Embracing Change

Moribana. Basic slanting reversed style.
Autumn branches and roses. 

This weeks lesson for my ikebana students was reversed arrangements and autumn in ikebana. Everyone could choose if they wanted to make a basic upright or slanting arrangement in reversed style to express an autumn theme. I found some roses in the garbage after they had gone, and made a basic slanting reversed style myself when I got home.

The change of seasons reminds us that life is constantly changing. These branches have shifted colour from mainly green to almost totally yellow and red since I made this ikebana arrangement. Bringing autumn branches into the home helps grasping the moment of here and now. Enjoy it while it lasts - the next time you look it will already have changed a bit.

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Yuji Ueno - Hanaike

Yuji Ueno, a former Sogetsu artist now working on his own, has developed a flower concept that he calls Hanaike. He works with live performances creating poetic simplified arrangements with very little plant materials. Note that the to words hana and ike are the same as in ikebana, just in reversed order.

Ueno's book Japanese Ikebana for Every Season: Elegant Flower Arrangements for Your Home will be launched outside Japan in February 2014. It's possible to pre-order it or just have a look at the cover on Amazon.

Recently Yuji Ueno has also been involved in "marginal art" events in the Echigo-Tsumari region, creating new artworks on his expeditions and encounters with local villagers.

Have a look at his inspiring work on this video from Panorama:

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Morimono at Ikebana International Oslo Chapter

Morimono, harvest festival style.
Leek, beetroots, mini pears, Sun flower, bittersweet.

Last week I was invited to give a demonstration of morimono at the Ikebana International Oslo Chapter. Morimono is basic style ikebana arrangements made with fruit and/or vegetables as the main material. It is often combined with a small amount of other materials, such as flowers, roots and branches. The idea is not to create a delicious fruit plate, but an ikebana arrangement where shape, color and lines are important.

Morimono has its roots in fruit offerings at harvest festivals, and in food offerings in front of Buddha sculptures and pictures of deceased relatives. There are several festivals related to good harvest. "Labor Thanksgiving Day", November 23rd., is a national holiday when the emperor performs food offerings on behalf of the people. Also the Shinto festivals at New Years, and tsukimi "moon viewing" in September, are linked to hope of good harvest.

Morimono, minimalist "platter design" Sogetsu 1960s style.
Apples and Malva flower.

In the Sogetsu School, morimono, along with uki-bana (fleeting arrangement) and shiki-bana (arrangement placed directly on a table or a surface without dai or container) belongs to variation no. 7. The three styles in this group have in common that the composition is about arranging positions and combinations of materials to bring out their unique qualities.

The name morimono is a compound word that comes from moru "to heap up" and mono "thing", it's literally translated to "heaped up things" (cf. moribana "heaped up flowers" - morimono is an extension of moribana). The style ranges from simplicity and melancholy of fall with a sense of wabi-sabi, to the joy and abundance of harvest. Morimono can also be made with figures or other things, stone, leaves, roots, etc.

Morimono with the shin element enhanced by a leaf.
Gourds, rose hip and hosta leaf.

Although morimono is a basic style arrangement it doesn't always make sense to start with the correct length of the materials. Instead one must translate the main branches, shin, soe and hikae, to form and volume. You arrange the materials so that the arrangement is recognizable as a basic style or one of the variations of them.

Morimono is usually arranged on a dai. It can be anything that fits, such as a board, a plate, a straw mat, a low basket or a large leaf. The color of dai is important. It often works nice when the dai reinforces colours from the materials either by matching them or by contrasting. Morimono can also be arranged as nageire in a tall vase.

Morimono, nageire.
Mais, gourd, raddishes, Bergenia leaves.

Freestyle moribana. Straight and curved lines.
Parsley roots, Dahlia.

As with all the basic styles, there is also a free style extension of morimono. In the free style the focus is on creating a more playful sculptural arrangement.

Freestyle nageire. Curved lines.
Chives, red cabbage, mini pear, Creepers, bleached hemp.

(Sorry about the bad photo quality in this blog post. I recognized too late that the camera settings where incorrect.)

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Green, Pink and Red

Moribana, naturalstic freestyle.
Sibirian dogwood and roses. 

Sibirian dogwood is a wonderful material for playing with colours in ikebana - red stems and leaves in shades of green, pink and red.

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Windswept Lines

My students made basic slanting arrangements this week. It is such an inspiration to see their progress and hear them express what ikebana means to them in terms of getting into the meditative work with branches and flowers.

We have a large table to work on and a long bench where we can exhibit the results. Seeing all the arrangements standing in a row you can see how different the result gets even though everyone is doing the same style of arrangement. Ikebana is very much a personal expression. It's a piece of nature, but also a piece of the person arranging. We're communicating with the materials within the concept and the rules of that style.

The basic slanting style has also been named the windswept. It's a soft and gentle style allowing the wind to blow playfully through the branches. Heaven is not just up above for us to reach for, it's also like a wind surrounding us right where we are.

The joy of studying ikebana.

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Everything Eventually Gives Results

Birch Witch's Broom, book pages, Rose stems and flowers.
Nageire, abstract freestyle, mass and lines, untraditional materials. 

At the first lecture after summer with my teacher we were asked to translate something we had experienced during the summer into an ikebana arrangement.  I've been working a lot this summer, editing an anthology of articles. Coordinating many people and make sure you stay within the timeframe can be quite chaotic. Still, dedicated work and a decision to stay focused eventually gives results. And opportunities to gain new strength in between the struggles helps to endure. That's the message of this ikebana exercise.

I've worked on getting the right balance in the composition and between the to masses of Witch Broom. A main focus was getting enough open space in the arrangement, and also the placement of the flowers. As you can see the idea is working with mass and line. The masses gives the sense of chaotic work, the lines shows there is still a direction, and the pink flowers gives that moment of blissful rest.

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Leftover Mass

Anthurium, Fern, Aster and Roses.

Two vases, mass of leftover flowers.

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Yellow Lichen - Purple Leek

Juniper branch with Lichen, Leek flowers and Aspidistra leaves.

This autumns beginners class started last week with a group of seven new ikebana students. We started up with an introduction to ikebana, and a first try on the basic upright style. There is a lot of new information to digest, and I'm impressed with their eagerness to practice and learn.

While the others worked on finding the correct lengths and angels of branches, I made a quick mass and line arrangement to demonstrate what their exercise could look like translated to a freestyle.

You'll probably see more of this branch in the feature. I picked it up on a trip to the mountains, 1000 meters above sea level. The lichen has an interesting texture and a strong yellow colour that makes it great for ikebana.

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Botanical Garden - Magnolia Postludium

Oyama magnolia.
Chabana.

One of the most spectacular sights of spring in Oslo, is the blooming of the Magnolia trees in the Botanical Garden. The Kobushi magnolias are blooming with a cloud of white flowers on bare branches. I can see them from my balcony, and they always put me in a good mood.

When preparing for the demonstration at the Botanical garden a few weeks ago, I wanted to use some of the signature plants of the gardens. I thought to myself that had it been spring, I would definitely have used the Kobushi Magnolia. When I was walking through the gardens to look for materials, I found to my surprise a magnolia still in bloom in late August. The Oyama magnolia or Siebold's magnolia, native to China, Japan, and Korea, is named after the German doctor Philipp Franz von Siebold.

It turned out the Botanical Garden has quite a few spices of Magnolia, such as Star magnolia, Saucer magnolia, Cucumber magnolia, White champaca, and Umbrella magnolia. And in the green houses you can find the tropical Magnolia maudiae.

The Oyama magnolia found it's way to a Chabana arrangement placed in the entrance hall of the Botanical museum. It was just perfect the day of the demonstration. Half way open it demonstrated the very moment of here and now, the moment when the flower is opening. I wasn't able to photograph it until later, when the flower was totally open and on it's way to withering. On the other side, at this state you can see the beautiful red stamens contrasting the white petals and the freshly green leaves.

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Ikebana at Oslo Botanical Garden 2

Basic upright style.
Japanese barberry and Cutleaf coneflower.

These are the pictures from the demonstration I had at the Botanical garden here in Oslo in August.  I wanted to start with an introduction to the history of ikebana, so I figured there would be time to make seven arrangements, which turned out to be correct. The demonstration was scheduled to take a little less than an hour.

Straight lines, vertical arrangement.
Cattail plant and Purple loosestrife.

Curved lines, mass and lines.
Weeping willow, Hydrangea paniculata and Bergenia leaves.

When preparing an ikebana demonstration I try to get a nice variation of styles, with different expressions. Even though it should be a peaceful experience to attend the demonstration, you can't use too much time working on the arrangements. Preparation and planning is everything. In the Sogetsu school we always stand behind the arrangement when demonstrating, so that the audience can see the  frontside of the ikebana and follow the work all the time. This takes some practice, but it is nice when you get it right.

Variation no 3, fan style.

Ginko and Phlox.

Untraditional materials.

Rusty scrap metal, Seakale and Cosmos flower.

All the botanical materials used in the exhibition and demonstration came from the botanical garden, which gave me an opportunity to use some branches that one rarely finds in Norwegian gardens. As in all botanical gardens it is strictly forbidden to cut anything inside the garden.

Mass of lines.

Longleaf pine, Mizuhiki cord, Solomon's Plume berries.

Boat arrangement, surfaces of leaves.

Hosta, Butterfly-bush and Asparagus.

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