WORKSHOPS WITH NISHIYAMA SENSE

 

Hello all,

Well, the demonstration by Kosa Nishiyama sense on Thursday went very well. I'm sure those of you who attended will agree. Her expertise and talent were surpassed only by her elegance and grace. From the distance of my seat I was not able to take good photographs. However, my student Lei, a budding photographer, has taken hundreds of photos, the best of which will be featured on the Sogetsu Victoria blog in due course.

I was asked to make a welcoming arrangement, which was to be placed at the entrance of the theatre. It was the arrangement, above, which I photographed after I brought it home because the background was too busy. However, I designed it to reflect that very same, busy background with its geometric patterns of glass and metal. 

The structure is made with the dried stems of the New Zealand flax flowers. This material is quite soft and light, making it relatively easy to create interesting structures. For the flowers I raided my strelitzia reginae clump, which is flowering prolifically and filled the large, ceramic container with smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria).

On Saturday Nishiyama sense conducted two workshops. The theme for the morning workshop was 'A Freestyle Arrangement Incorporating Paper'. Nishiyama sense demonstrated two arrangements on the theme.

The attendees were to bring only a container, tools and paper. The materials were provided by the organizers, so we had no idea what to expect. 

My bunch of materials comprised of two cycad fronds, three aspidistra leaves  and a branch of callistemon. The heavy paper I had brought was two sided with a mottled green on one side and blue on the other. By folding it at the two ends, both colours were visible. I used only one flower of the callistemon at the back for a little bit of colour contrast.

By the time I brought the arrangement home the callistemon had wilted so I replaced it with a heliconia.

Lucy used a thick, textured paper with monstera deliciosa leaves and pin cushion flowers (leucospermum).

Vicky made a very cheeky arrangement using her palm leaves, placed up-side-down in her container with squares of white paper attached to the stems. The heliconias added both colour and height. 

The theme for the afternoon workshop was 'Disassembling and Rearranging the Material'. Nishiyama sense stressed the point that the material must be taken apart and then reassembled in a completely different way. In the bunch of materials that I was given I had three stems of Pleomele Song of India and some heliconias. I removed all the leaves from the stem and threaded them together with wire. I then attached the 'skirt' along half of the opening of the container. I added two of the now denuded stems into the arrangement to create lines.

Vicky used only one heliconia from her allocated materials, which she separated into its basic elements and reassembled them as per the photograph, below.

Lucy's container was too large for her materials so she decided to keep the arrangement small and to allow the container to be the main feature. She separated the leaves of the palm and rejoined them vertically. She, also. separated the heliconia petals and rearranged them and added them to the front.

My family and I had the honour of hosting Nishiyama sense and her assistant, Ms Tomoyo Koiwai to dinner on Friday. It was a most enjoyable evening for all of us, so much so, that we forgot to take any photos. Below is the arrangement I had prepared for the dinner table. I used Louisiana iris and smoke bush in a self made container.

I had left over materials after the workshops and could not bear to let them go to waste. When I got home I quickly made a couple of arrangements with them. Below is the photo of an arrangement using tortuous willow which I loosely intertwined and two stunningly beautiful peonies. 

A very simple use of aspidistra leaves and heliconias.

On Saturday evening we all had dinner at the Kew Golf Club. Again, a very enjoyable evening except that this time some members took photos and I can share one with you.

Bye for now,

Emily

SOGETSU VICTORIA 60TH ANNIVERSARY

 

Photograph by Lei Wang

Hello all,

Well, our exhibition is in full swing and the gallery is looking quite impressive with the great variety of Sogetsu arrangements. We had the official opening yesterday and this, being the first of a four week long exhibition, will be changed on 6th November. There will be subsequent changes each week thereafter.

In the first week many of us had the privilege of using ceramic containers, which are part of the Council's collection. In the arrangement, above, I used a container by the artist, Brian KEYTE - Baluster Vase Copper Red, Wheel thrown, stoneware clay. It measures 40cm in height.

I wanted to make a larger arrangement than the container would allow, so I built a bamboo structure around part of the plinth and the container. I had the measurements of the plinths that are owned by the gallery from previous exhibitions of mine and my students' work in 2022 and May 2024. This meant that I could prepare the structure to fit snuggly around the plinth. 

I'd been watching the flowers on my strelitzia nicolai for weeks, hoping they would open in time. And they did. To reach them, I enlisted Lucy's help to bring out a table, on which I stood and, using the extendable cutter with a saw attachment, I was able to cut them down. The only other material I used was nandina domestica with its inflorescence in bud.

For my second arrangement I made a sculptural piece as per our lesson in Book 5 'Composition Using Unconventional Materials'. I had the bent wood in my storeroom for many years and was happy to finally put it to use. It's quite self explanatory but I should point out that the piece has movement. The top part can pivot over the vertical dowel.

This photograph of me by Lei gives a
sense of proportion 

I will feature more photographs in due course but, you would enjoy the exhibition much more if you were to visit it.

Venue:
Whitehorse Artspace

Box Hill Town Hall                                                                                                        1022 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill 

Tuesday to Friday 10am - 4pm                                                                                    Saturday 12pm - 4pm

And now to ikebana at home. My strelitzia reginae has been quite prolific, with some of them reaching two metres in height. I was loathe to cut such lovely, long stems so I figured a way to use them using this rather large container full of holes. The difficulty was in bending the strong stems without snapping them. 

In the next arrangement, the flowers have so much character that no other material or manipulation was needed. I merely placed them in my self-made container.

Lei's class arrangement was a freestyle. She used a container which is split in half and placed two fatsia leaves and a cymbidium orchid on one side. She, then, brought two horsetail reeds (equisetum hyemale) delineating the left from the right side of the container.

In her freestyle arrangement, Mary used Japanese maple, Altissimo roses and inflorescence from nandina domestica in a ceramic container.

Bye for now,

Emily

MASTRCLASS #26

 

Hello all,

My spring garden is continuing to delight me. My pink dogwood (Cornus Florida rubra) was in full flower for the first time this year and I dared to cut two stems to bring inside. Apart from some trimming and securing the branches in the container, I did not need to do anything else.

Also, my mollis azalea avocet is pure perfection. The contrast of the delicate, white and yellow flowers against the lime green leaves is quite charming.

Last Saturday's Masterclass was particularly challenging. I had provided each participant with only one, rather large branch of red callistemon and two containers. I asked them to be creative and to think outside the square. Having only one material to work with to create an interesting arrangement is not easy but the girls rose to the challenge and made me proud.

As always, I too, took the challenge with an arrangement but forgot to photograph it. 

Lei cut down her branch and selected two side shoots with interesting shapes. She removed almost all of the leaves allowing the stems to be featured.

Christine, needing extra height, placed one vase on top of the other, then draped two stems of the callistemon over them.

Lucy separated the side shoots which had only buds and draped them over one vase then placed four flowers, vertically, through a slit in the second container.

Cymbie placed her branches up side down and, then, proceeded to wire flowers and buds giving them a rather unnatural but interesting direction.

Vicky's arrangement was reminiscent of the lesson 'Disassembling and Rearranging the Material'. She removed flowers, buds and leaves from the branch and placed the flowers in her two containers. She then used the 'stick' to add a line.

I leave you with this arrangement that I took to my friend, Merryl's place on Friday, when I went there for lunch. We are a group of four friends who met at our children's high school, helping out at the tuck shop. We call ourselves 'The Tuck Shop Girls'. (We sound like a girl band!) We have maintained our friendship ever since by meeting 3 or 4 times a year for lunch at alternating houses. These are marathon lunches which last a minimum of seven hours. Surprisingly, we never run out of things to say.

I chose the green goddess lilies for this arrangement for their longevity and, wired the way I had them, they are easy to transport. The wisteria vine is fresh, so in about a week or so, it should sprout leaves. To cover my mechanics, I used baby tears (soleirolia).

Bye for now'

Emily

DEMONSTRATION AND EXHIBITION

 

Hello all,

The time is quickly approaching for our exhibition and the demonstration by Master Instructor, Kosa Nishiyama, in celebration of our 60th anniversary. We're quite excited and are working very hard preparing for it all. We'd love to see as many of you as possible to both events. To my interstate readers, Melbourne is glorious this time of year and might act as an added incentive to visit.

Our exhibition will be held at Whitehorse Artspace  over four consecutive weeks with changes to the exhibits each week.

It will run from 26th October to 23rd November.          

Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 4pm (Saturdays 12.00 to 4.pm)

And now to our regular ikebana. For last lesson the advanced students were asked to make a spring arrangement. In my wall arrangement, below, I used a large wisteria vine and added pink roses and purple flag iris.

Lucy used a metal stand on which she placed a glass vase, then added jasmine, clivias and cymbidium orchid.

Jenny used apple blossoms and mauve lilacs in a ceramic, curved container.

Nicole used branches of hawthorn in bloom and rhododendron in a curved, ceramic container.

Shaneen came with swathes of materials but used only four - Japanese maple, clivia, day lily and freesias in a ceramic suiban.

Mary used crab apple branches in bloom and three arum lilies in a ceramic vase.

 

The following week Mary made a freestyle arrangement in a tsubo vase, using nandina domestica and arum lilies.

Lei made a freestyle arrangement using viburnum opulus, blushing bride (Serruria florida) and a prunus stem in a gorgeous, ceramic container.

Bye for now,

Emily

SPRING IN MY GARDEN

 

Hello all,

After 33 years of planting in my half acre property, I am inundated with so much material this spring that I'm tripping over myself trying to arrange as many as possible. The snow ball tree (viburnum opulus) is currently flowering and, for me, it is at its best when the flowers are still green.

 
In the arrangement, above, I wanted to contrast the vibrant, lime green of the flowers with the equally vibrant purple, Dutch iris. The container is made of resin.

Still with the snow ball tree, in the next arrangement, I used a ceramic vase with three holes on each side. I placed two stems through the side holes and one through the top and draped the branches over the container. 

My white lilac shrub was a gift from my parents a couple of decades ago. It is now looking a bit sad and has dropped some limbs. It has produced only a few flowers this year and, I fear, I might be losing it.

My daughter and her husband have recently moved into their new house, which is on a half acre lot. As I was inspecting all the plants on the property, I came across a loquat tree with a branch that had been partially broken but continued to grow towards the sun. An opportunity not to be missed. So, I brought it home and placed it in one of my taller vases.

I debated whether to add any more materials and I tried a few but was not happy. I did not want to conceal the interesting bend of the stem at the top. I, finally, settled on some snow ball flowers because they have a draping effect but which allowed the bend to be visible.

  

My crucifix orchid is, also, quite prolific and I've been manipulating some of the flower stems to interesting curves. This one is sitting in front of the mirror in the powder room. People can enjoy the beauty of the flowers up close when washing their hands.

Then, there's my wisteria, which has been the source of great frustration over the years because it stubbornly refuses to produce more that a few flowers each spring. I have threatened to remove it more than once. This year, however, after being heavily pruned, it has produced quite a lot of flowers. Below are a couple of arrangements featuring this beautiful, fragrant material. At this stage the racemes are not fully open. In a day or two they will look much fuller.

Wisteria with arum lily

 

Wisteria with clematis

Bye for now,

Emily

30TH SEPTEMBER, 2024

 

Hello all,

Lara Telford ran our recent Sogetsu workshop and she set the theme of 'Asymmetry'. Please go to Sogetsu Victoria  and click on Recent Workshops for more information and photographs of Lara's work as well as those of the members.

Mine is the arrangement, above. The dried material is from a xanthorrhoea  that had died and the camellia is Kamo Hon Ami. The asymmetry is quite obvious. However, Lara introduced a concept that we had not heard of before and that is 'Symmetrical Asymmetry'. I know, that sounds like an oxymoron but the way Lara explained it, it made sense. The arrangement is to have materials of equal size and volume on either side of the centre but the materials are to be different. I did not have materials for that kind of arrangement but I wanted to try it when I got home, hence the arrangement, below. I used magnolia soulangeana and loquat branches and some alstroemeria psittacina leaves in a self made container.

A month later, I set this theme to my advanced students. After a few protests and some grumbling, they managed quite well.

In my arrangement for the lesson I used umbrella grass with trimmed leaves, green goddess lilies and a sprig of Japanese flowering apricot in a ceramic container. 

Jenny used arum lilies and Japanese maple in a triangular, ceramic container.          

Lucy used a fan palm and a monstera deliciosa leaf in a strong nageire container. The vibrant colour of the two stems of clivias balanced the strength of the leaves and container.

Shaneen mixed exotics with native in this arrangement - cherry blossoms on one side and callistemon on the other. The bluebells added an accent of colour.

 Vicky used kiwi vine, green goddess lilies and one bluebell.

Nicole's arum lilies and leaves created the symmetrical asymmetry and she added a sprig of Dusty Miller (Jacobaea maritima) in a ceramic suiban.

Mary used a tsubo vase into which she placed a confer branch on one side and a philodendron that was trimmed on the other. Both materials were very strong and the iris japonica added lightness.

Lei's class theme was 'Preparing for a Future Exhibition'. In a round,metal container she placed leucadendrons, following the curve of the container and cymbidium orchids.

Dianne's class theme was 'Vines'. She used wisteria and clematis for the vines and the most magnificent magnolia for the colour accent.

Bye for now,

Emily