Think of your Thanksgiving Day table and what you might want on it. A free style Morimono Ikebana arrangement including flowers and vegetables could be just the right one. Use your imagination. Use a tray, or cutting board or any flat holding surface, and think of using maybe a cornucopia, flower holders, low small container and assorted gourds, leaves, branches, vegetables, nuts, along with a small flower arrangement. This should be fun and everyone’s will be different!

 

Judith will share a video powerpoint of the NCAR meeting in Philadelphia. We will also talk about plans for next year.

 

Image courtesy of Adriano at it.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

This fall marks the 65th anniversary of the Madison Chapter of Ikebana International. To celebrate, we have decided to treat ourselves with a special demonstration by Sensei Miho Ito of Chicago.

 

We will also have a display of materials from our archive curated by Michael Pohlman.

 

Please join us at Olbrich Gardens from 9:30-11:00!

 

For September, we will applaud the arrival of fall with a special arrangement called "Seven grasses of autumn." This arrangement is traditionally done in a basket without handles, but other containers may be used.

 

Traditionally, the materials are very specific as they were featured in 7th century poetry: Bush clover (萩 Hagi), Japanese pampas grass (尾花 Obana), Patrina scabiosaefolia/golden lace (女郎花 Ominaeshi), Pueraria vine/arrow root (葛 Kuzu), Wild pink (撫子 Nadeshiko), Boneset (藤袴 Fujibakama), and Morning glory or Chinese bell flower (桔梗 Kikyo) . Other materials may be suitable to substitute. You will not need a lot of material, but the variety is important. We will emphasize again the main lines, of Subject, Secondary and Object with other plants acting as assistants.

 

To prepare your materials as suggested for preservation:

Bush clover - Cut end crushed with scissors and boiled in soy sauce for 2-3 min and then cold water;

Boneset/Thoroughwort - Rubbed alum on cut end;

Wild pink - Cut stem in water;

Patrina - Rubbed salt on cut end;

Chinese bellflower - Rubbed salt on cut end;

Pampas grass - Cut end crushed and dipped in vinegar.

 

 

Our August 13th meeting will be devoted to Rikka style ikebana. Pronounced ‘ReeKa’, this is the oldest style of Ikebana – the name means ‘standing flowers’. These early Buddhist floral decorations were intended to evoke an idealized image of paradise, the cosmos and the landscape. As a result, these arrangements (large, ornate and quite grand) were often used in ceremonial settings.

 

The Buddhist monks developed Rikka’s structural rules – called positions. Rikka originally had seven branches or positions. In the Edo period (17th to 19th centuries) the style became more elaborate specifying nine key positions. Gradually freer styles such as Nageire and Seika came to be. It’s good to know this but, for our purposes, these are guidelines, and we can choose how formal we want our arrangements to be. Personal expression is the secret to
Rikka.

 

Arrangements are always tall, the branches are erect with a space above the top of the vase, and all are gathered tightly in the center without touching the rim. Appropriate containers can be either tall or dish style. Anchoring branches with a kenzan in a dish style container is a little easier than anchoring in a tall vase. We will try to show examples of both methods. For more images, diagrams, and historical information about Rikka, see this page.

This month we will explore the Ohara School style called “Landscape”. This style is in a low container called a “suiban” and is meant to evoke a scene in nature. It can be woods or a water view of a pond or lake. In spring and summer the plant material should be placed at the side and back of the arrangement letting a lot of the water be visible. The same elements of subject, secondary and object should be employed but kept in a naturalistic manner.

 

You will need to bring:

Suiban - a low water container of at least 12”, the larger, the more expressive you can be

Kenzan(s) - one or more, depending on the size of your container

Plant material - a branch for the woods and trees, small branch material for bushes, flowers 1-3 (can have small ones for accessories), and some short plants to cover the kenzan. Typically, princess moss, club moss is used but that’s hard to come by, so we have to improvise with asparagus fern, and other very short plants.

The Badger Bonsai Society will hold their annual exhibit at Olbrich Gardens on Saturday and Sunday, May 18-19, from 10am-4pm.

 

Ikebana International Madison Chapter will have a table set up with arrangements and handouts. Members will be on hand to chat with people about ikebana and our chapter activities.

Spring has finally sprung and it is glorious. This meeting, let's do a basket arrangement that is typical for spring.

You will need a basket container, a water holder with kenzan or other flower stabilizer for inside the basket, a branch, leaves or flowers. These can be kept very simple in the spirit of the newness of spring.

Some members of our chapter will be creating arrangements for the week of Mother's Day at the Dean House in Monona, 4718 Monona Drive.

This month our inspirations will come from the Sogetsu school of Ikebana. Sogetsu, according to Sofu Teshigahara, brings out the individuality of each designer while following the basic principles of Ikebana.

Suiseki (Sui = water, Seki = stone) naturally formed stones as objects of beauty. What flowers are to Ikebana, stones are to Suiseki but while flowers are temporary, stones are forever and represent stability, longevity, and immortality.

 

 

The organization was founded in 1956 by the late Ellen Gordon Allen whose dream was to create an association uniting the people of the world through their mutual love of nature and enjoyment of ikebana. Today, that dream has spread to over 50 countries/areas, with 143 chapters and a membership of more than 6,300.

The North and Central American Region (NCAR) is the largest region of seven regions within Ikebana International, reaching from Canada to the Panama Canal. Its Regional Advocate Committee seeks to strengthen relationships with the 68 NCAR chapters – through engagement, communication and knowledge sharing – to enhance chapter and school vitality.

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