Ikebana and us

Lines and curves Originally uploaded by sogetsudc A different interpretation of the triangle Sogetsu vase. This arrangement by KEITH STANLEY can be seen on his website, along with a lot of other lovely work.

A reminder that the next workshop is on 16th September at 11 am at Seethalakshmi's farm house on the ECR at Muttukadu. We will be using the casuarina branches from the farm.  Bring your flowers!

March 12th 2007: After the grand 80th anniversary Sogetsu demonstration and the celebratory dinner of the previous day, we get ready to attend an international students workshop at the School.  Our hotel, Marroad Inn Akasaka was well located within walking distance of Sogetsu, and so off we went early in the morning, with an air of anticipation! It was a beautiful morning, and we made good time, and arrived at the building even before it opened! The impressive glass-fronted Sogetsu building!  So we wandered the streets for a little while.  And found the "old" tucked in with the "new".  All over Tokyo, there will be these little old homes or shrines you will come across, if you walk the streets. There is a little road-corner park next to the school and we spied this first camelia bloom, in the otherwise, end-of-winter and brown scene.  Spring was just around the corner. Another peculiarity - streets filled with commuters with their noses covered.  How consci...

A lot of you have started visiting this blog recently.  I do not know how many of you know that there are short amateur video clips of Iemoto Akane's 80th Anniversary demonstration on this blog. So, I am providing the link again.  I have corrected some uploading errors in the youtube clips. Click here  to revisit the demonstration!  Happy viewing!

The Hindu : Property Plus Chennai : Ikebana through your eye This is an abridged version of the email interview that Sensei Malathi had with Iemoto Akane, on her return from the Sogetsu 80th Anniversary celebrations, in 2007. The complete interview and article was published in this blog earlier in Nov 07, as "An Interview with Iemoto Akane".

Unfortunately, The Hindu chopped off the line, and I could not find the original picture!  Sorry Prerana. The Hindu : Property Plus Chennai : Minimalism meets here The twain between the East and the West sometimes presents itself when you least expect it. Like in this ikebana arrangement by Prerana Mehta. Done with Arelia leaves and carnations, it explicitly brings out the contrast between eastern and western notions of floral design. Watch the line these Arelia stems take; upwards. The lines are important here. In Japanese, this is called the ‘Shin’ line or the line that drifts heavenwards. “In the West, you just clump a bunch of flower stalks in a vase to create a spectacular effect. In contrast, philosophical concepts are an integral part of ikebana”, Prerana says. This arrangement was a tribute to my teacher, she adds. Incidentally, Ikebana is not primarily about aesthetics, and not even about just art. Its true significance lies in its philosophical reverberations. Which is perhap...

Here are the photos of an eventful, fun and creative Ikebana workshop earlier this week, where the focus was on improvising or creating your own vase. While uploading them, blogspot seemed to take on a life of its own, and kept jumbling the picture order!! So, the writing and the pictures are not complementing one another, try as I might. Prerana Prerana - our hostess for the day - went the whole hog and transformed a dull and dreary steel water kettle into this ethnic vase!  I loved the colour combination for the vase, as well as the lovely lines in the arrangement. Molly brought a little pull-along cart (is it her grandchild's?!), and the violet lilies looked all set to be pulled off to the market! Molly Trishala Trishala Meenu Prerana Trishala produced a cardboard box with a cut "window".  Placing the vase inside that changed the entire shape of the vase don't you think?  With the lovely long palm lines accentuated by the trimming of the leaves. Ashok Then she we...