Japan festival

ABK AOTS Dosokai had their annual Japan Festival between Friday 21st March and Sunday 23rd, at their own premises on Nelson Manickam Road.

The Sogetsu Study Group was happy to participate and display Sogetsu Ikebana along with the Japanese dolls, origami and Bonsai exhibits.  There were also Judo demonstrations to attend as part of the festival.

All of us assembled on the evening of the 20th to put up our arrangements, and since we each had to do just one piece, we were done fairly quickly!

Here are the pieces we did, in no particular order.  For some of them, the wall or the curtain worked as a good background.  For others, we tried to use a black cloth background to highlight the arrangements.

This is one area we need to improve upon - our photography and recording of our work, giving more focus on the lighting and the background.

By Sensei Padma, in a wrought iron custom-made container

Prerana's freestyle expression

Pushkala's arrangement.  This picture taken on the second day, once the lilies began to open.

Janaki works an abstract theme, with thermocol.  The capsicums add colour!

Sensei Molly's elegant piece is complemented by the colour of her backdrop

Malathi sensei explores balance with the mass of baby's breath offset by the heliconia

Chitra used an Auroville container for her linear composition

Kalpana complemented the design of her vase with the choice of material

Sensei Vaishali's bold wrought iron custom-made vase added drama and vibrancy to her creation.

Sensei Malathi worked her magic with this elegant creation, reminiscent of spring and romance

Divya used a sunflower to create a bold and contrasting moribana.

Ambika's quirky ceramic "sacks" were filled with colourful chrysanthemums to symbolise a feeling of plenty and prosperity

Sensei Meenakshi worked with recycled papier mache containers.

Seethalakshmi's creation, done in absentia by Chitra!

Nirmala experimented with geometric lines in her composition.

Ashoka created a feng shui arrangement

"Autumn" by Dally, in an Assamese basket

Sensei Meenakshi used the local Tulip tree blooms for this composition.

Trishala created a fish path moribana, highlighting the vase as well.

And now, we steel ourselves for the Chennai summer, and look forward to gathering again once the mercury falls!