Ikebana and us

21st Augut 2014 We met for our August workshop at the ABK AOTS Dosokai centre.  Sensei Molly Cherian gave a demonstration on "The Colour Red" using a moribana and a nagiere vase. Sensei worked wonderfully with materials found around us in Chennai. Gulmohar flowers used for the first time in our workshops.  Sensei Molly suggested that they should be cut early in the morning, given a good drink of water, and then they could be used. What better way to explore "red" than with the Mayflower, which paints our cities red in the summer! Sensei Molly's second demonstration in a nagiere vase By Divya, who used large red jerberas dramatically. By Sensei Meenakshi who had red circles in her dry material to complement the white vase and balance the anthuriums. Zaitoon - the red anthurium against the white plate made for a lovely contrast. Rupa worked with orchids Chitra - the vase set the tone for a bold, dynamic arrange...

17th July 2014 The Sogetsu Study Group met after the summer on July 17th at ABK's Yamamoto Hall. We all settled down to the business of the day, after excited greetings and stories of our respsective summers. Before we got into the much awaited demonstration, we finished with the other Study Group agenda.  New office bearers were introduced, thanking the outgoing office bearers who did very good work in the previous years.   Malathi attended the Bengaluru Sogetsu meeting and briefed the members of their programme.  Janaki was handed over her certificate that she received. New members were introduced and welcomed into the Study Group. Then it was time for the demonstration.  Our Study Group member, S Venkatesh gace a talk and demonstration titled " Bharatanatyam and Ikebana- some parallels in techniques, while expressing the art" .  Venkatesh is a  student of Sogetsu Ikebana and a teacher of Bharatanatyam, and drew parallels in line, movement and...

11t April Sensei Dalley is introduced by Sensei Malathi for her first teacher demonstration for our Study Group! Her second composition using leaves as and flowers as mass. ...

March 22nd, 2014. Sensei Valeria Raso Matsumoto and her group visited us from Auroville. She consented to give us a demonstration on "Techniques", and Dalley Verghese was our gracious hostess for a wonderful morning. She preferred to introduce herself to our members and that was done with a touch of humour Her daughter was a great assistant to her, not only to carry out the demonstration, but helped her by translating her words for us. Dalley had gone through meticulous arrangement to make sure we could all be accommodated. Members listened attentively as Valeria brought us many tips and nuances to add to our expressions. She prefers the minimal style in ikebana as it brings out the significance more aptly and did not have much to commend of the large and colourful contemperory ikebana seen everywhere! Valeria had interesting shapes of containers and it was remarkable how she had carefully packed them along with the leaves and other material...

ABK AOTS Dosokai had their annual Japan Festival between Friday 21st March and Sunday 23rd, at their own premises on Nelson Manickam Road. The Sogetsu Study Group was happy to participate and display Sogetsu Ikebana along with the Japanese dolls, origami and Bonsai exhibits.  There were also Judo demonstrations to attend as part of the festival. All of us assembled on the evening of the 20th to put up our arrangements, and since we each had to do just one piece, we were done fairly quickly! Here are the pieces we did, in no particular order.  For some of them, the wall or the curtain worked as a good background.  For others, we tried to use a black cloth background to highlight the arrangements. This is one area we need to improve upon - our photography and recording of our work, giving more focus on the lighting and the background. By Sensei Padma, in a wrought iron custom-made container Prerana's freestyle expression Pushkala's arra...