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