Ikebana and us

The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : A peek into Japanese art and culture CHENNAI: Weather-beaten bonsai trees with stout roots criss-crossing inside trays provide as much Japanese flavour as svelte Hina dolls boxed inside glass frames. Demonstrations on Koto and Judo, origami and Ikebana complete the picture, giving visitors a peek into the Japanese arts and culture. The Japanese art exhibition, ‘Passage to the future: Art from a new generation in Japan,' organised by the Consulate General of Japan at Chennai, ABK-AOTS Dosokai, and Japan Foundation, has an aesthetic display of works by 11 artists from Japan at Lalit Kala Akademi. The 12-day exhibition, which got underway on Tuesday, features paintings, sculptures, photographs and video works by the artists. While a major chunk of the display are contemporary paintings, an art work done by Miyuki Yokomizo clearly stands apart from the rest. Glycerine soaps packed in tiny plastic covers are strung together to make a stunning arra...

"Welcome" - by Seethalakshmi at the Lalit Kala Hall The weeklong festival of Japan was inaugurated by Minagawa san and Seetha's lovely Indo-Japanese Ikebana was there to welcome us all! (Tropical material, Japanese Aesthetics!) We will be putting up another 35 or so creations, so here's looking forward to the weekend! There will also be three demonstrations on the 26th. At 11 am, 3 pm and 6 pm!

A rather late Happy New Year to all. I am guilty of procrastination and lethargy - not a good way to start 2010 is it? I was rather sternly reminded to get a move on and "post the pictures" of our December and January workshops, and so on this Republic Day holiday, I resolve to do just that! Next month, our annual exhibition is likely to take place, and more details will be posted once plans are finalised. First of all, our December workshop. We spread ourselves in various part of sensei Malathi's home (Ok Prerana, I can just see you laughing at my sentence!) We were to focus on nagiere vases and fixtures, and my efforts to use five materials is on the left. The arrangements were far better than these pictures below - they are from my mobile 'phone. (As usual, Venkatesh, I forgot to take my camera.) Lovely caladium leaves in a composition by Molly A dramatic vase, and Trishala experiments with a large space created y a long line Another interesting vase and Prera...

Prerana's handwork Celebrations all around. There was deepavali, which meant friends, family and food! The Sogetsu Group met at Prerana's just before the Deepavali weekend, and we were greeted with this lovely floor decoration by her. (Venkatesh almost sat on it, but that's another story!) The DVD of the felicitation function of Veena Dass at Delhi had arrived and we all watched and commented and critiqued and appreciated everything, so there was a lot of noise all through the session. In the midst of this, some Ikebana was also done. Prerana had done a combination vase arrangement, using seven kinds of material, with a tone of brown/rust. With some corrections from the sensei , it ended up looking fabulous, but of course before I got down to taking a picture, (I was busy chattering away, you see), it got knocked a bit, and so sadly I dont have a record of it. I quickly made sure I took pictures of these arrangements, though! Chitra Seethalakshmi Another celebration ha...