EXHIBITION ARRANGEMENTS #1

 

Hello all,

Judging by the feedback we received, our exhibition and demonstration were a success. My students, from advanced to beginners, worked harmoniously together, helping out when needed, which made my job easier and more pleasant.

My piece, above, started with the giant spring which I found at a metal recycling place. I then looked around for inspiration and found the palm spathe under a palm tree. Once I removed the leaves, I was left with a very long 'tail', which made it ideal for bending. The cavity of the spathe needed some fresh material and I couldn't go past the nandina domestica nana, both for its colour and durabillity. It's quite a large piece (1 m X 1 m) and it was placed in a glass, wall cabinet at the exhibition.

Below is the photo of Lei's piece, the theme of which is 'Relief Works'. She used bamboo and dried leaves as well as gold and black paint to create the work.

Christine's freestyle arrangement had a lush, tropical feel. She used a monstera deliciosa leaf, New Zealand flax and strelitzias reginae in a rather unusual, ceramic container.

Mary's arrangement, below, had the theme of 'Curved Lines'. She used Siberian dogwood stems, which she manipulated to create curves and added lisianthus as the floral focus.

The photo, below, is of Vicky's arrangement, which was placed in a free standing, glass cabinet. She used fan aloe and chrysanthemums in a heavy, ceramic container with a split down the middle.

Lucy's large arrangement (1.7 metres X 2.00 metres) was very well suited to its position at the entrance of the foyer. She used a large piece of bark, which she placed over a heavy, ceramic container. She secured two large, gymea leaves diagonally and added tulips and amaranthus coming forward. She also added white chrysanthemums to the back because the arrangement was in front of a glass sliding door and could be seen from the other side.

Wendy created a bamboo structure, sprayed black and then added another smaller structure made of paper tubes, which she sprayed gold. The yellow chrysanthemums completed the piece which had the theme 'Repeating Similar Shapes or Forms'.

Ordinarily, we do not include beginners in ikebana exhibitions but, since I was celebrating 20 years of teaching, all my students should have been included because without them I could not be a teacher.

Martyna is my most recent student and she has had all of three lessons. Despite that, she did a very good 'Basic Upright Moribana' using camellia branches and disbud chrysanthemums.

We are all very grateful to our Lei Wang, who is not only a talented ikebanist but she is also becoming quite adept with her camera. She took and edited all the photos that I have included here and is, currently, editing the rest of them, which I will include in subsequent posts.

Bye for now,

Emily

DEMONSTRATION CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF TEACHING

 

Hello all,

Well our exhibition in currently on at the All Nations Foyer at Box Hill Town Hall commemorating my 20 years of teaching. We have 24 arrangements varying in sizes and styles. So far it has been very well received. I will share photographs of our exhibits in future posts.

As part of our celebrations I conducted a demonstration on Saturday with the help of three of my advanced students - Lucy, Vicky and Cym. Jenny was also going to take part, but, unfortunately, she had a nasty fall a few days before and had to withdraw. 

The pond arrangement, above, was one of my demonstration pieces. I made the container specifically for this type of arrangement. I had used crushed glass in blues and greens, which, when fired, melted and created a glaze that resembles water. I used driftwood, Dutch iris, umbrella grass and Japanese maple.

Vicky used a cheeky, ceramic container into which she placed a piece of kiwi vine coloured dark blue and blue disbud chrysanthemums and yellow chrysanthemum indicum. Her theme was 'Colours in Contrast'.

Lucy wanted to make a celebratory arrangement in honour of the occasion. She used a container that is mostly suited to Ikenobo style of ikebana. The dried and sprayed gold and silver agapanthus had been trained to have interesting curves and give the impression of fire works. She added crucifix orchids to the 'fireworks' and some dietes leaves and a single anthurium leaf, whilst being careful not to clutter the lines at the base.

Cym used her self made, nageire container with a 'window' opening to one side. She added twisted willow and corokia to enclose a space, then kangaroo paw and hydrangeas to complete a light and airy piece.

I usually start demonstrations with a Basic Upright arrangement, which is the very first lesson on our curriculum. However, because we had an example of this in our exhibition, I started with a 'Simplified Arrangement' instead.

In this exercise we trim the material, removing all but its most basic elements. I found a beautiful camelia and chose a small, black, glass vase to place it in. However the camellia was facing downwards, so I manipulated it until it succumbed and stayed the way I wanted.

I then wanted to use a gorgeous pomegranate that had begun to split. I'd been keeping an eye on it, hoping it would not be eaten before I could use it. The split revealed seeds that sparkled like rubies.

Close up of fruit with seeds

I was walking through the park with my grandchildren, going to the NGV when I found this palm spathe. I told the children to remind me to pick it up on the way back and, bless them, they did.

I wanted to demonstrate how I secured it outside the vase. It's a relatively simple method of wedging a horizontal fixture at the top of the vase and, after piercing a small hole in the back of the spathe, I wired it to the horizontal fixture. When looking for other material to use with this structure, the cathedral begonia practically called to me. I love the combination of green and brown but, also, the frilly form of the leaves.

This next, simple arrangement is an example of  of the lesson 'Disassembling and Rearranging the Material'. I used a birds nest fern, from which I cut away the leaf parts on both sides and left only the spine. I then placed the leaf of one side into a curved container, making sure to create asymmetry with the frills and then added the spine as the line of the arrangement.

My student, Dianne, produces the most amazingly healthy plants in her prolific garden. We're all in awe of the materials she brings to class. But, apart from being a consummate gardener, she is also very generous and often arrives with a lot more materials than she needs with the intent of sharing them with the class. Last class was a case in point when she brought a whole bucket full of huge, luscious, white chrysanthemums. I used a couple of stems in my demonstration piece of the lesson 'Mass and Line'. Because of their weight, the flowers grew hanging downwards, making them difficult to use, so I had to get creative. I placed the stems in one of the lower holes of this large container and then draped the flowers at the top.

And the final arrangement was of the lesson 'Glass Containers', in which we can use only the inside of the container or both the inside and outside. I've done the latter. I used clear perspex to hold up one side of the agave pieces to create the illusion.

Bye for now,

Emily

13TH MAY, 2024

 

Hello all,

I'm a little short on content this week because preparations for our exhibition and demonstration are taking up most of my time. So, I thought I'd share with you the photograph, above, of my granddaughters and me making jewellery.

This was little Aria's idea. She has recently become aware of the endangered status of the red panda and wants to help raise money to help. For her Christmas present she asked her parents to send a donation to  the Red Panda Network on her behalf. But that was not enough for Aria, who enlisted the help of her cousins and friends at school to make Taylor Swift type jewellery that could be sold to raise more money. She wrote to the school principal requesting permission to sell at school and she received it. So, during the school holidays we spent an entire day happily working together. The two little ones kept getting distracted but, still, we got a lot done.

Despite a shortage of time, I can't go past interesting material without wanting to arrange it. As I was raking leaves near the monstera deliciosa patch, I noticed the perfect, creamy flower, below. I cut it as well as two leaves, dropped the rake and went inside to arrange the material. 

Below is a photo of the monstera patch. It's about 3 metres X 6 metres. It's obviously an ideal spot for it because it's going gang busters.

Along with raking the leaves from the elm trees, I, also, collected a number of flowers from my kami-hon-ami camellia. It made me realise that unless I cut and use some of them, the rain will drop them to the ground. Hence the arrangement, below.

We visited some relatives on Saturday for the first time in their new home and saw this amazing perennial growing in a shady spot of their garden. It is called Liguluria reniformis or 'tractor seat'. It has very glossy green leaves and, apparently, flowers in spring. It  produces yellow, daisy like flowers. Naturally I had to cut some and, litterally, just stuck them in the vase. I couldn't bring myself to use a flower.

You may recall  some weeks ago the measures I employed to protect my persimmons from the various fauna of the area. Apart from the perspex collar I had placed around the trunk, I also invested in an electronic devise which is motion activated and emits a shrill sound and flashing lights, intended to frighten away various creatures. Both these measures worked very well in deterring the possums and rats. The birds, however, quickly became used to the noise and continued to eat the fruit, even whilst still green. I, then, proceeded to put plastic bags around clusters of fruit, which saved the rest of them.

And here is my final harvest. These were not all the fruit we got because we had collected some earlier and shared with family and neighbours.

Below is Mary's freestyle arrangement using two strelitzia reginae leaves and lisianthus flowers. The leaf to the left is being held up by a skewer that is wired to the back of the leaf and is placed on the kenzan.

Bye for now

Emily

 

6TH MAY 2024

 

Hello all,

I had set a combined theme for the advanced students - 'With Branches Only' and 'Showing Lines at the Base'. The arrangement, above, is my example. I used one mahonia branch with two flower inflorescences, Siberian dogwood (cornus siberica alba) and beauty berry branch (callicarpa) in a self made, ceramic container.

Jenny used cotoneaster, prunus and abelia in a ceramic trough.

Nicole used pussy willow (salix), wattle and begonia coccinea in a ceramic trough.

Vicky used Siberian dogwood, smoke bush (cotinus -Grace' and Crimson King Maple in a ceramic container.

Lucy also used smoke bush, pittosporum and Crimson King Maple in a ceramic tsubo vase.

Cym used grevillea with most of the leaves removed and 'After Dark' (agonis flexuosa) in an interesting container with several holes. 

Mary used wattle, cotoneaster and Siberian dogwood in a ceramic stubo vase.

Shaneen's lesson was 'Fruiting Plant Materials'. She used branches of unripened mandarins and bromeliad flowers - Queens Tears.

This afternoon we had the May Sogetsu meeting and workshop, which was presented by Emerald Leung. She set a combined theme of 'Only one Kind of Material' and 'To be Viewed from all Angles'. Below are three photographs of my arrangement taken from different angles. I used the 'heart' of an agave, from which I separated the layers and revealed these conical tubes. As the pieces get closer to the centre, they are paler, creating interesting variations of green. 

'To be viewed from all angles' does not mean that it should simply be pleasant to look at. In fact there needs to be some element or material in each view that is different to the others.

Please go to Sogetsu Ikebana Victoria for photographs of Emerald's examples as well as those of the rest of the attendees.

We are all working hard preparing for our exhibition and would love to see you there.

Bye for now,

Emily