Guilfoyle's Volcano

On Tuesday 14th April, 13 members and friends of the Melbourne Chapter met at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melourne, for a guided tour. The tour was led by Jenny, a volunteer guide, who focused the tour on 'Guilfoyle's Volcano' * . This is a 19th Century water feature of the garden that was created to provide a 'header tank' to allow a gravity-fed watering system for the gardens.

We set off from the Observatory Gate on a very overcast, autumn Melbourne day.

At the top of the 'volcano' Jenny explained how stormwater, harvested from the south and east boundary roads of the gardens, is passed through a series of filter beds. It is then further detoxified by the dangling root systems of plants on the floating islands shown in the photo below.

At this highest point in the gardens, the city skyline is in evidence. However, the overcast weather conditions blurred the distant view.

The sides of the 'volcano' have been planted with thriving succulents in beds that represent lava flowing down the side of the volcano.

The image below shows a reproduction of a watercolour by Guilfoyle, in which he had imagined the garden beds being islands and the grass lawns representing the lava flowing around them.

The floating islands inside the reservoir have proved to be a sanctuary for the ducks in the photo below.

Click here for further images of Guilfoyle's Volcano.

Visit to the National Gallery of Victoria

On Wednesday 18th March 30 members and friends of the Melbourne Chapter of Ikebana International attended a 'floor-talk' at the National Gallery of Victoria given by Wayne Crothers, curator of Asian Art. He took us through the beautiful exhibition of textiles and ceramics in the current, Mingei Exhibition, in the Pauline Gandal Gallery of Japanese Art. One of the objects on display is a large ceramic vessel that you can see by clicking on the following link: Shigaraki storage vessel. Craft work of this kind inspired the artists of the mingei movement to create beautiful handmade work for daily living.

We then went to the temporary exhibition space where Mr Crothers spoke to us about the modern sculpture by Takahiro Iwasaki that was commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria called Reflection Model Itsukushima

If you click on the blue text you can read Wayne Crothers extensive essay Reflection Model Itsukyshima. 

WHITE MATTER and GREY MATTER

At the monthly meeting on 10th March members were treated to a presentation by Dr David Finkelstein from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health. He gave a fascinating presentation about research into and treatment of Parkinson's Disease and also spoke about Alzheimer's Disease. His emphasis was on encouraging affected people everywhere to ensure they were seeking expert advice and only using evidence based treatments. Following his presentation there was a lively question and answer session, followed by a review of the ikebana created that morning on the theme 'White and Grey Matter'. Three examples are shown below

Lee Johnstone - Sogetsu School

Rosemary Farrelly - Ohara School

Philip Keon - Sogetsu School

Further photographs click: White matter and Grey Matter .



A reminder. 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. Please advise Helen Gray if you wish to attend