Sensei studies - Final class for the year...

Today was the final couple of classes for the year for me. It's been such an amazing journey and it was lovely to finish on a positive note with some arrangements that I was quite happy with. 

This lesson was about focussing on dried, coloured or bleached materials. I used the dried leaves of the giant fig that had been so generously provided by Kevin Wallpole a few weeks prior. I had allowed the leaves to dry naturally and then I had spray painted them in a few different colours so as to best bring out their texture and surface qualities. I combined the leaves with some smoke bush and a tiny bit of sea holly which complimented the main focus of the arrangement very nicely without overwhelming or competing for attention. I chose a container that had a very controlled and almost technological feel to it as a contrast to the wild and wonderfully chaotic nature of my dry materials... I was so pleased with the outcome. Bold, dramatic and dynamic!

The second lesson for the day was about creating an arrangement that would be suitable to be viewed from above. Interestingly this most often means that it will also be viewed in 360 degrees and so needs to look pleasing from all sides. I was so fortunate to have a friend provide me with some artichoke in full bloom and in bud. In ikebana terms, this was a treasure and so I just had to make use of it in this arrangement. Combined simply with some sea holly and some flax I was very happy with the result. 
 

The final lesson for the day was about creating arrangements that would be suitable to be viewed from below. They might possibly be positioned on a high shelf, a ledge or the top of a cupboard or in some other similar location. Quite a tricky exercise to do I managed to make two quite nice arrangements. Unfortunately I had a bit of a headache by this stage as it was a VERY hot day and so I don't feel these are my very best work, although they definitely meet the criteria for the lesson, and my teacher quite liked what I had done. These final two photographs have quite a bit of photo editing as the lighting and position options in the studio were a bit tricky to manage but I believe I have been able to show the essence of each of the arrangements. In the end my teacher and I both felt it was a very successful and pleasant day of classes, we wished each other a happy holiday season and farewell until the new year. 

Study & practice... working towards improvement - always (part 2 of 2)

Aside from my ikebana work at class I always find I have materials left over that I can bring home and create arrangements with. I always try and use them in a different way to what I have managed at class so as to get the most diverse experience of working with the particular material in question. Please enjoy a selection of my practice arrangements below.

Fresh and Unconventional material

Fresh and unconventional materials - another variation

An arrangement rising from the floor - accompanying an art work

Using straight and curving lines - fresh and unconventional material, accompanying an artwork.

Well that wraps it up for the moment, thank you for reading and stay tuned... Till next time, farewell folks.

Study & practice... working towards improvement - always (part 1 of 2)

Earlier this week I was able to attend classes once again with the wonderful Sandy Marker who is my teacher in Sydney. It was a very quiet morning class and I had the Sensei all to myself which is really quite a luxury. Things went well and we moved along with the exercises from the text book and I was able to create some really lovely arrangements that I was quite proud of. 

Morimono - arrangement using fruit and vegetables

The first exercise was an arrangement of fruit and vegetables which is called "Mori-mono". This is quite a tricky kind of arrangement to create, as its really quite different to look at what we normally consider to simply be food, and to instead consider its aesthetic qualities, particularly with regard to line, colour and mass. Fortunately a local grocer had some amazing and interesting snake gourd, long and interestingly shaped with stripy variagation. It was really spectacular looking and I thought just the thing to make a morimono come alive! I combined it with habanero chillies, a lime and a hydrangea flower to complete the arrangement as you see it above.  

Fresh and unconventional materials

The next exercise for the day was to tackle combining unconventional materials with fresh ones. This is something that I really enjoy doing as it can really set free the creative energy. I decided that because of the time of year I would like to do something with a Christmas feel but I didn't want to have a decoration here and there and end up feeling like a Christmas tree. So I treated my collection of baubles as a material and went about using them to create mass. After giving the hot glue gun a bit of a work out this was what I ended up with. I was really pleased that the different tones, surface qualities and the varied sizes of the baubles were able to be combined to create a pleasing and interesting mass that captured the season as well as complimenting the container. I carefully added some juniper and a single red dahlia to complete the arrangement creating something beautiful but also with a sense of fun and joyful celebration. 

Fresh and unconventional material

As I mentioned I really enjoy working with fresh and unconventional material and so with a little more time left in the morning class I decided to create a second arrangement on the same topic. Again this one uses juniper and a red dahlia but this time combined with xanthorea, sword grass and (of all things) a felt table place mat. It just goes to show that you really can use almost anything in ikebana if you really think about it. 

Following the morning class was a break for lunch during which we toasted the end of the year with a little champagne and, after our sandwiches, a little bit of cake and chocolate. It made for a delighful break amidst the fun of study.

Focussing on the use of water

In the afternoon class the lesson was about focussing on the use of water. I always find that green and white and deep purple capture a feeling of coolness and freshness that I connect with water and summer so I wanted to use these colours in the materials I was working with. I also wanted to take advantage of the refractive and magnifying qualities of water when used in clear glass. I managed to create an arangement that seems quite simple and minimal but was very sophisticated in subtle ways driven by the nature of the water. Working in different levels with submerged materials magnified in different degree, (due to having used containers placed inside one another), yet anchored and unified at the same time was a wonderful challenge but one with an extremely pleasing result. 

Focus on use of water - to be viewed from above

Again, this is an exercise that I particularly enjoy and one I find fills me with ideas so I went on to do a second variation on the same theme. In this case I was wanting to focus on the sense of cool created by calm still water. I selected a beautiful blue rectangular suiban container that perfectly matched the colour of the hydrangea that I had with me. Working with the purple material I had along with a single strand of sword grass that created a beautiful line I was able to create the above pictured arrangement. I feel calm and cool just looking at it... very Zen.

Now at Raku Dining!

It's been a little while since my last blog post but there have been a few things bubbling away that I was waiting to share with you. One of these is that HanaKuma Ikebana is now providing Ikebana arrangments to Raku Dining in Canberra's cerntral business district of Civic. Raku is a top class Japanese restaurant serving some of the most excellent traditional favourites and modern interpretations of the finest Japanese cuisine in a stunningly decorated environment where you can enjoy your meal whilst watching the master chefs at work! You can now also enjoy taking in a view of some of my own lovely arrangements as you enjoy your meal. I must say I pass my most heartfelt thanks to Raku for this wonderful opportunity to show my work in such a wonderful environment. See below for a visual treat to go with your culinary feast!

If you'd like to check out what delicious foods that Raku Dining has on offer or you'd like to make a booking please click on the link below to visit their page. 

http://rakudining.com.au/

Demonstration time!

Between Family visits and trips to Sydney I was asked by the organisers of the Spring Out Festival (Canberra's LGBTIQ+ Pride festival) to do a demonstration of ikebana at the judging of the "Bake off". The idea was to keep the people who had entered the baking competition and any of their friends engaged and interested whilst the Judges were making their decisions on the winning entries. Of course I saw this as a wonderful opportunity to bring ikebana to a new and different audience of people that may not have encountered it before! It was also very exciting as it was only my second time demonstrating and my first with no other teacher there to assist me in what I was doing! Needless to say I was a little nervous, however things went very well. I did manage to take some video which is in two parts.

Sadly the part 2 video cuts out a couple of minutes before the end but it does show most of what I was doing. The location was in a cafe so I appologise in advance for the background noise and people sometimes moving about. 

Part 2 follows below.

Seminars and workshops and classes oh my! (part 2)

Following the amazing and inspirational weekend of Seminars and workshops it was time to knuckle down and get back to class and keep my learning on track. The first lesson was about arranging with fruiting material. Having been in Sydney for several days I had not been able to bring appropriate material for this class with me from Canberra. So I asked the always charming Kevin Wallpole if he happened to have anything fruitbearing in his garden that I might use for the purpose of the class and he very kindly obliged me with something truly amazing! GIANT FIG! Oh my goodness what a challenge! In a moment of clarity I realised exactly what I needed to do and once I got to class I set about my goal with determination. See the result below.

I must apologise for the poor image quality, as it was taken on my phone I had to do quite a lot of doctoring to the photograph to best show the arrangement. 

As you can see the leaves are massive and a tremendous feature in themselves with the fruit sitting tightly into the space where the leaf meets the main stem of the plant. This posed some significant challenges. I didn't want to damage the fruit or knock it off so I had to trim the leaves leaving quite a bit of stem. Usually this is unsightly and not particularly desirable but I decided that I would cover the exposed cuts with gold leaf to indicate the very special and unusual nature of this material. This was very eye catching and interesting and worked to enhance the arrangement overall so was a good way of solving a tricky problem. I was pleased to still show a leaf in a way that supported and presented the fruit with the growing tips of the plant making for another strongly linear and dynamic element. Overall both my teacher and I were very happy with the result. 

The next exercise was in simplification... talk about changing gear in my brain! I chose to work with some kangaroo paw that I had found in a local florist. I felt this was a very interesting material because it really has a number of qualities that can be shown off to great effect. The idea of the exercise is to minimise the use of the material whilst not losing or hiding its essential nature. It's like the ultimate exercise in editing. See the result below.

Again my apologies for the poor image quality. 

I had enough time in class for one final exercise which was about deconstructing and then reconstructing material... I set myself the challenge of again working with kangaroo paw and just a small bit of pincushion grevillea (instead of using a kenzan). I took the entire idea of Kangaroo Paw to pieces and re-invented it completely. Typically a dry climate plant I decided to do an arrangment submerged in water. Also, the flowers usually appear sparsely at the margins of the stems so I massed and concentrated them as certralised elements with stems forming a laticework around.. it's like I took the very idea of a kangaroo paw and turned it inside out. See the result below.

Seminars and workshops and classes oh my! (part 1)

Most recently I was very fortunate to attend a weekend seminar and accompanying workshop in Sydney given by esteemed visiting Sogetsu Master Ms Misei Ishikawa. This was such a pleasure to attend and I feel that I learned a great deal from the experience. The intention of the seminar was to properly introduce Sogetsu Ikebana practitioners to the new Book 5 Textbook. It will soon be the case that if a teacher has not attended this or a similar workshop, their teaching will not be recognised officially by the school headquarters in Japan. So naturally it was very important to attend! The aim was to unify some specific skills among teachers to ensure that they could give their students the best possible learning experience in the future.

On the first morning there was a video lecture from the Iemoto of the school Ms Akane Teshigahara which was very inspirational as well as talks from Master Ishikawa about every lesson in the entire Book 5 Textbook. To say it was thorough is an understatement! In the afternoon session there was another video lecture from the Iemoto followed by practical demonstrations by the master which was again very inspiring! An informal dinner at a local restaurant followed. 

The next day was a day of workshops where we were able to show off our own practical skills for the Master and receive some valuable feedback. In part one we were asked to assemble a free standing structure from some provided branch material. We could assemble using wire, nails, screws etc but the fixings that we used had to not be obviously visible. A fun challenge to be sure but one that I was able to meet. Part Two required us to add a container and turn the branches in to a different position than was initially used and to then create a completed arrangment adding foliage and plant material. The results around the room were so massively varied it was a wonderful demonstration of the different things that could be done using these few techniques. Here is a photograph of what I was able to achieve.

Master Ishikawa paid me a great compliment in saying the arrangement captured the spirit of "Ikebana becomes me" which is a fundamental ideal of the school in terms of Sogetsu Ikebana reflecting the very nature of the artist that makes it, and that it was "very impressive" meaning that the arrangement showed a lot of my own self in its boldness and strength.

In the afternoon session we were asked to create a celebratory arrangement using as much of the same material as we liked but also having a mandatory components of some camelia leaves and the addition of mizuhikki (Japanese paper string). I decided that I would celebrate something close to my heart and commemorate the results of the recent plebicite on marriage equality which had resulted in the national population voting yes to marriage equality for LGBTIQ+ people.  

For me there was so much meaning in the arrangement. The heavy branch representing a great obstacle being overcome, the lower swirls of mizuhikki representing the seemingly endless cycles of debate on the issue, the red bougainvillea for the passion of the people and the cost to many of that struggle for equality and finally rising above, the camelia leaves as a symbol of victory, new growth and renewal, also incorporating mizuhikki loosely representing two samurai interlinked. As I explained my thinking and the symbolism the room went quiet and at the end I received a round of applause... I think everyone was very moved and this will be a memory I will treasure for the rest of my life. While Master Ishikawa was a little uncertain around the subject matter of the arrangement as I talked about the meaning her appreciation grew and grew and I could tell she appreciated the thoughtfullness that had gone into what I had done. Not only was it aesthetically pleasing but very very meaningful. In the end she was very approving of the arrangement. That wraps up the seminars and workshops part, classes will be covered in part 2! 

Busy Busy Busy! So much happening...

The last few weeks have been jam packed with so much activitiy I can hardly think of where to start!. There had been visits from family and demonstrations given as well as trips to Sydney for seminars and workshops as well as the regular attendance in class to continue my own leaning and ikebana journey. And to make things a little more crazy I've also been struggling with a bit of a chest infection. So you can see the title of this blog entry is very apt.

Lets start by looking back a little, with the family visiting I wanted to produce a nice and interesting arrangement in the front entry hall. One of the visiting family members was coming all the way from Romania and so I wanted this arrangement to be very uniquely Australian. I made use of dried materials including banksia, eucalyptus branches and native seed pods to create the arrangement you see below. Challenging, interesting and very unusual (I thought). I hope you like it. 

I made a couple of other arrangements to place around the house to make everyone feel welcome. 

After everyone had had an enjoyable stay and bid us farewell it was time for a brief rest before heading off to Sydney for a seminar and workshop by a visiting Master from Japan! (more about that in the next plog post).