The first meeting for 2015 was held on Tuesday 10th February. The ikebana theme was 'Memories of Summer Holidays'. Christopher James gave a demonstration in which he used materials gathered locally to his seaside home. He spoke of his memories, going back to childhood, of the beach, sand dunes and cliffs where materials are strongly affected by the elements: hot summer sun, salt air and prevailing winds. The materials he used were: driftwood, cushion bush (leucophyta brownii) and marrum grass seed heads.
Other members had their own individual responses to the theme:
Thea Sartori arranged berries in a tall bottle shaped vase.
Margaret Wilson used a glass bowl to show the lines of blackberry stems and a mass of fruit cascading down the side of the bowl.
Chieko Yazaki, who spent the January holiday period in Japan, had memories of snow covering plants that were waiting for the promise of springtime.
The next meeting is on March 10th at Toorak Uniting Church Hall at 10.30 am. The theme is: 'White and Grey Matter' with a speaker from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.
Please note that there is an additional Chapter activity on March 18th. Wayne Crothers, Curator of Asian Art at the National Gallery of Victoria, will give a 'lecture tour' of the current Mingei Exhibition in the Pauline Gandel Gallery of Japanese Art and of the 'Reflection Model Itsukushima' contemporary sculpture in the Rio Tinto temporary exhibitions space. The tour begins at 2.00pm. If you wish to meet other members for lunch look out for them near the information desk in the Federation Court, inside the main entrance to the gallery at 1.00pm.
