Hanging Flowers

Rowan and Allium.

Japanese Maple, Bergenia and Mustard flowers.

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Like a Prayer

To me, the name Issey Miyake means perfume and exclusive black clothes. To others he is more of a guarantee of good taste and style. In the foreword to the book "Inspired Flower Arrangemnets" by Toshiro Kawase, Issey Miyake confesses that he cannot recall ever once having been deeply moved by a flower exhibition, and that he prefers flowers growing wild in nature. Still his conception of art was transformed in the encounter with the tatehana (standing flowers) of Toshiro Kawase.

This is a beautiful book with large photos of flowers arranged in japanese antique containers from temples, museums and private collections. At the end of the book there are comments to

each photo. Here are two of my favorites:

"All flower arrangement is a form of prayer. As I (...) stand the flowers, and give them water, I continually pray to something in nature. Through prayer, the starting point for all flower arrangement, the true heart of all plant life is revealed."

"The pleasure of arranging flowers lies in discovering the beauty of form, which gradually becomes apparent through the process of simplifying the materials used. By cutting a flower, you are able to penetrate the reality of it's form - a reality hidden while it is blooming in it's natural state. This is the unique fascination of ikebana; if not for that it would be a sin to cut the flowers."

The book also has a very interesting review of the history of ikebana, giving more attention than other reviews that I have read to the Shinto roots of Ikebana. It also focuses on the balanse between the tatehana style of ikebana, growing ever larger and more elaborate, showy but also sacred and formal, and the nageire style that came to symbolize the aesthetics of simple restraint and the momentariness of life.

Inspired Flower Arrangements

by Toshiro Kawase

Foreword by Issey Miyake

Kodansha International, Tokyo and New York, 1990

120 pages. 74 large colour photos.

Kawase Toshiro Official Hompage

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Tall Green Leaves

Sogetsu Master Instructor Mr.Toshiyuki Ohki visited Norway last week and gave a demonstration at the Historical Museum. I wasn't able to be there, but I was told he made a fantastic arrangement with Cat's tail. I guess that is why my ikebana teacher gave me a bunch of Cat's tail leaves and told me to create an extra tall arrangement with them. I combined the leaves with some really beautiful Gentian flowers that I found in a shop. Nice and strong blue and green coulors. The leftovers where used for a Basic Upright arrangement, also with extra heigth.

Focus on straight lines, vertical arrangemnet, freestyle Kabuwake. Cat's tail leaves and Gentian.

Basic Upright arrangement. Strelitzia leaves, Gentian and Gerbera.

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Lunching with Roses

Can you imagine having your daily lunch in a cantine with enormous Munch paintings on the walls? That's what life is like for the workers at the Freia chocolate factory in Oslo. And they even get to eat as much chocolate as they like. The cantine is facing a secluded garden. This is where Oslo Rose Festival takes place every summer.

I've been helping out with the ikebana exhibition at Oslo Rose Festival for four years now. It's only up for two days so we're keeping it a smaller exhibition. I made these five arrangements refering to flower themes in poetry and literature.

No wind; grass, dark pink rose and wild flowers in a raku vase.

"The most beautiful rose has been found"

(Hans Adolf Brorson 1694-1764)

Re-circling (for Sofu); scrap metal, lily and pine.

Nageire, Variation number 4; Spinosa branches with pink roses in a naked raku vase.

Summer Night; maple, yellow roses and pine.

"Turning strong men into dreamers"

(Nils Collett Vogt 1864-1937)

Further into the forest (Little Red Riding Hood); Larch and red roses.

"And whenever she had picked one,

she fancied that she saw a still prettier one farther on,

and ran after it."

You'll find more about this ikebana exhibition on my Norwegian website, including photos of some really nice arrangements by my teacher Lisbeth Lerum.

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Exam Works

I passed the 4th level Sogetsu student exam this summer. It requires that you create a number of arrangements in different styles. These are two of the ikebanas I made.

Simplified arrangement with Day lily and branches with small red flowers.

Disassembling and rearranging the materials -without kenzan. Rowan and purple flowers.

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Samurai Arts of War and Peace

This summer I visited the Asian Art Museum in San Fransisco and their exhibition "Lords of the Samurai". It will run through September 20, so there is still time if you happen to be around.

On display is armors, weaponry, paintings, lacquer ware, ceramics and costumes from the private collections of the Hosokawa clan, pre-eminent on Japan's southern island of Kyushu, that dates back 700 years. Lots of good stuff, rare and beautiful. Much of it have never been shown outside of Japan before.

I really don't agree with the idea of war lords combining culture (bun) and arms (bu), balancing domination and authority with mastering artistic and spiritual pursuits. Still it's interesting to get to explore the ethics and core precepts of their culture.

There doesn't seem to have been any notable ikebana masters in the Hosokawa family, but some of them were heavely into tea ceremony. Hosokawa Sansai (1563-1646) was one of the family's most important tea practitioners. He was one of seven disciples of Sen Rikyu (1522-1591), the tea master who perfected the Way of Tea. Among the chado utensils exhibited is a tea bowl attributed to Raku Chojiro (died 1589) the first generation of Japan’s most famous family of ceramic artists, the Raku potters.

Another lord of the clan, Hosokawa Shigekata, was a visionary social reformer. He founded a garden for the propagation and study of medicinal plants. In one of the exhibition rooms there is a collection of detailed paintings of different varieties of peonies.

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Waste Recycling

Modern Ikebana uses a lot of odd materials. I sometimes feel that it is difficult to loose the old situation or function of things that are re-used in an arrangement, and that can be disturbing. Usually one will have to work a bit with the material for it to come trough as pure form and colour. If one succeeds the result can be a great sculptural effect to the arrangement.

It's fun to play with waste materials, and it's really "ikebana" too - taking things a part and giving them new life.

Scrap metal and Calla

Black wooden containers, electrical wire and Calla

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Materials from the Sea

Earlier this year I met Truus Marrée, an ikebana artist from The Netherlands. Her work was featured at an ikebana exhibition in Oslo City Hall Gallery, where she was the guest artist. I published one of her arrangements in an earlier post.

I found this web-TV presentation on Truus Marrée when I was surfing the net. I think it is from 2007. Have a look! It's in Norwegian but still interesting to just look at how she uses materials found on the Norwegian coast, where she has her summer house, and combines them with flowers from her garden.

It takes a while to load the video, so please give it a few minutes.

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Ikebana at Japan Week 2009

These are my contributions to the exhibition "Japan Week 2009 - Beauty and Magic" in the Oslo City Hall Gallery. I'm very proud to be asked to contribute to an exhibition that holds such high quality. It has also been fun to work in a beautiful and well designed setting that compliments the arrangements.

"Pale blue poetry". Painted branches of Mitsumata, Limonium and Aspedistra leaf.

"Ties of friendship". Climbing Hydrangea, Strelitzia and pine in a vase from Nicaragua.

"Between past and future". Wood, Cymbidium orchids and Eucalyptus.

"Inner beauty". Freestyle, Morimono form. Cassava, Cucumber, Kohlrabi and chili pepper

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Exhibition Interiors

I'm posting a few photos from the exhibiton "Japan Week 2009 - Beauty and Magic". The exhibition is running until this Thursday in the Oslo City Hall Gallery.

Ikebana arrangement by guest artist Truus Marreé from The Netherlands.

The exhibition features ikebana, Japanese woodblock prints and kimonos.

The "Tea house" where demonstrations are held.

This is one of the largest ikebana exhibitions that has been held in Oslo. 13 teachers and students are exhibiting arrangements in a broad variety of styles, from traditional ikebana to avant-garde and surrealistic arrangements.

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