OCTOBER 2021

The October meeting was not able to be held because of the on-going Covid lockdown. For the first time the Chapter held an online Zoom demonstration as an alternative which allowed members to remain engaged with the Chapter.

Christopher James, Head of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School, was the demonstrator. He chose the theme of Spring Flowers in a nageire vessel. In each he also demonstrated a "cross-bar" fixing technique that minimised the risk of damaging a thin-walled or fragile vessel.

This was his first example in which case all the materials are exotic flowers. Snapdragon, Alstromeria and Red Valerian.

His second example was an ikebana of Australian native materials only from his own garden or gathered nearby. The materials are: Red and yellow Calistemon, Tea Tree, and Black wattle.

Members participated by creating their ikebana at home and sending photos into the Chapter for publishing. Those photos are shown below.

Akemi Suzuki

Betty Karanikolopoulos

Chieko Yazaki

Elizabeth Angell

Emily Karanikolopoulos

Eugenia Chudacek

Midori Nakajima

Jenny Loo

Julie Ireland

Lara Telford

Margaret Leung

Margaret Wilson

Naomi Nakajima

Nobuko Kobayashi

Patricia Hetrel

Sally Wilkinson 

Sivasakthy Set

Thea Sartori

 

February Meeting

The first meeting for 2022 of the Melbourne Chapter was held on Monday 7th February at 6.30 pm. This time was chosen to provide an opportunity for members who are not able to attend the usual morning weekday meetings. It was a pleasure to see the twenty five members who attended.

The guest speaker for the meeting was Mr Peter Gertler a manufacturing jeweller, gold and silversmith, who spoke about the 'spirit and simplicity' of Japanese art.

Mr Gertler spoke about his career and focused on his long standing interest in, and study of, Japanese aesthetics. He demonstrated the influence of Japanese design with some  beautiful examples of his craft. Many of his observations had direct relevance to the art of ikebana which resonated with members at the meeting.

Below are examples of Ikebana made by Chapter members on the theme of '...the Spirit and simplicity of Japanese Art".

Naomi Nakajima, Ichiyo School.

Christopher James, Sogetsu school.

Chieko Yazaki, Shogetsudo Koryu.

Beverley Webster, 

Midori Nakajima, Sogetsu School

Elizabeth Angell, Sogetsu school.

Margaret Leung, Sogetsu school.

Akemi Suzuki, Sogetsu school.

Lara Telford, Sogetsu school.
 

MAY WORKSHOP

The May meeting took the form of a workshop led by Felicia Huang, an Ohara teacher and the secretary of the Melbourne Chapter of Ikebana International. Felicia holds the Certificate of Associate Second Master and is a teacher in the Ohara School of Ikebana Melbourne.

The theme of the workshop was "Winter Branches". Felicia demonstrated two examples of moribana arrangements in the Ohara landscape style. The first, a distant view, and the second a middle distance view.

Felicia observed that:

"...winter means silence and deserted-ness in many areas. Creatures reduce their daily activities when the cold hits; many plants shed their leaves; and animals hibernate. Migratory birds fly to warmer places. People often use cold to describe hardship..."

Therefore, Felicia hoped that the members' ikebana arrangements would add a bit of vitality and joy to winter; bringing people hope and courage. 

This photo shows Felicia with the moribana landscape she created of a "Middle Distance View ".

After the demonstration the members created their own arrangements on the the theme.

Below are most of the ikebana arrangement made at the workshop.