EXHIBITION ARRANGEMENTS #3

 

Hello all,

A more recent addition to our curriculum is the theme 'Composition Using Unconventional Materials'. It basically means using non botanical materials, which leads to sculptural works. Case in point is my piece, above, in which I have used rusted steel pieces embedded in a piece of wood. This was displayed in a glass cabinet on the wall.

Bredenia's arrangement created a great deal of interest. The branch material she used is called 'Woolly Bush' (Adenanthos sericeus).People would peer inside trying to work how it was bent, looking for whatever mechanics held the branches in that position. The truth is that they grew that way.  Bredenia had removed other side shoots to reveal the windswept look of the remaining branches. The other remarkable thing about this material is that it has been five weeks since it was cut from the tree and it still looks fresh. In fact, if you look closely, you'll see that there is growth at the tips, which is growing upwards.

I made the next two arrangements to fill in for Jenny, who had to withdraw due to ill health.

In my arrangement, below, I used a strelitzia nicolai flower and a strelitzia reginae leaf, in a ceramic tsubo vase.

The material in this next arrangement is a succulent called Aloe striatula. It is growing in the shade and, in its attempts to reach for the sun, it creates long, rambling stems. It's just what I needed for use with these three metal containers. When I brought it home after the exhibition, I noticed that the stems did not reach the water, but that did not affect the material at all and is still perfect, nearly four weeks later.

After the demonstration I had some left over, luscious, white chrysanthemums and Dutch iris, which I used in the arrangement, below. I massed the two different flowers separately and placed them in the spaces created by the Siberian dogwood. This could fall into the category of the theme  'Mass and Line'.

Mary's class arrangement was 'Paying Attention to the Shape of the Container'. She used Siberian dogwood and hydrangeas in a triangular, ceramic container.

I've employed a young man to help me with some of the more difficult jobs in the garden. One of those jobs is the removal of suckers from the elm trees, which involves bending down, sometimes under shrubs and other plants to remove these proliferating, pesky suckers. It's very important to remove them because, if left unchecked, they grow into a tree and we have plenty of those. 

His job was to remove them and mine was to cut them into small pieces to fit into the garden bin. In the process I found some interesting stems, which I saved from the bin and with which I made the arrangement, below. The branches are quite delicate, requiring fine flowers and leaves. The crucifix orchids and dietes leaves fit the bill and I chose a narrow, glass container into which I placed them.

In the garden of an acquaintance I found a prostrate banksia and was allowed to cut some. After removing a number of side stems, I was left with interesting branches and made the next two arrangements. Both arrangements address the theme of 'Only One Kind of Material'.

Bird's eye view showing the angle of the branch

Bye for now,

Emily