9th May, 2022

 

Hello all,

Our exhibition is over and we are all very happy with what we have achieved. It was the first time that I was responsible for an exhibition, even if it was a relatively small one and I had to fight some misgivings of whether I would be able to pull it off. But, of course, I was not alone. Everyone was very willing and eager to be a part of it and to do everything necessary to maintain the arrangements so that they always looked fresh. This is quite an undertaking over a two week period. Also, Jacquie Nichols-Reeves, the curator of Artspace at Box Hill, and her assistants were helpful and accomodating, so that everything ran smoothly.

You may have noticed that I have not posted the photographs of all of the arrangements. There were 20 altogether. I'm having some technical difficulties, which I hope to resolve by the next posting of this blog.

In the meantime I can share with you the photographs of our regular, Wednesday class. The theme for the advanced students was 'Disassembling and Rearranging the Material'.

The arrangement, above, was by Nicole. She used a rhododendron branch, from which she removed all the leaves. She, then placed one flower bud and folded leaves on a kenzan at the back.

Jenny used red stemmed, Japanese Maple - 'Senkaki/Coral Bark' and arranged it, together with the massed leaves, to appear wind swept.

Vicky used Liquidamber branches as their leaves are changing colour in two, matching, ceramic containers.

I decided to use the pine needles that I had removed from a large branch I had used in my first demonstration. I had laid them on some non-stick baking paper in a circle and sprayed them with adhesive. When I looked at the result, it looked like a flat wreath. So I played around with folding it and placing it in a container. I sprayed black the stripped stem of the pine because its natural colour is a very dull grey. I used some golden coloured chrysanthemums to finish the arrangement. 

Wendy's curriculum lesson was 'Surfaces of Leaves'. She used strelitzia nicolai leaves and roses in a ceramic pot.

Shaneen's lesson was 'Paying Attention to the container and to the Place Where the Arrangement will be Put'. She used a variegated Coprosma and chrysanthemum's in two, self made, ceramic troughs.

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Lei's lesson was 'With Branches Only'. We discussed that the ornamental vine she used was not, technically a branch but it was good practice working with the vine, which can be difficult. Shaneen contributed some of her Coprosma to complete the arrangement. Everyone was envious of Lei's container, a recent op-shop find.

Bye for now,

Emily