MASTERCLASS #20

 

Hello all,

At the last Masterclass for the year, I provided each participant with 20 stems of umbrella grass, a monstera deliciosa leaf, a New Zealand flax leaf and a strelitzia reginae stem. They were to choose their own containers.

The arrangement, above was done by Lei. She wired umbrella grass stems to create surfaces, then joined them to create triangular designs. She repeated the triangles by trimming the monstera leaf. The sharp angles were meant to contrast with the curves of the container.

Christine was the only one to use the umbrella grass with their seed heads. She chose this container because she'd heard me say that it is difficult to use and she wanted to challenge herself. The monstera leaf was very big and concealed the container but Christine did not want to trim it in the way that Lei did because she was after a naturalistic look. So she cut pieces away making the leaf smaller but keeping its general shape and created greater openings so that the container could be seen through them.

Bredenia did not follow the brief because she needed an arrangement to take to a friend on her 70th Birthday. She used some of the materials I provided but she brought her own yellow strelitzias (Mandela gold). She had to use florists' foam, as it was going to be given away and covered it with Baby's Tears (Soleirolia soleirolii). She told me her friend was delighted with her gift.

Vicky went for quite a dramatic look, using almost the full lenth of the flax and the strelitzia. She bent and joined the umbrella grass stems in a jagard mass, reflecting the openings of the ceramic container.

Lucy used two, small, triangular suibans and one slightly larger. She emphasised lines with the umbrella grass stems and the flax leaf. The double headed strelitzia added to the very graphic design.

Lucy had set up her arrangement at the Boroondara Summer Salon Exhibition at the Hawthorn Art Centre. In conjunction with visual artists, we are able to exhibit one ikebana arrangement per week until 20th January, excepting the week between Christmas and New Year. I am next to exhibit on 4th December.

Lucy with her arrangement at the Exhibition.

And a little announcement. Many of you will remember the street sculpture, Love Flower, that I collaborated with John Meade to design. It has been in its street position on Peninsula Link for four years and is about to be moved to its permanent location at McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery. To coincide with this move, there will be an exhibition by John Meade at the gallery from 2nd December 2023 to 17th March 2024. I've been asked to provide two large, Ikebana installations for this exhibit. I will be setting up on Wednesday 29th November.

Bye for now,

Emily