Ikebana looks easy. Maybe because two bare branches, a sprig of berries and a container filled with sand is something we all think we could manage. These are things we could pick up on a morning walk. Ikebana looks easy, but it’s a Japanese art form that has been practiced for many centuries, which is both disciplined and uses particular rules of construction. Chieko Mihori, a Sogetsu Ikebana teacher of the highest rank, will demonstrate the imaginative and individual techniques of Sogetsu floral designing at our General Membership Meeting on January 9.*
The simplicity of Ikebana is deceptive. In principle, Ikebana aims not only to bring flowers into the house, but to suggest all of nature. Arrangers are likely to use several different types of plants in a single arrangement (roses with succulents, for example), and to give prominence to leaves and flowerless branches as well as blossoms.
Glass containers are often used as well as turtle shells and other containers found in nature. Stones and marbles are used in the containers as well as vines and bent branches to hold floral materials in place.
Please sign up for the January 9 meeting on our website and join us for an interesting and informative afternoon.
*Note that our January meeting is the second Monday in January, due to the holidays. It will be held in Buehler Auditorium from 1 – 3 p.m.