GREETINGS FROM TOKYO #2

 

Hello all,

The photograph, above, is of the arrangement in the Japanese Room of Sogetsu HQ, which was made by Master Instructor Suisen Takagi.

The small arrangement, below, was also in the Japanese Room.

For those who haven't visited Sogetsu Kaikan yet, this is what one sees when approaching the building.

I arrived in Japan a few days before the Ikebana International 13th World Convention because I wanted to catch up with my Japanese friends. The first friend I caught up with was Emiko and I shared the photograph of the two of us last week.

The following day I had lunch with Kosa Nishiyama sense at the Japanese restaurant, Wadakura. She had organized, everything including the pre ordering of the sumptuous meal and selecting a table in front of a window, from which we could enjoy the view of the Imperial Palace Gardens. As wonderful as it all was, the best thing was spending time with my friend. It's sad to think that, with such distances, we may not see each other in person again. Of course, thanks to modern technology we can communicate very easily.

Kosa Nichiyama sense and me

That evening I had dinner with Akiko Takahira Abe at an Italian Restaurant at Ginza 6 Shopping Complex. I arrived early and enjoyed some serious window shopping before our meal. We had so much to say that we forgot to take photos. She and I had become friends when, in 2014, I was in Tokyo for 3 months studying intensively at HQ as part of the Norman Sparnon scholarship. Akiko was part of the Overseas Affairs department and in charge of looking after me. We clicked and have been friends ever since.

We met again the next day. Akiko had planned for us to visit Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi Prefecture, which is renowned for its huge wisterias. This is the ideal time to visit the park because the wisterias are in flower. Of course, there are, also, many other spring flowering plants to be dazzled by.

My friend Akiko at the entrance of Ashikaga Flower Park

Based on Akiko's description, I was looking forward to visiting the park but I was not prepared to be so impressed that words fail me. I thought I died and gone to heaven and I did not want to leave. Apart from other flowering plants, such as azaleas, dogwoods, snow ball trees, rhododendrons etc there are 350 wisteria trees in all colours. There is one that is 150 years old, which has been designated as a natural treasure.

Below are a few photographs which can only give you an idea of the scope and magnificence of this garden. One thing I could not capture, however, was the heady fragrance that permeated the whole park.

The Great Wisteria - 150 years old

We had lunch at the park and waited until dark, when the park is transformed by strategically placed lights into a fairyland.

If anyone is planning a trip to Japan for late April to early May, do yourself a favour and visit the park. It is a bit of a distance from Tokyo but well worth the effort.

Bye for now,

Emily

GREETINGS FROM TOKYO

 

Hello all,

The theme for last weeks class was using 'Fresh and Unconventional Materials'. I am a hoarder of legendary status and, as such, I have masses of all kinds of materials in my store rooms. To assuage my guilty conscience, every so often, I will delve into the hoards and pick something to use. The perspex strips in the arrangement, above, were what I chose for this exercise. The container has a split half way down the side into which I was able to place the strips. However, the tension made them slip right out again. I solved that problem by winding rubber bands at each end of the strips and that worked a treat.

My initial plan was to use weeping willow cascading through the strips but, when I tried it, I felt it took away the focus from the strips...

... so, I did a rethink and added the amaranthus instead. The pomegranates and alstroemeria psittacina leaves completed the arrangement.

Nicole used some colourful, synthetic material which she cut into strips and placed into a container which has two openings. Her fresh material was a single aloe vera plant.

Cymbie used dietes leaves and juvenile eucalyptus in an opaque, glass vase. For her unconventional material she created discs from a heavy foil, which related well with the eucalypt.

Jenny had some plastic eggs that could be connected chain-like. And, being Easter, they seemed apt. Her challenge was to place them in a way that did not obstruct the interesting detail of the top of the container. She kept the dahlias low and added height and space with the addition of the juvenile eucalypt.

Vicky's material was made of polystyrene, which worked very well with the quirky container. The red dahlias were Dianne's contribution.

By coincidence, Dianne's curriculum theme was the same as the senior students. She created a shape using thick paper and added cordylines at the front and two roses at the back, placing the whole onto a lacquered board. 

Wendy's theme was 'Jumonji Dome', which is a horizontal fixture. In this case, Wendy used two sticks, creating a cross just below the lip of the container. She was, then, able to place the branches securely. She used sasanqua camelias and two pomegranates.

Lei's arrangement was from 'The Fifty Principles of Ikebana' by Sofu Teshigahara. She chose no.38 - 'There is Always Special Skill we can Find'. Lei used a dried and sprayed gold, magnolia branch. She added ornamental grape vine, Dutch iris and amaranthus in a ceramic vase,

So, I arrived in Tokyo last night utterly exhausted having left home at 3.30 am and staggered with my luggage into the hotel after 11.00 pm. 

Sorry, I have to stop now as I'm about to fall asleep on the keyboard. It's been a long day.

So, I'm back, bright eyed and bushy tailed and can continue this post.

Yesterday I attended an Iemoto class at HQ. It was quite a nostalgic feeling, being back there after so long. For those who don't know, I spent 3 months here in 2014 as a recipient of the Norman and Mary Sparnon scholarship attending classes intensively. I was struck by how little has changed. 

Bisen Sumeden sense ran the class and demonstrated two arrangements. A Basic Slanting moribana reversed and 'Using Two or More Containers', photograph, below. I found her arrangement very pleasing with mass, lines, space, colour and movement.

It is somewhat complicated to register for the class and select two types of materials for one's arrangement. There is a queue system and I was no. 19. I had looked around at the available materials, both branches and flowers, and had earmarked what I would like, then watched, with sinking feeling, as one by one they were taken by the 18 people before me. Yes, I was disappointed with what was left but I reminded myself that I am an experienced Ikebana teacher and I should be able to work with any material.

I chose a rather withered bunch of azalia and two large ranunculus and made a freestyle arrangement. When choosing a container from the hundreds on display, it is very tempting to select something unusual or outlandish. This temptation I managed to resist. I did, however, want to use a type of container I haven't used before.

One of the azalea stems had a slight curve and I worked on it to make it more prominent. I did the same with two other branches and created a slanting line that curved forward. The ranunculus were very straight and would not bend until I inserted wire in the hollow stem and gently curved them.

In her correction, Sumiden sense, brought one of the ranunculus to face the front, whereas I had it a little to the back. She also suggested more trimming of the leaves, with which I agreed. 

After the class I met with my friend, Emiko Chishima, who had arranged for us to have an early dinner at the bar on the 36th floor of a fabulous hotel. The view was stunning and the food was perfection but some of it remained uneaten because we were too busy talking.

Emiko and me. And, yes, that's a beer in front of me, for those of you who know me to be
a teetotaler

Stay tuned for more...

Bye for now,

Emily

MASTERCLASS # 30

 

Hello all,

For our Masterclass on Saturday I provided each of the students with the same, key material - pomegranates from my tree. I've been watching the progress of the fruit, holding my breath that they would survive until our class. Well, they did, up to a point. About a week before the class, Sam had to shoo away a pair of Australian King Parrots, who had started feasting on  the fruit. So, I covered each of the fruit with a plastic bag to protect them until I needed them.

In my arrangement, above, I used two stems with a fruit in each, which I joined by wiring at the bottom and near the fruit. I added hydrangeas and nandina domestica berries.

My instructions to the students was to select a container very carefully because the fruit are very heavy and can easily topple a container. There were, also, other materials and the instruction for those was to use as much or as little as they chose.

Lei chose two, matching containers and, having removed almost all the leaves from the pomegranate stems, she directed them sideways. She added the dahlias to complete the arrangement.

Jenny placed her Manchurian pear branches, in their autumnal glory, through the holes in the doughnut shaped container. She secured the heavy fruit, then added two proteas to complete the arrangement.

Vicky had variegated cumquat branches and amaranthus as well as the pomegranates. It took some effort to secure the fruit as the container has a relatively wide opening and has a slippery glaze inside.

Lucy had three, somewhat smaller fruit, which she placed in a container with a split down the middle. She decided to use only a small amount of her other materials - a hydrangea and a sprig of pomegranate with leaves.

The evolution of an arrangement

When the flowers on my wall arrangement died, I was loathe to discard it altogether because it took some doing to secure the hoop in just the right position. A quick look around the garden and I selected two, large strelitzia reginae leaves and a flower.

Walking past the arrangement a couple of times, I wasn't quite happy with it so I channeled the teacher in me and looked at it critically. The answer came quickly - the leaves were too big for the rest of the arrangement. So I removed half of each leaf, vertically, leaving the spine intact and placed one in front of the hoop and one behind.

Now the leaves were narrower and had space between them. I was a little bit happier but not enough. On closer scrutiny, I decided I didn't like the position of the flower. So I moved it.

Am I happy? Well, not entirely. I think the addition of another flower would improve the arrangement even more but I don't have one.

Mary's theme was 'Disassembling and Rearranging the Material'. She used agapanthus flower stems with seedpods. Having taken apart the material, Mary created an interesting shape with the curved stems and placed the needle-like parts of the agapanthus in the middle of the triangular, glass container. Floating at the top of the water were the seedpods.

This time next week I will be in Japan. I hope to be posting my blog from there.

Bye for now,

Emily

MIFGS #2

 

Hello all,

Above is a photograph, in front of our exhibit at MIFGS, of some of the exhibitors. We had the honour of a visit by Mr. Furuya, the Japanese Consul General. From the top left - Emily Karanikolopoulos, Julie Ireland, Mr. Furuya, Jenny Loo, Chieko Yazaki, Midori Nakajima, Lucy Papas, Swann Lam and Rachel Lok. 

I wanted to include photos of my students' work in my last post but Lei had not finished editing them. She has done so since and I'm happy to include the photo, below, of the arrangement done by Lei Wang and Jenny Loo. They were two separate arrangements that, when placed together, created one large arrangement. As always, when photographing an arrangement with depth, much is lost. You have to take my word for it that it was quite beautiful.

Lucy's arrangement, below, depicted a pond in the suiban with cascading materials from the taller vase. We have Lei Wang to thank for all three photographs.

Last Saturday I conducted a workshop for a group of ladies, who wanted an introduction to ikebana. The instigator was Hellen Wellman, who had attended our 60th Anniversary exhibition at Box Hill Art Space and, who was impressed enough to contact me for a workshop. 

They were 10, very enthusiastic ladies who seemed to enjoy the experience. I demonstrated 4 arrangements before demonstrating the Basic Upright, which is the first lesson of our curriculum and which they, then, copied. We finished the session with afternoon tea on the balcony. I was very grateful to Vicky for, once again, acting as my assistant.

Because of time constraints, I kept my demonstration pieces simple and quick but, hopefully, impactful.

Xanthorrhoea and crucifix orchid 

Using Only One Kind of Material - a single stem of Protea

Coloured wisteria, hippeastrum and clivia leaves

Agapanthus and clivia cyrtanthiflora Kaffir Lily (quite a mouthful, isn't it?)

My wall arrangement, below, started with some gorgeous dahlias that were given to me by a stall holder at MIFGS. When the show was over, rather than throw them away, he gave them to the passers by. Unfortunately, dahlias don't last very long but they were lovely for a couple of days. I got the wooden ring from my daughter-in-law and the wisteria was from my  garden. 

Bye for now,

Emily