Weekend at the Brisbane Matsuri and Workshop with Hiroko Prado

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Last weekend, I went to Brisbane Matsuri and had the pleasure of seeing a beautiful Ikebana exhibition featuring three different schools: Ikenobo, Ohara and Sogetsu. It was wonderful to see the different styles and traditions and to discover the unique characteristics of each school.

Afterwards, I took part in an interesting workshop with Haruko Prado, where we created some beautiful and inspiring arrangements, as you can see.

It was a wonderful day filled with Ikebana, creativity and inspiration!

I have two wonderful Things to share this week!

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Two of my German students successfully passed their Ikebana exams, both in theory and in practice. For the practical exam, each of them had to create two arrangements: one in a shallow container and one in a tall Nageire vase. They have learned incredibly well, know all the Japanese terms, and their arrangements were truly stunning. I am so proud of both of them!

And the second wonderful thing is that a beautiful exhibition will open next week at the Botanical Garden in Maroochydore. I am very happy to be one of twelve artists who have been invited to reflect the garden through our own artistic work.

If you have some time, please come and have a look. We would be very happy to see you there!

Stones

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Sofu Teshigahara once said, “If I didn’t have flowers, I would arrange sand or even stones — but I would still arrange.”

At the moment, we are exploring Sofu’s artistic world, so this week we worked with stones. And, as you can see, we really came out of the box and had a lot of fun with it!

Interesting Ikebana-Week

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We worked with a variety of different themes this week. One of them was “Ma in Time”, which we explored using ice, a few flowers, and a single line. It was fascinating to watch how the arrangement gradually changed throughout the lesson as the ice melted.

Our next project was bamboo. We created wonderful bamboo sculptures and decorated them with beautiful wattle trees. We also explored intertwining, which was  challenging great fun and the best thing is, that you not able to plan the outcome, just work and see what happens. 

Ikebana in early spring

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We had a wonderful start to our early spring Ikebana course, both in person and online. Everyone was happy to be back, learning new things and, of course, having fun with Ikebana.

We were lucky enough to have some beautiful plant materials from the Botanical Garden to work with, and the results were truly stunning.

In our online classes, we created beautiful arrangements using water pearls, which always add a touch of magic in a glass vase.

Preparations for the Exhibit at the Maroochy Regional Botanic Garden

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I have already spent several hours exploring the Botanic Garden in search of suitable plant material for my exhibition arrangement. During these visits, I marked a number of branches, twigs, leaves, and vines with orange ribbons. Later this week, I will walk through the garden with one of the gardeners, and together we will collect a selection of the marked material. This will allow me to test how long it remains fresh after cutting, so I can prepare my exhibition arrangement professionally.

Yesterday, a photographer visited my studio on behalf of the Maroochy Regional Botanic Garden to photograph one of my arrangements, created entirely from native Queensland plant material. Although this particular arrangement will not be displayed at the exhibition, it gives the Garden's team an impression of the style and atmosphere I am planning to create. I'm very excited to take part in this exhibition and look forward to another creative challenge.

Nambour Floral Art Exhibition Part III

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In Part 3 of the Nambour Floral Art Exhibition, I would like to show you the themes Tangled, Bubbling Over, and Leave It to Me.

Tangled featured several large and truly spectacular arrangements, some of which won awards. The judges were very impressed by the creativity and craftsmanship on display.

The theme Bubbling Over celebrated an abundance of flowers. The arrangements overflowed with colour and blossoms, creating a vibrant and joyful display.

Leave It to Me was all about the beauty of leaves. The exhibits demonstrated how leaves alone can create striking and elegant floral art. During the exhibition, we also held workshops where visitors learned how to manipulate and shape leaves to create their own designs. Everyone had great fun, and each participant went happily home proudly carrying their own creation.

Nambour Floral Art Exhibition Part II

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Hoop Play and What´s that in my Garden are the next two topics which I would like to introduce. Both of this thems are far apart from Ikebana, but still very interesting and the workmanship is amazing and incredible. My personal favourite is the Kookaburra.

Floral Art Exhibition at the Nambour Showgrounds

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I am a proud member of the Nambour Floral Art Society, and every year I exhibit with the society at the Nambour Garden Show.

Today, I would like to show you just a few examples so you can see the difference between floral art and ikebana. I think you will discover that the two styles are very different, each with its own unique beauty and artistic expression.

This year's exhibition featured seven different themes. Today, I am sharing the first two: Pure Elegance and Petal to the Metal, Enjoy!

Exhibition Part III

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In Part III you will see beautiful and unusual arrangements with unusual materials. Some of them require a bit of courage but were wery well received by our audience.

Sogetsu-Exhibition Brisbane Part II

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Chieko and her group worked with natural materials for the arrangement Floating River, Fay combined driftwood with beautiful camellias. However, many non-natural materials were also incorporated. For example, eggshells were transformed into beautiful artistic elements. Another striking arrangement was woven from suger cane strips and represented a big wave.

During a stroll through the Botanic garden we discoverd this little dragon.

Annuel Exhibition at the Brisbane Botanical Garden

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Our annual Sogetsu Ikebana Exhibition took place last weekend at the Botanical Gardens in Brisbane. More than 45 stunning and highly artistic arrangements were on display, each one unique and beautiful in its own way.

This year's exhibition celebrated the approaching 100th anniversary of Sogetsu Ikebana, which was founded in 1927 by Sofu Teshigahara. Each participant selected one of the headmaster-areas from the Teshigahara family—Sofu, Kasumi, Hiroshi, or Akane—and created an arrangement reflecting the spirit and artistic vision of their chosen area.

The exhibition attracted more visitors than any of our previous events over the years. The workshops were extremely well attended, and the demonstrations, held twice daily, were also a great success, drawing enthusiastic audiences throughout the weekend.

Emphasising the container

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Emphasizing the Container
Some students took on the challenging task of creating an arrangement that emphasized the beauty of the container, allowing it to take center stage rather than the plant material. It was not an easy exercise, but they achieved it with great success.

Color, Mass , straigth and curved lines

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Working with our various Ikebana groups, both online and in person, we created a wide variety of arrangements. We explored the interplay of straight and curved lines, achieving remarkably different results. Color was another focus of our practice, ranging from harmonious combinations within the same color palette to bold contrasting ones. Some students also experimented with mass and line, challenging themselves with making a composition with mass appear light and effortless—a balance that is perhaps the most difficult to achieve.

Special Lesson with Water - Lilies

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One of our students lives on a large property with a pond where wild water lilies grow. After heavy rain, she kindly ventured into the pond to collect water lilies and lilie leaves with long stems for all participants, giving us the rare opportunity to enjoy a very special water lilie lesson.

As the flowers had been picked early in the morning, they were still closed. With patience and care, we gently opened them by hand, and put fine tissue paper between the petals.

Working with these beautiful and unusual materials was a wonderful experience, and we all thoroughly enjoyed the lesson. The arrangements created were truly special.

Workshop at the Veggie Village Peregian Beach

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Last Sunday, we held our first Ikebana workshop for the members of the VeggieVillage Peregian Beach.

We provided Aspidistra- Waimea- and Ginger- leaves, as well as the tools like kenzan (needlepoint holders). Our 14 participants brought their own flowers. During the workshop, we introduced simple arrangements using the basic Ikebana structure of shin, soe, and hikae.

Everyone had a wonderful time while gaining their first insight into the art and philosophy of Ikebana. As you can see, the results were beautiful, and we were very happy with the outcome.

Color of the container and color in Ikebana

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Because everyone had so much fun working with colors in Ikebana last week, we decided to continue exploring color arrangements again this week. Some students worked with the colors of the container, while others focused on contrasting or harmonious color combinations.

The results were incredible, and we had a lot of fun together as well. Thank you everyone!

Color in Contrast, Color in Harmonie

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The topic of this week is: Color, either in contrast, in harmonie or of the container.

Some students played with contrast, others with harmony, and some were inspired by the colors of the container itself. When the container leads, the flowers are chosen to gently complement and complete it. In other works, the process begins with the plant material, allowing the container to quietly support the composition.

It’s always fascinating to see how many different expressions can emerge from the same starting point.

Master Mori Part 2

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We are still full of joy and Ikebana enthusiasm after our weekend seminar with Master Mori from Japan. This week, our online classes are starting again, and our in-person classes here on the Sunshine Coast will also resume on Friday.

Much of what we have newly learned will flow into our courses. We are once again filled with inspiration and Ikebana enthusiasm, and we look forward to sharing all of this with our students.

Workshop with Master-Instructor "Mori-Sensei" from Japan

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We had a wonderful and very intensive weekend at a workshop with Master Mori from the headquarter Tokyo in Brisbane. Together with around 50 ikebana enthusiasts from Sogetsu Brisbane, Sydney, Tasmania and Canberra, we worked and learned at Griffith University. Master Mori’s demonstrations on “One kind of leaf only,” disassembling and rearranging, and intertwining were truly inspiring. His corrections were incredibly detailed and patient, even with 50 arrangements in the morning and another 50 in the afternoon, and the same again the next day.

It was hard work, but we learned so much and feel very grateful to have been part of this experience.