particularly love the contrast between the weathered driftwood and the delicacy of the fresh material. I would like to draw your attention to the space that Leonora has made between the stems of Goldenrod. There is interesting movement there where the stems lean toward each other which echoes the movement in the branches of the driftwood.

The creation of space by the placement of materials is a central concept in ikebana.

Another example is shown above in this ikebana by my friend Michael who lives in Florida.  His strongly contemporary looking ikebana was an exercise in creating an ikebana in a shallow vessel without using a kenzan. The straight stems of the  Chrysanthemums and the cut Monstera leaves emphasise the space between them. Also emphasised is the space between the vessel and the elevated mass created with the leaves and flowers.

Last week at the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School our workshop was led by Lara Telford on this very theme: "The creation of space in ikebana". 

This is my ikebana from the workshop. I chose some Umbrella Grass, Cyperus alternifolius, for its long stems but did not have a clear plan in mind. When I got to Melbourne I found this footed ikebana vessel in the cupboard and some minimal floral materials from the garden. They were a single stem of Angel- wing Begonia, and a stem of Crocosmia. I had hoped to have the intense floral colours sitting high in the ikebana between the long lines. Clearly this did not work. However, I did manage to created a long vertical space between the principal lines of the Umbrella grass.

More images and information about the workshop can be found through this link to the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School website.

Greetings from Christopher

27th March 2022

SOLIDAGO

Last weekend Laurie and I attended the first day of the Lorne Sculpture Biennale, which runs until Sunday 3rd April. If you are heading to the Surf Coast, the extra kilometres are worthwhile for this alternative beach based experience. On the beach there are sixteen sculptural installations that celebrate or commemorate some aspect of the history and environment of this beautiful location.

On this official website, clicking on the blue dots provides further information about the artists and their work.

We were fortunate that the day was still and warm with some early cloud cover that provided some protection from the sun's heat.

 

The first installation that caught my attention was this campsite representing the living circumstances of the approximately 3,000 returned servicemen from WW I who constructed the section of the Great Ocean Road that created the coastal link to the township of Lorne. 

These plinths symbolically present elements of cargo from wrecks of sailing ships that founded on this part of the Victorian coast. 

This surreal and playful-looking house-boat stands near the point of Lorne.

Adjacent to the Lorne Surf Life Saving Club is this playful work drawing on the form of historical private Beach Bathing Boxes.

Along the Boardwalk is a series of painted wooden sculptures representing activities of visitors to the beach.

I was quite surprised by the despondent/depressed/fatigued representation of this would-be surfer facing the water.

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In my Melbourne class this week...

...Jacqueline's exercise was an arrangement of a variety of materials (mazesashi). She chose to make her ikebana in a trough-shaped vessel. The line of the nearly vertical Gladiolus was the most dominant and led to the creating of interesting spaces between the two groups of materials.

The topic I set the senior students was: Using naturally dried materials as your principal subject, add some fresh material to give it “life”.

Eugenia's principal subject was a dried Dracena leaf with a beautiful curl. She arranged it floating above a unique Bizen pottery vessel and added a mass of richly-toned Statice.

The class members and I were delighted to welcome back Helen N from a prolonged absence. A single large dried lotus leaf has been given a zing by the addition of two camellia leaves.

Meanwhile in the garden at Torquay...

... to my delight the Haemanthus coccineus bulbs have produced multiple flowers for the first time. They look quite dramatic against the greyed mulch.

  

The flowers are amazing for the intensity of colour.
 

I am also delighted by the best flowering yet in our garden of the Goldenrod, Solidago nemoralis (I think in this instance). It has definitely responded to the wet spring and sporadic rain during summer.

This crop is over a metre high because I have grown it in an old cement laundry tub lined with plastic. It has also received copious amounts of water. My Canadian ikebana friend, Leonora, insists it is a weed. But then so are many other beautiful wild-growing flowers. Unfortunately, I left making my ikebana a little late and the material is past its peak. It was also rain damaged by a recent shower and I had to remove some browned parts.

 

I wanted to use the Goldenrod as a mass but realised that the long stems provided the opportunity to contrast the mass with a strong line. The mass sits on the side of the vessel showing a large area of the water's surface. At the top of the line the flowers are the freshest, having opened more recently. The shallow bowl is by the Victorian ceramic artist, Phil Elson.

Greetings from Christopher

20th March 2022.

FLOWING LINES

A belated thank you to Michael Beedenbender for identifying the Lions Mane, Leonotis leonurus, that Maureen used in her ikebana posted on 19th February.

A couple of weeks ago I set my Torquay and Geelong students the task of creating an ikebana that incorporated stone. For practical reasons the additional proviso was to use a suiban as the vessel. The idea was that the stone(s) would be a coherent and necessary part of the design, not simply used as a device to conceal the kenzan. Most of the resulting ikebana works had a decidedly landscape feel to them.

Róża used Coastal Beard-Heath, Leucopogon parviflorus, and Gardenia, set in a shallow hand-made ceramic dish. She placed irregularly-shaped white pebbles in the vessel and continued their line to the left, thereby extending the line of the design.

Coralie used curving stems of Cypress and some dried seed pods as her botanical material. She had created a small mass with mismatched stones, each of which had holes in them. Together these gave an impression of a cliff-face.

Marta used materials from her garden including Mr Lincoln roses and some fine stems with small pink flowers. She used two stones in her ikebana. One in front of the botanical materials and the second at the back of the suiban. This had the effect of emphasising the space behind the materials.

Judy used a small mass of miniature roses and a curling stem of Jasmine. A single large rock was placed to one side of the suiban, suggesting an island or a cliff-face.

Helen Q used Baby's tears, Soleirolia soleirolii, floating in a circular bowl. The three partially-submerged stones in the centre gave the impression of a quiet pool.

Maureen used green and pale-yellow materials only, in her strongly-textured ceramic bowl. The texture on the outside of the bowl gave the appearance of it being made stone. The principal group of materials arose from behind a single stone placed within the suiban, creating the appearance of a pond.

Christine used five stems of fine grass as her botanical material which she arranged to create two lines moving from the right to the left in her ikebana. With a single large stone set on the righthand side, the design was minimal and almost abstract.

Ellie used a single pink Gerbera, and five petals placed in her suiban. She arranged nine small cubes of granite in an asymmetrical design. Above the suiban was tied four lines of red paper-string. Ellie explained that having the string above the water surface drew the eye down to the materials including the partially-submerged granite cubes.

In last week's post I mentioned visiting the Warrandyte Pottery Expo for the first time. While there I came across the stall of Mr Terenobu Hirata, and was delighted to see this beautiful black vase. In his recent work Mr Hirata has developed a characteristic style by moulding his vessels into sinuous curves that create a sense of fluid movement. To my delight Laurie bought the vase as a birthday present for me...

... and I was very happy to give it a new home. Yesterday I made this ikebana using Sedum, Autumn Joy, from the garden and some Dietes grandiflora leaves. The flexibility of the leaves allowed me to create some flowing lines that have complemented the vessel.

Greetings from Christopher
12th March 2022

KNIPHOFIA

Last weekend I attended the annual Pottery Expo at Warrandyte, which takes place on the last weekend of February. It was my first visit to the Expo, as Warrandyte is on the opposite side of Melbourne to Torquay and a two hour drive from here. Of course, I should have made the effort earlier.

The event is held beside the Yarra River in the form of an open-air market and was inaugurated in 2001. On this occasion it featured stalls of more than 60 potters from around Australia. Informative presentations on a variety of ceramic-related topics, as well as hands on opportunities, made for a rich experience. Although on a different scale, the event brought back memories of visiting Mashiko in Japan for the Spring Kiln Opening in 2011. 

My first preference in ceramics is for wood-fired work and I was not disappointed on this occasion, as seen above here...

 

...and again in this stall. However, the variety of styles was huge and dare I say it, there was something for everyone.

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While in Melbourne, I visited the Botanic Gardens as usual. I have been particularly interested to watch the development of the Bromeliad flower that I first showed at the beginning on February. Now identified as B. pinguin. The first two photographs were posted previously.

  

This on the 5th February...

...and this on the 12th February.

By the 16th February the flower head had opened fully. I was a bit surprised that its colours were pale pastel compared to other more familiar Bromeliads.

Spectacular though this plant is, it would be a difficult subject for ikebana; not the least because of the sharp thorns on the leaf margins. However, my ikebana subject this week turned out to be difficult for different reasons.

I noticed this Kniphofia had grown from the garden bed below and rested its flowerhead on the front landing of the flat. 

The flower was hard up against the balustrade.

This was my first view of it as I came out of the front door. The curl of the stem appealed to me and I imagined it twining around a tall vase. I thought it called for a modern contemporary look and decided to use a conical stainless steel vessel with irregularly positioned holes. I soon discovered that twining was not going to happen. Because the stem had been supported by the surface of the landing it had not developed sufficient strength to support the flower head. 

The weakness of the flower stem called for something completely different from my imagining. Twining around the vessel was not going to happen. Above, the stem passes through holes on opposite sides of the vessel and leans forward. I needed something to secure the bottom of the stem and decided the stainless steel cutlery-drainer would be suitable. However, this is not good ikebana for several reasons. The focal point is on the left, leading the eye out of the ikebana; the vessels are too far apart; and more plant volume is needed.

My solution to was to rotate the conical vessel, bringing the focal point in to the middle of the ikebana. The space between the vessels is much reduced by moving the cutlery drainer to the back and I have added an extra line in the middle, increasing the sense of volume there. The strong line arising from the cutlery drainer leads up to the focal point and then back down again. This creates a circular movement within the ikebana.

For me this was a lesson in accepting the limitations of the material. Also of letting go of my preconceived idea about what I had planned to create.

Greetings from Christopher

5th March 2022

BELLADONNA LILY

A couple of weeks ago I set my senior Geelong students the task of making a renka arrangement using summer materials. As I have mentioned previously, the idea of renka was developed by the third Sogetsu Iemoto, Hiroshi Teshigahara. It is modelled on the Japanese classical linked-poetry form called renga, in which brief stanzas were improvised in response to the previous stanza. 

I added layers of difficulty for the students by asking them to bring two vessels and material of their choosing, which included some yellow material. The materials and vessels were separated so that the student had to work with materials brought by one colleague and one of the two vessels brought by another student. Each student worked in turn having only 15 minutes to complete their ikebana.

Helen Q inverted this vase using the small narrow space in the foot to arrange two Strelitzia reginae leaves, three yellow arum lilies (one is obscured in the photo) and a spray of Dancing Lady orchids.

Maureen arranged two branches of Cootamundra Wattle, Acacia baileyana, some yellow-centred maroon Helichrysum and a small stem of Dancing Lady orchid. Her lines picked up the lines in the previous ikebana.

Tess used a branch of box thorn encrusted with yellow lichen and added a mass of yellow flowers in the unusual vessel, creating a colour link to the previous work.

Christine's material was three spent Agapanthus stems and two blades of yellowing New Zealand flax, arranged in a modern style in a trough vessel.

Ellie created a mass with Corokia cotoneaster, and placed a mass of yellow Jerusalem Sage, Phlomis fruticosa, 

This photo is of the five linked ikebana works placed together in the sequence of their creation.

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February in the garden sees the Belladonna lily, Amaryllis belladonna, push up from the earth. We have three patches of them in different places, which means they flower progressively and provide us with a longer flowering period.

This patch, which does not get direct sunlight until around the middle of the day, was the last to open. I really love the form of the opening buds when the tips of several flowers of different sizes start to appear...

...as you can see in this close up.

Nearby is this Sedum cultivar, probably "Autumn Joy", given to me by my student Christine. It is a great plant for the rather dry soil of our garden and has a beautiful rich pink colour.

I have set two long stems of the Belladonna lily at an angle, in a cobalt-blue, circular suiban. Being arranged at the back of the suiban and leaning to the left front leaves the surface of the water clear making the ikebana feel light and fresh. The colour of the Sedum harmonises well with the principal material. This is the first time that I have considered the Sedum to be sufficiently established for me to cut some for my ikebana. I am pleased with the way these two materials work together in the blue suiban. 

Greetings from Christopher

26th February 2022