Ikebana and us

8th December 2014 Our last meeting of the year was a  Christmas theme with a delightful demonstration by sensei Dalley. She created lovely arrangements with her usual flair and colour sense, and all the members enjoyed the demonstration. Her first arrangement for the season was this creation, with a large palm leaf adding drama, and the strelitzia adding Christmas cheer. It was a well attended session As she starts on her second compostion The one white Carnation is for Christmas Moving on to her final piece. A dash of Christmas colours with large showy anthuriums. Members then displayed their own creations. Sensei Molly found Bottlebrush in bloom to add that festive look to her arrangement with wine bottles. Ambika used  twigs painted red to add line to her slender glass vase Prerana accessorised her arrangement to good dramatic effect. Trishala recreated a Christmas tree. Chelvi complemented her bright red basket with la

Ikebana, Chennai style - The Hindu Hema Vijay A rather unique floral exhibition celebrates the city’s 375th anniversary Slender coconut husk-straws and coconut fronds, fragile plantain shoots and massive flowers, ficus and banyan branches, Calotropis, better known as the ‘popping’ plant; Gulmohar pods, leaves of lily, betel nut, Murraya, Casuarina, Philodendron, — these flowers and foliage adorned the Ikebana arrangements at a recent exhibition at the Lalit Kala Akademi. The exhibits were beautifully arranged in an array of traditional cooking pans, pickle jars, copper and terracotta pots, perforated bricks, coconut shells and dry coconut fronds; traditional fibre scrubs, and even in hollows etched out by nature on driftwood. This year, the beautiful and evocative Japanese art of Ikebana took on a delightful Chennai avatar, courtesy the Chennai Sogetsu Study Group. Celebrating the 375th anniversary of the city’s existence, the group let their annual show