Day 3 - the exhibition!
Sunday, Feb 28th
This is the day of the exhibition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Delhi chapter. The instructions were that we are to arrange between 7am and 9 am at the Maurya. So, the Study Group is ready at 6am, each of us armed with our container, materials, accessories, newspaper, napkins, mugs and our creative brains!
Its a nippy morning, and we emerge to find that the Delhi Marathon is on, the roads our blocked and our tempo traveller cannot reach us!! When will the blockade be opened? By around 9am, we are informed!!
The IIC staff seeing our panic, quickly organise for two yellow cabs to take us like a shuttle to the van waiting in the corner. We gratefully load the boots, but ten ladies in two cars with two drivers?!
So a few of us begin a brisk walk while the rest squeeze into the cars, which then speed off.
The tempo van driver then phones cheerfully to say he's just around the corner! The walkers heave a sigh of relief, and fifteen minutes later, we are loading the van. After many a detour, we arrive at the Maurya, not in the best or calmest creative frame of mind.
The hall was a beehive of activity, chaotic yet cheerful. We moved in to locate our spaces, and Mrs Kantha Bukhari, efficiently guided us to our assigned spaces, while showing us where to get water, buckets and whatever else needed.
We calmed down, as we realised that we each had to do just one exhibit. The Chennai ladies were in proximity to each other and closer to the Bengaluru ladies. The Mumbai ladies were busy doing a large floor piece near us. Iemoto Akane and team were out in the front ante room, and we were all requested not to go bother her, as she raced against time to get her piece ready.
9am, and we were all done and cleaned up. We strolled around to take a look at the other exhibits and each others. We then saw that Christopher Lim was also looking around, and we invited him to take a look and comment at our exhibits, which he most graciously and patiently did, giving us each some valuable tips to improve, add depth, trim, etc.
Then it was Iemoto Akane who also came around, and Chitra, Bhuvana and Malathi sensei happened to be around at the right place at the right moment, and she was very complementary of the arrangements!
The team dispersed by mid afternoon, some shopping, others to Akshardham, and others to just rest the afternoon. Our thanks to Meenakshi and Prerana who went back in the evening and organised the dismantling and retrieving of all the ten exhibits, back to the IIC!
This is the day of the exhibition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Delhi chapter. The instructions were that we are to arrange between 7am and 9 am at the Maurya. So, the Study Group is ready at 6am, each of us armed with our container, materials, accessories, newspaper, napkins, mugs and our creative brains!Its a nippy morning, and we emerge to find that the Delhi Marathon is on, the roads our blocked and our tempo traveller cannot reach us!! When will the blockade be opened? By around 9am, we are informed!!
The IIC staff seeing our panic, quickly organise for two yellow cabs to take us like a shuttle to the van waiting in the corner. We gratefully load the boots, but ten ladies in two cars with two drivers?!
So a few of us begin a brisk walk while the rest squeeze into the cars, which then speed off.
The tempo van driver then phones cheerfully to say he's just around the corner! The walkers heave a sigh of relief, and fifteen minutes later, we are loading the van. After many a detour, we arrive at the Maurya, not in the best or calmest creative frame of mind.
The hall was a beehive of activity, chaotic yet cheerful. We moved in to locate our spaces, and Mrs Kantha Bukhari, efficiently guided us to our assigned spaces, while showing us where to get water, buckets and whatever else needed.
We calmed down, as we realised that we each had to do just one exhibit. The Chennai ladies were in proximity to each other and closer to the Bengaluru ladies. The Mumbai ladies were busy doing a large floor piece near us. Iemoto Akane and team were out in the front ante room, and we were all requested not to go bother her, as she raced against time to get her piece ready.9am, and we were all done and cleaned up. We strolled around to take a look at the other exhibits and each others. We then saw that Christopher Lim was also looking around, and we invited him to take a look and comment at our exhibits, which he most graciously and patiently did, giving us each some valuable tips to improve, add depth, trim, etc.
Then it was Iemoto Akane who also came around, and Chitra, Bhuvana and Malathi sensei happened to be around at the right place at the right moment, and she was very complementary of the arrangements!
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| The inauguration |
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| Iemoto Akane's composition, with local materials and Japanese rice paper adding colour. |
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| Christopher Lim's no kenzan composition |
The Arrangements by the Chennai Study Group
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| Sensei Malathi - "At the exhibition, I was keen to arrange with Chennai-environment materials. So my choice was coconut flower, nungu ( coco nucifera) or Ice Apple and heliconia. These materials needed a solid metal vase and hence the uruli got into the scheme of things." |
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| By Bhuvana - "The bamboos in the arrangement were a gift from the Chennai floods. I have tried to balance the bamboos with the help of kenzan. The roots on the top show character. The lines are shown clearly with space in-between. The chrysanthemums below show life and the water in the moribana shows calmness." |
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| Sensei Dalley's nagiere composition emphasised the theme of myriad hues, with her tricolour anthuriums |
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| By Chitra Thiagarajan - "I used two photo frames as containers, and as per the theme " Myriad hues", I used various shades of pink ( lilies, anthuriums with cigars, limoniums and green button chrysanthemums and some green materials like fox tails, monstera leaves and also used one dried stem & wood scrapings to go with the frames as well to cover the pin holder. i got a "Wow", the arrangement is so nice" rom Iemoto Akane and minister Selja Kumari said she admired my arrangement so much!" |
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| Sensei Molly's freestyle moribana with strong strelitzia and the long lasting statice was also an ode to the human spirit through the traumas of the rains in Chennai. |
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Chitra Rajan - "My flower arrangement ( based on the theme Revival ) is made with
driftwood as a base to symbolise destruction and displacement, green
chrysanthemum symbolizes hope, purple chrysanthemum the joy of recreation
and the tall peach branch with budding shoots show the
eternal cycle of fall and revival. Chennai succumbed to
unprecedented floods during the month of Dec 2016 causing large scale
destruction to property and land. With the driftwood as base
depicting the remnants of the flood and flowers shows
revival of the land after the flood. The peach branch shows promise of blossoms
on an otherwise dead tree. The people of Chennai have faced
that calamity and are back to normal."
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| Sensei Meenakshi - "my exhibition piece its very much a reminder of the upheavel Chennai went through. The small buds of ornamental banana give hope of new life. The tall nagiere container proves the strength of humans" |
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| Sensei Prerana - "My arrangement is done in an old fashioned copper water. Used hanging sexy pink heliconia as the strong line with the green anthuriums to show movement.The brown branch used at the back is to show depth." |
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| By Janaki - "The use of thermacol as a container caught the viewers' eye and the remarks were "Unusual", "interesting", and brought a smile to their faces. I was i nspired by a beautiful house I saw on my walks by the beach. I drew from this to bring together colour, line and mass in a harmonious piece. What appears to be a simple arrangement in fact made me think deeply about Ikebana, life and harmony in nature. Thank you Malathi sensei for guiding me." |
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| Sensei Ambika - "My mother's garden - that is the way I would title this. My composition draws inspiration from that garden, with its myriad hues, tropical material and individual expression. I was delighted that the Monstera with its sturdy stem and the Spathacea with its purple leaves had survived the journey. The orchids were used for their exuberance and deep colours." |
The team dispersed by mid afternoon, some shopping, others to Akshardham, and others to just rest the afternoon. Our thanks to Meenakshi and Prerana who went back in the evening and organised the dismantling and retrieving of all the ten exhibits, back to the IIC!
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