Ikebana and us

Seventeen members of the  Sogetsu Chennai branch met on Saturday, July 26th, after a long summer break. The enthusiasm to meet and enjoy each other's company was palpable at the ABK Hall. By 10.45am, the room was filled with loud conversations and occasional peels of laughter. Summer was almost done (well, almost), and the branch was set to start its activities for the rest of the year. Riji Malathi Pandurang welcomed Ms. Mami Teraoka, Researcher/Adviser, Culture & Information, Consulate-General of Japan  to the gathering of 17 members, and set the ball rolling with important announcements. She briefed the group about the Japan trip in April where a few of the members had attended a Sogetsu workshop in Tokyo with Master Instructor Sumide. Ma'am also spoke about the exhibition held earlier this year in March and the good experiences from the 5-day event. New members Zeenath Kadir, Christine Arati Fernando, and Ragini Prakash were welcomed. The workshop theme of the day was ...

  FEBRUARY MEETING   Our February meeting was a very interesting one. A workshop was conducted by Sensei Ambika Chandrasekar.    Her theme was "Spontaenous Creativity".  Her message was ‘each one does with materials before you’. Each one had to use another member’s vase to create at the workshop. Our Chairperson then made it even more "spontaneous" by creating a lucky dip with numbers. Sensei Ambika demonstrated Spontaneous Creativity through two arrangements done in containers and materials brought by two different members.   Ambika drew lots too and got Chitra Thiagarajan's vase and materials! Sensei used Chitra's  blue glass container. With lily leaves, Chrysanthemum and Syngonium she created her first beautiful arrangement.  Using Indian almond branch and white lily in a u-shaped blue ceramic container that belongs to another member, Sensei Ambika made her second spontaneous arrangement.  The material was from her apartment garden, the...

   O ur October meeting was held at ABK on Saturday the 14th of October with nine members in attendance. The meeting began with a talk by our member Chelvi   Gopinath .She was part   of an eight member group of trekkers , who had taken a four day trek through the Hampta Pass in Himachal Pradesh. Hampta pass  , a navigable pass in the lesser Himalayas. The Hampta pass is at an altitude of 14,000ft above sea level. Chelvi shared billiant   photos of the boulder-terrain enroute the trek. Our member Chelvi participates in treks and   marathons very often. Sensei Ambika Chandrashekar gave us a demonstration on flower focus. in an arrangement. For her first arrangement, Sensei Ambika arranged   hosta lily leaves and carnations in a nagiere and she brought out the beauty of the white carnations in the arrangement thus emphasising colour focus. The second arrangement by Sensei Ambika was in a moribana. She had used foxtail ferns and Gerberas and the colou...