March 31st, 2011 by Keith
Ikebana International Exhibition at the United States National Aborteum, April 1 – April 17, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm National Bonsai & Penjing Museum Special Exhibits Wing Enjoy spring flowers with a Japanese twist! The Washington D.C. Chapter of Ikebana International will exhibit flower arrangements representing a variety of ikebana schools and styles. The installation will change several times during the exhibit, so plan several visits to see them all. Master teachers from four different schools will give free ikebana demonstrations in the museum’s Lecture/Demonstration Center on April 2, 3, 10, and 16 from 1:00 – 2:30 pm. Free.
March 24th, 2011 by Keith
Last week I did another hana-dome demonstration for the DC Ikebana International evening workshop . We had a small but receptive group and it was nice to be able to demonstrate ikebana arrangements with hana-dome. The photos I took of the finished pieces were blurry and not very well lit, a perfect excuse for me to recreate them at home and show them at their best. The first two photos are almost how each one looked at the demo, the last one I made improvements (changes I had immediately started to imagine once the demo was done).
March 22nd, 2011 by Keith
The horrific disaster in Japan happened over 10 days ago and the need for help still exsists. I donated right away after searching for the best way I thought possible, I gave to globalgiving, a Washington,DC based group. More specifically I gave to their Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund. They have been able to disperse funds to groups helping in Japan who are already there and the funds I gave are just for this project. As with many disasters people give at the beginning and then donations taper off as more time goes by, but there is still a need. So if you still want to give and want to know how and to what group, here is your chance. I get several weekly updates telling me what they are doing with donations for this fund. The people of Japan have shared their amazing art and culture with us, the least we could do in their time of need is to give back. If you would like to give just click on the button below!
March 6th, 2011 by Keith
Preparing for the demonstration was the easy part, doing the actual demonstration in front of a large group of people was another matter. I did prepare for it , and although I was a bit nervous (especially when the clip on microphone I was to wear was brought out) it seemed to go really well. Having a very receptive audience helped, and being assisted by my Sensei Jane Redmon was very calming and reassuring. This is the last time she will be able to assist me as I have just passed my written Sogetsu teacher’s exam. This demonstration was one of the last requirements that she has for students wishing to become certified to teach Sogetsu Ikebana. I’m looking forward to many more demonstrations, workshops, exhibitions and eventually teaching my own students.
At the beginning of the demonstration I talked a bit about construction of hana dome with nails and with wire. One of the most vaulable tools I have is a Japanese wood saw that I bought online from Hida Tool and Hardware in Berkley, California. I highly recommend adding one of these saws to your ikebana toolbox. The purpose of constructing hana dome (flower fixture) is to provide a way to hold flowers in place without a kenzan or Soegi-dome(fork fixture) or Jumonji-dome(crossbar fixture). Hana dome is meant to become and integrated part of the visual design of your ikebana . Personally I see each one as a piece of sculpture before the floral materials are added. As a bit of a twist I used a hana dome built with nails and black zip ties, it’s a quick variation on the construction with branches and wire or nails. I wanted to show that you are only limited to your imagaination when you make your hana dome, and you should experiment with different materials and techniques.
I would like to thank Ursula Kondo andSylvia Tetrault for inviting me to demonstrate for the Bethesda-Chevy Chase workshop, to Connie Forster for providing the photos, and to my wonderful Sensei Jane Redmon for all she has taught me.
March 1st, 2011 by Keith
Today I have been going over my final preparations for the demonstration I am giving tomorrow to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Ikebana International evening workshop. They have asked me to show ikebana using Hana Dome (flower fixture), and I am happily doing so.Hana Dome uses branches or other items to build a fixture to support the flowers without using a kenzan. The Hana Dome I build is made up of scrap branches, things that would usually wind up in the trash heap or landfill. If you do ikebana or work with flowers you know what I am talking about, those branches you see being thrown out that you just can’t resist. Confess, you know you have scooped some of them up off the ground or pulled them from a trash receptacle before they met their untimely demise! They catch my eye constantly, I feel like a beaver collecting to add to his dam. In the collecting and recycling of these bits of wood I feel like I am repurposing them and giving new life to their lifeless forms.
Generally I collect branches and store them for later use, and that allows time for them to age and shrink so that I can put them together at a later date. Smaller branches are joined together using wire to hold them in place, and heavier branches are best held with nails( but a heavy gauge wire will work in a pinch). You can also download files on how to wire and nail. Remember to recycle, repurpose and reuse your Hana Dome and all your ikebana materials!
November 23rd, 2010 by Keith
How much preparation goes into doing an ikebana demonstration? A lot, if you read my last post you’ll find out how much has to be done in advance. I learned so much about how to plan, prepare and execute an ikebana demonstration.
My job for the demo, along with Helen Chin, was to remove the finished arrangements from the stage and place them on tables on either side of the room. I remembered sitting in other demonstrations as an audience member and thinking “I’m glad I don’t have to do that”. Surprise, it was my turn to sweat. The first arrangement seemed easy enough, small container that didn’t seem too heavy. I had picked all of them up backstage before the show to gage the weight beforehand. We lifted the first arrangement up, not heavy but tall. I didn’t get my hand inside to grip the tall stem of mahonia and when we lift it moved. The audiencce behind me gasped and we slowly moved it and replaced the stem as Mr. Kawana had told us to do if this happened. Rest assured that everything after that first arrangement was firmly handled, even the large pieces!
Mr. Kawana repeated themes in his demonstration that I had heard from him in workshops, one is that we as ikebana artists are working with live materials and we need to show that. Ikebana should have life to it, otherwise it is an expression without feeling. He also cautioned against overworking the materials, ikebana should not look too labored or contrived. The materials were all very natural, nothing spray painted or altered in some unusual fashion, and he gave each ikebana arrangement that life energy he refers to so often.
THe last arrangement was the large showstopper, and was constructed very quickly. I had the task of wiring the large branches into the pre assembled base of wood branches. I was behind the structure furiously wiring each branch that quickly came my way. It was MUCH faster than in the practice and at one point got too front heavy and started to pitch forward from the weight. I held onto it while Mr. Kawana had one of the other assistants bring a large square flower bucket filled with water. There buckets have small slits at the top and I wired the water filled bucket to the arrangement at the back. The weight of the water filled bucket counteracted against the weight of the arrangment. Problem solved! The flowers were then placed into the arrangement and Mr. Kawana’s wonderful demonstration was drawn to a close.
(Photos courtesy of Jane Redmon and Amy Culbertson)
October 26th, 2010 by Keith
It started with Sogetsu ikebana teachers and students cutting materials from the yards of generous members. I was unable to attend that day, and a wee bit thankful that I did not have to endure the 90+ degree weather. Branches of azalea, contorted filbert, smoketree, mahonia,curly willow and others were cut and gathered for the 12 pieces that Mr. Kawana was to create. I arrived the next morning at the home of Sheila Advani, to begin work on pulling all the materials for the demonstration. Mr. Kawana had sketched all 12 arrangements at his hotel room the night before in advance. Construction had just begun on the base of the tatehana that would be the final “showstopper” final arrangement for the demo. Various branches and trunk like pieces were drilled together to form the base (luckily I had brought my cordless drill). While I did jump right in on the construction, I was way too tenative and too afraid to make a mistake. It was my first lesson of the day. “Just do it”, my new mantra for ikebana. Working on the basic constrution of this piece taught me quite a bit, it has to be balanced and large enough to support large branches. We used two large metal washtubs to anchor the base of massed branches and screwed the branches together for stability. After the construction was finished and larger branches that were to be wired in place during the demo were chosen we moved on to the other 11 arrangements. Mr. Kawana was very decisive in his actions and and worked very quickly in picking containers for each of the arrangements that went with the preliminary sketches and materials he had chosen. He went thru each of the arrangements and we labeled each branch and bucket of flowers with the corresponding number of the arrangement and loaded them into vehicles. Soon we were on our way to the church to rehearse the demonstration (and thankful that we would be indoors for the rest of the afternoon on a day that reached a record temperature of 99 degrees).
We had the auditorium reserved for the afternoon so that we could do a practice run thru of the demo. What a valuable experience in learning how to demonstrate! Everything had to be labeled and the on- stage assistants needed to know what order the materials were to be given to Mr. Kawana. The pace had to be very quick, most of the arrangements had a time limit of 5 minutes from start to finish. It has to have a brisk pace in order to be able to do so many arrangements and to keep things moving along.
My next post will be about the actual demonstration !
October 12th, 2010 by Keith
The New York Times has a great article about Patrick Dougherty that you can read entitled “Building With Sticks and Stones“( I wrote about Mr. Dougherty in an earlier blog post). There is also a mention of Mr. Tetsunori Kawana, and I am currently working on my post about my recent experience as one of his demonstration assistants.
September 27th, 2010 by Keith
Exhibit: Autumn Ikebana of the Sogetsu School
October 1 – 3, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
United States National Arboretum, Washington,DC
National Bonsai & Penjing Museum
Special Exhibits Wing
The Sogetsu School of Washington, DC presents an autumn exhibition. Sogetsu ikebana is deeply rooted in Japanese tradition, yet embraces the modern age by promoting the use of plant materials of any type to create sculptural compositions. Sogetsu teacher Tone Olsen will create several types of arrangements at a drop-in demonstration in the Lecture/Demonstration Center on Sunday, October 3 from 1:00 – 2:30 pm. This is a free event open to the public.
