Headmaster's Work for July

I hope the summer heat is coming down atlast!!!

Well, with Molly's demonstration coming up next week, its Ikebana time again !!!! Here is a post of the Headmaster's work for July! It is truly a very cooooool One !! Enjoy !!

She describes the work ...
"Apples and Unshiu oranges decorate the surface of the water, colored by the stem-fluids of allium giganteum. The construction humorously contrasts the stalks in the water and those protruding out of it."

Allium giganteum, Bulrush, Apple, Unshiu orange
Glass vase - 68×118×91cm
Courtesy : http://www.sogetsu.or.jp/english/exhibition/index.html

The Bangalore chapter has a demonstration

DSCF1944
Originally uploaded by RabiCherian

Our members were in Bangalore during a meeting with demonstration of the Bangalore Sogetsu chapter.

More pictures.

8th North American Sogetsu Seminar

8th North American Sogetsu Seminar
Originally uploaded by sogetsudc

Flickr: sogetsudc's Photostream


Keith has posted some lovely photos of the North American Sogetsu exhibition.

This picture is "the arrangement that the Iemoto of the school and her assistants made for the lobby of the hotel hosting the seminar", according to Keith.

Interestingly, many of the arrangements display a lot of familiar material - monnstera, ginger lilies, palm leaves and anthuriums

Art From Dry Leaves & DRIFTWOOD

In This Series, We Meet Unusual Groups. This Week, Learn About Ikebana With The Chennai Sogetsu Study Circle
Priya M Menon | TNN

They see beauty even in dry leaves and driftwood. In a discarded bouquet, they see a treasure trove of possibilities. For the members of the Chennai Sogetsu Study Circle, anything in nature has charm and is to be treated with respect. A sentiment which is reflected in the art they strive to master — ikebana or the Japanese art of flower arrangement.
If you think ikebana is just flower arrangement, you couldn’t be more wrong, says Malathi Pandurang, who was instrumental in setting up the circle 15 years ago. “It originated in Buddhist temples as an offering of flowers,” says Malathi. “Priests used it to teach disciples the transcendent quality of life.”
Ikebana has many schools, the oldest being Ikenobo. The Sogestsu school was founded by Sofu Teshigahara, who recognised it as a creative art. And it is to this school that the members of this Circle belong.
Malathi became interested in the art when she moved to New Delhi. “There was an ikebana exhibition in a hotel and I was struck by its beauty,” she says. From 1972 to 1975 she learnt the art and received her teacher’s certificate. “When I moved to Chennai in 1976, I began teaching it at home, and the circle grew,” says Malathi.
Vaishali Vasa learnt the art while she lived in Japan. “Once I came back I wanted to continue learning and joined the circle,” she says.
The circle has 12 members — 10 women and two men — who meet at least once a month. “We choose a theme and create our own compositions,” says Dally Varghese. “You can use any plant material, not just flowers,” says Malathi. “It teaches you to respect natural life, that even a dry leaf has use.”
“In a tropical climate like Chennai, we use more leaves and fewer flowers,” says Molly Cherian, also a teacher. You’re encouraged to use whatever grows around you.
Water is an integral part of every composition, as all life flows from water. The container plays an equally important role. The circle has conducted many exhibitions in the city. “We usually organise them from December to February as the weather is cooler and you also get more flowers,” says Trishla Vaishnav.
“We’ve attended workshops in New Delhi, Bangalore and Pondicherry,” says Meenakshi Savi. “And we plan to go to Japan soon.” In the meantime, they work on their compositions everyday. “We often embarrass people by picking up discarded bouquets, leaves and branches,” laughs Meenakshi. “We all have ikebanas at home. If we don’t have one, our families actually miss it.”
priya.menon@timesgroup.com

Though she has got Meenu's name wrong, its a well written article is it not?  (Meenakshi Savi is actually Meenakshi Sarin).

So ladies and gentleman are we off to Japan or what?!

Ikebana and Wagashi

An exhibition with the theme "Welcome Treat in the Cherry Blossoms Season" was held at the "Toraya Gallery" in Tokyo from March 12th to 17th. It was a collaboration with Toraya, makers of Wagashi, the traditional Japanese Confectionery. Iemoto Akane Teshigahara created many beautiful works using Seven kinds of Sakura( cherry blossoms) and spring flowers. It sure was a treat for all the senses!! Here are some pictures !












By the way, Wagashi is the traditional Japanese confectionery. It does not merely encompass a single group of confection; the art of Japanese confectionery owes its diversity in large part to its ingredients and methods of preparation.

Toraya is one of the oldest makers of traditional confectionery in Japan. According to an archive, Toraya was already supplying confectionery to the Imperial Family in the 16th century as it still does today. From the earliest times to the present day, the ownership of Toraya has passed directly from generation to generation.


Information & Ikebana Picture Coutesy :
Sensei Shumho, Japan (http://ikebana2.cgdays.com)
Wagashi Info Courtesy :
http://www.toraya-group.co.jp/english/index.html (Please do visit. It is very interesting.)

More from the Japan week

Venkatesh posted some pictures from the Japan week earlier, here.

Here are some more...

The Japanese version of our "dhrishti pushnikai"?

Another guardian


Rimpa

The Ohara School in Chennai also participated and had a lovely corner. Above, is a Rimpa style arrangement, related to the Rimpa style of painting in Japan, from what I coud gather, from the write-up next to the arrangement. The decorative qualities of the materials used are captured.

Water reflecting style

The literature read, "  In this style the subject is placed to slant over the container and cast its reflection on the surface of the water.  it is called the Water reflecting style because the Subject, the Secondary and the Object are arranged so a wide surface of water is visible"

Bunjin

My photo cut off the literature, but searching on the 'net, I discovered that this style is based on the Chinese art of painting, and looks to highlight the poetic and elegant nature of one's material.

Realistic landscape Moribana

A typical Ohara landscape, I thought!

The Cascading style

Ikebana workshop at Auroville...

“In the physical world, of all things, it is beauty that expresses best the Divine… Its role is to put all manifested nature in contact with the Eternal through the perfection of form, through harmony and a sense of the ideal which uplifts and leads towards something higher.” -- The Mother

It is this beauty, the perfection of form, the harmony and the sense of ideal that makes Ikebana a unique Art. And the true spirit of Ikebana is to uplift the creator and the viewer and lead towards something higher and eternal.

The Sogetsu Study Group, Chennai had a very fruitful Ikebana workshop on the 7th and 8th March on the invitation of Sensei Valeria in Auroville – The City of Dawn - A Universal town envisioned by ‘The Mother’ where men and women of all countries will be able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities - A place, according to The Mother, that belongs to nobody in particular, but to humanity as a whole - A place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages!

ARRIVAL, LUNCH, SHOPPING…..

My daughter Maitreyi and I came from Tuticorin to Villupuram by train and then by bus to Pondicherry and then to Auroville. We checked into the simple but neat Kisho Guest House by around 7.30 am. It was a very pleasant and mildly chilly morning. We were at once refreshed and put into a serene mood by the quietness and the fresh air of the place. With only trees and trees all around, we were like in the middle of a forest! The Chennai group arrivedat about 11.30. It was a bit of disappointment to know that both Prerana and Vaishali had dropped out at the last moment!

We all went to the botiques at the Visitors Centre. We found many lovely vases and picked up some nice ones at a very reasonable price. I loaded my bag with candles and incense! Maitreyi was quite happy with the cute little gift boxes, tiny sequined bags and really interesting ear rings made of all kinds of seeds!

Lunch was at the Visitors Centre and almost all of Sensei Valeria’s students joined us. We got introduced to each other and got into talking amongst plates of Roasted Vegetables, Organic Chapatis & Vegetables, Calamari, ‘Healthy Platter’ (Brown rice, salad, vegetable, soup and fruits), Caneloni, Lasange and so on.. . It was quite interesting to meet people like Shyama who are living in Auroville for almost 40 years – since its inception! Delicious brownies, coffee and Ice Creams wound up the session.

THE WORKSHOP

By about 2.30 in the afternoon, we moved on to Sensei Valeria’s Ikebana Classroom. This lovely arrangement welcomed us at the entrance!!

A nice, spacious hall with big broad windows and lots of light coming in. Various paintings adorned the walls. There were numerous vases displayed on the tables for our use. On the other side, there were all kinds of flowers, leaves, dry materials.

And there were more vases. And vases.
Sensei Valeria invited Sensei Malathi to demonstrate.

Sensei Malathi first chose some tall green reeds, brown & yellow Croton Leaves and a green bowl for an elegant “All Leaves” arrangement using Contrast both in the height and colour of the material. (Sorry the picture is a bit dark)

For the second demonstration, she used some Dry Basil Branches (Tulsi), Miniature Bamboo, Purple Spray Chrysanthemums and a black Nageire Vase. She displayed the expanse of the dry material focusing on the line, form and colour. (Sorry the picture is not very good here too)

For the third simple and striking arrangement, Sensei chose a single heart-shaped Anthurium leaf, a pink Asia Lily and a ‘U’ shaped crimson coloured ceramic vase. The theme was colour combination blending the surface, colour and shape of the material and the vase.

Sensei Valeria chose a tall transparent glass container, split bamboo, some indigenous plants and orchids for her arrangement. She demonstrated a technique using split bamboo on a glass container to arrange the materials, so that they do not dip into the water deep and give an un-aesthetic appearance. This way, full advantage of the transparency of the glass container and show of water was taken.

A closer look at the mouth of the vase.

Then we moved on to the sketching session. Shyama first showed us her book in which she has sketched many Ikebana arrangements over the years. She explained how we are to understand the proportion, measure it and bring it down on the paper. And then how to block the pattern of the arrangement in our mind by means of lines, squares and triangles and then translate the outline onto paper, and then to move on to the detailing part. It was quite interesting and helpful. However, Meenu and I quickly wound up deciding to practice drawing & sketching ‘later’. Our sketches disappeared immediately without a trace! But there were many people who took their time and did some serious sketching!

Then those who wished did some arrangements and here they are.

Another nice arrangement done by Sensei Valeria


We then visited the beautiful home of Sensei Valeria. She has a good collection of some Large Vases. Sensei’s husband makes Japanese Art Furniture and we could see many nice creations in the house. >...(Click on the hyperlinks for the gallery)

Sensei Valeria then took us to the workshop of Ange Peter who lives amidst the forest in Auroville in a nice house with a Japanese style roof in her own original design. We just had a look at her showroom which had some unique creations...(Click on the hyperlinks for the gallery)
DINNER AND GAPSAH !!

It was getting dark and we said our thank-you and bye-bye to the other members. We were beginning to get hungry and Ashoka took the lead. Pizza, Pizza, Pizza…. That’s all we could hear. And he did take us to an Italian Pizzeria. It was a very pleasant evening and the weather was just perfect. We all had a sumptuous feat on some Vegetarian Pizza, Sweet Pizza, Margherita and Calzone

(Ambika thought this Calzone Pizza looked like a Beached Whale - It does, somewhat).

I had to confess that Pizza and Coke is truly Divine. Ambika readily agreed with a big grin. However, she feels that Indian creations like Paneer-Tikka-Pizza is the Divinest!! The unbelievable thing for me was that Maitreyi didn’t realise that in the Pizza, there was tomatoes and aubergines, which she normally keeps many miles away!! Must have been truly delicious!!

We came back to the guest house. Malathi Sensei retired almost immediately. The rest of us sat for about an hour chatting. Interestingly none of us were tired!! Finally, at about 11.30 we split and went to bed. We had the Matri Mandir vist next morning. Trishala, Prerana and Vaishali, Chitra, Seethalakshmi & Molly – We really missed you so much the entire day!

MATRI MANDIR

After breakfast, we proceeded to the Matri Mandir where Sensei Valeria had done the bookings. There was a nice introductory documentary show about Auroville and the Matri Mandir. Then we proceeded to the Matri Mandir where we were explained in detail. We then entered the Golden dome where we had to wear white socks and maintain absolute silence. It was a unique experience. Climbing up the spiralway was like leaving the earth and entering deep space. At this level, we could see a ray of sunlight coming down from above and going to a lower level, through the middle of a symbol engraved in white marble.

Then we entered the Chamber. It had white walls, white carepets and white cushions. There were 12 white marble pillars. In the centre was the Largest Crystal ever made by man. It was (and the whole room was) lit by a big Ray of Sunlight from above, which then passed down to the lower level. We could remain there in absolute silence and meditate for a period of 15 minutes. White symbolising purity! The single ray of illumination!! The silence of the Cosmic Sound !!! It was truly amazing.

We then came out and moved to the third level, down the main structure. We were welcomed by the gentle sound of water flowing down the tiers of a pure white marble fountain that was shaped like a many petalled lotus. In the centre was another clear crystal, a smaller one. It was just wonderful to see the sun ray coming down from above and passing this crystal!! The breeze and the sound of water and the silence... It was a unique experience.

It was mid noon, and it was time to leave!! We thanked Sensei Valeria for the great trip and proceeded to Pondicherry. The Chennai group proceed towards their destination. Me and Maitreyi stayed back for a few hours in Pondicherry and then came back to ours.

It indeed was such a tremendous experience for all of us and we have decided that we will meet again in Auroville!! Thank you Sensei Valeria for the incredible experience we all had. Thank you all the members of the Sogetsu Chennai group who were present for the great time. And those who couldnt be there... We missed you every minute. But we promist you, we will have more interesting trips like this again!!