Ikebana and us

After 4 months it was nice to meet members face to face at the familiar ambience of ABK.  Sensei Molly demonstrated in her elegant, experienced style to bring forth the translucent nature of glass container, water and plant materials. Her first item was depicting the Fall season, where she used a sunflower, exhibiting the brown seeds more than the yellow petals and also alamanda petals only floating, leaving the scene to the imagination of the viewer to appreciate the aspects of Fall.  The second one was in a translucent container which had protrusions on one side, which she took advantage to depict Surface, of the slender  caladium leaf with its own stalk giving it a linear direction which was appealing.  The third she used three water glasses giving an ascendant/descendant structure and complimented them with ordinary materials .  The last one was in a slightly tinted vase where she used white lilies and red flowers tied together with wire and gently filled th...

Our director Reji Mrs Malathi Pandurang had facilitated a classical Ohara demonstration by First Master Mrs Syama Balbir from New Delhi.This zoom meeting was held on August 26th at 11.am. 28 participants attended this demonstration which included members from the chapters in New Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan has announced the award of the of the Foreign Minister’s Commendation to our director Mrs Malathi Pandurang, for her contribution to the promotion of Japanese culture in India through teaching and introducing ikebana in Chennai and other parts of the country. The remarkable coincidence is that Mrs Syama Balbir will also receive the Foreign Minister’s commendation in New Delhi. The session began with Mrs Divya Selvam welcoming the participants and with Mrs Malathi Pandurang's introduction of First Master Mrs Syama Balbir. Mrs Syama Balbir is a graduate of the Delhi School of Economics and had the privilege of being taught by Nobel Laure...

Chennai Sogetsu Branch hosts demonstration by Ikenobo Ikebana Society Pune Chapter  To promote understanding of the origins of Ikenobo Ikebana and its classical style among its branch members the Sogetsu Chennai Branch under the leadership of Riji Mrs Malathi Pandurang hosted a zoom presentation cum demonstration session on July 15, 2023 at 3 pm IST The intention was to learn and understand a different school of Ikebana and establish a connect with members of the Pune Chapter. The online session was conducted by Mrs Sujatha Pandit, President of Pune Chapter and Mrs Arundhati Despande Vice President , both students of the late Shailaja Divekar who established the Pune Chapter in 1995. The Pune Chapter under their leadership is focussed on teaching and bringing awareness to traditional Ikenobo Ikebana. The online session commenced with Sensei Meenakshi Sarin welcoming the invitees and demonstrators. Riji Mrs Malathi Pandurang, Director Sogetsu Chennai Branch introduced the President ...

The April 2023  Sogetsu Chennai     Ikebana workshop titled Inspired by Nature Venue/Date ABK Dosakai, Chennai on Sat, 20 April 2023 at 11 am Around 18 members attended the last workshop of the year 2023 before we took the customary summer break from April till June every year. The workshop began with a warm welcome from our Director Riji Mrs Malathi Pandurang. Our guest or the workshop Ms Mami Teraoka  distributed teachers certificates to Chitra Thyagarajan, Pushkala and Chitra Rajan and Level 1 and 2 certificates to Krishna. Mala Dhanasekaran had travelled to Galapagos a month ago. She gave us a glimpse of the unique volcanic island archipelago with its amazing flora and fauna, one of its kind in the world through a slide show. We were shown various exotic creatures such as tortoise, seal, iguana, penguins birds    and their adaptation to the surrounding environment. Inspired by the biodiversity the Ambika Chandrasekhar showcased two arrangements one...