Ikebana and us

After our summer break, the Chennai Sogetsu Study Group met again on July 11th, at Amethyst , adjacent to the flower shop. It was very convenient to have the flower shop handy, and the ambience was also enjoyable. We missed Shobhaa and Venkatesh, this month, and hopefully they will be back next time. The theme for this workshop was colour and the members brought it out in different ways. By Prerana Prerana contrasted the white of her combination vases, with the colour of the agapanthus and chrysanthemums. By Padma sensei For Padma sensei, the red of the vase was highlighted, in a Christmassy colour combination! By Trishala Trishala emphasisized the green of her vase, with more use of green material. By Chitra The glamourous red of the anthuriums were highlighted by Chitra. By Seethalakshmi For Seetha, it was blue and yellow, both the shape of the container and the colours working to produce a pleasing effect. By Nirmala The orange of the palm berries matched the orange of the dramati...

Theme: 'Colour' . You may express 'colour' either in the container or with materials Date: July 11th Monday Venue: At the verandah adjacent to Amythest Flower shop, Whites Road Chennai Time: 11am. Please do bring along friends/students whom may be interested. Amethyst vases will be available as well. Looking forward to getting together again after our summer break!

I had the opportunity to attend the June programme of the Bangalore Sogetsu chapter, during my recent stay in the city. Menaka Venugopal was the artsite at work, who gave an interesting and colourful demonstration of what she called " pushpa veni ". She invited ladies to enjoy colours while dressing and innovated on the traditional form of flower threading and garland-making. Some common flowers she displayed were nandivittal, jasmine and also Dutch Roses and orchids. In the picture, you can see Dutch Roses, the petals are removed, the white ends take the outer position, so they get a little white showing on the petals. By using a little imagination you could bring out the needed colours to match your attire. Here, she has taken the Jasmine buds inwards, and displayed the stalks as well. It did get a new look as a result! These floral venis could be used for the traditional ornamentation of the plaited hair-do or gathered up into a bun. the pieces were about 9 inches long.In...

The newly recognised Study Group met in Meenu's house for its first "official" meeting. There were thirteen members present. Sensei Malathi Pandurang is now The Chennai Study Group Chairperson. Meenakshi Sarin is the Programme Coordinator and Trishala Vaishnav is the Treasurer. The next meeting will be in July. The date will be announced.

12th March 2007 Sogetsu 80th Anniversary exhibition at Tokyo. Happy memories.

As Japan is hit by the earthquake and tsunami, our thoughts go out to the people of that country. So many fond memories I have of my two visits there.... Here are the arrangements of Malathi sensei at the Japan Festival, done on March 9th 2011, at the ABK AOTS Centre. As I was helping her, the pictures were taken in the end after the demonstration. The Cycle of Nature series A tribute to the ceramists who inspire creations in Ikebana The Indian touch

The Hindu : NATIONAL / TAMIL NADU : Fest radiates Japanese flavour Fest radiates Japanese flavour March 10th, 2011 Staff Reporter Demonstrations of Ikebana art, judo and shodo gave visitors a peek into the rich arts of the country From pieces of colourful paper folded into figures of animals and flowers to the leaves arranged meaningfully, every object exhibited at the ABK AOTS DOSOKAI, Tamil Nadu Centre on Nelson Manickam Road radiates a Japanese flavour. The two-day ‘Japan Cultural Festival', with an exhibition and demonstrations of various art forms of the country was organised along with Consulate-General of Japan, Chennai. It was inaugurated by Deputy Consul General of Japan Takayuki Kitagawa on Wednesday. Visitors had a virtual tour of Japan with miniature models of heritage sites. The brief notes on the stunning replicas give interesting details such as ‘Himejijo', a popular structure in Japan that is also called white heron castle because of its white exterior and sembl...