Ikebana and us

10th March 2020 13 of us gathered at ABK AOTS Dosokai, at the start of the Coronavirus spreading in India.  We were cautious to maintain social distance, and used namastes to greet each other, rather than our customary warm handshakes and hugs! It was unanimously decided to request our current office bearers to continue for another term, and they readily accepted.  Ms Bhuvana Shivshankaran will be the program Coordinator and Ms Chelvi Gopinath the Treasurer. A novel experiment was done.  In order to give the budding sensei-to-be senior students a chance to demonstrate from the back, they were encouraged to do one basic lesson from the rear.  The lesson was chosen by lots. Chitra Rajan demonstrated Variation 1 moribana Slanting style, with a lovely dry branch and roses. With her arrangement, a smile of accomplishment! The beautiful completed arrangement.  Next Bhuvana was to demonstrate Variation 3 Slanting moribana. With her arr...

Feb 20th 2020 On the occasion of the Emperor of Japan's birthday reception, it is customary for the Consulate of Japan, Chennai to get in touch with our Chairperson, Sensei Malathi, to embellish the hall with a work of Ikebana.                          It was no different this year, though the big difference was that this was the first reception for Emperor Naruhito, who was crowned in May 2019. The space required that the arrangement be no taller than 3 feet, and was to one side of the podium, whilst on the other Sensei Cherry Venkatesh of the Ohara school would be displaying her work. Using tall vases this time meant that the arrangement of flowers needed to occupy a more horizontal space. The final composition - Chrysanthemums, Ibericum berries, gypsofilia.  Do notice the touch of gold on the leaves. Ohara school's Cherry Venkatesh worked on the other side of the podium. Mrs Karen Uchi...

Jan 24th 2020 After our enriching and interesting experience of doing our annual exhibition at the Cholamandal Artists' Village earlier in the month, there was an interesting request from Jacob Jebaraj, the Cholamandal artist.  He was participating in the Madras Art Guild's Connecting Communities Through Art exhibition at VR Mall, with three installations that used discarded material for the most part. His installations were ready, and would we care to add fresh material and bring in the essence of Ikebana into these pieces?  Our member Sathya G, who resides at Cholamandal, was the coordinator for this whole project. VR Mall is a busy mall in the Anna Nagar side of town, and they had given us permission to work on these installations only after 830 pm!  So it was that Sathya, Mrs Jacob and Ambika set off from the ECR side at 630pm and reached the venue after a maddeningly slow and tortuous ride at 845 in the evening. They were armed with long-lasting flowers like...

11th January 2020 The high-end Palladium Mall, adjacent to Phoenix City Mall, organised a multi-cultural morning, exclusively for women.  The event was organised by Glass Box, an Event Management Company.  They presented different activities like artistic Ikebana, creative zentangles, nail art,  calligraphy etc. All these various activities went on at the same time, in the large common area of the mall, near the Food Court.  Separate space was allocated for each activity with nice tables and comfortable chairs. While few participants registered early whereas others just walked in.  Altogether we had 10 participants. Both sensei were helped efficiently by Ms Luna Bose  The Ikebana demonstration was in two sessions of one hour each. Sensei Molly started the first one,  with one Freestyle composition mainly to attract the passers by. This attracted the attention of few more passersby who walked in. Sensei Molly then demonstrated thr...

10th January 2020 Sensei's Meenakshi and Prerana visited the Anandam home for Senior Citizens to engage them with a demonstration of Ikebana. They had a very enriching demo with the group of men and women living in Anandam. The audience was most disciplined and listened in rapt attention when they explained to them what Ikebana is. And the question and answer session was very  interactive too. Sensei Meenakshi combines dry and fresh material Minimalism - Sensei Meenakshi Sensei Prerana  using unnatural material as well Sensei Prerana - line and mass Te seniors sent their blessing to the Ikebana group.  And our sensei learnt from them as well.  A rewarding day for them  

January 3rd 2020 to January 5th 2020 We were delighted and honoured to have the Consul General of Japan, Chennai, Mr Uchiyama inaugurate the exhibition on the evening of the 3rd, accompanied by Mrs Karen Uchiyama.  Mr Gopinath, President of the Cholamandal Artists Village in our midst, made it all the more special. Mr Gopinath lighting the lamp Sensei Malathi Sensei Padma Mr Uchiyama making his remarks Satya presenting a bouquet to our Chief Guest Mr and Mrs Uchiyama went around all of the arrangements, interacting with the artists and taking time to understand and appreciate the thoughts behind their respective arrangements. With sensei Trishala Sensei Prerana Sensei Dalley describes "Fireworks" Sensei Padma articulates "Sailing" Sensei Meenu with the "Bahai temple" A poignant moment with Usha as we remembered the late sensei Janaki Chitra R explains "Waynad" Sensei Malat...