The Legacy of Mary Sugiyama-Sogetsu Ikebana Exhibition at the United States National Arboretum was a great success and a wonderful tribute to the memory of Mrs. Sugiyama.
Mrs. Sugiyama, whose professional name was Seiho, was the American director of the Sogetsu School of Japanese flower arranging. She was appointed executive director of Sogetsu USA in 1967 by Sofu Teshigahara, founder and headmaster of the Sogetsu school in Tokyo.
From 1967 to 1993, Mrs. Sugiyama established 45 branches and study groups of the Sogetsu school in the United States. Her flower arrangements graced such venues as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City and the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.
Sogetsu Ikebana Exhibit: The Legacy of Mary Sugiyama
June 19 – 20, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm National Bonsai & Penjing Museum
Special Exhibits Wing
Ikebana students from throughout the United States and Japan return to the United States National Arboretum in Washington,DC for this annual tribute to their teacher, the late Mary Sugiyama. The exhibit features the sogetsu school of ikebana, a style which is based in tradition but encourages free-form use of materials and forms. Attend a free ikebana demonstration Sunday, June 20 at 1:00 pm. Free.
What does spring cleaning have to do with with ikebana? Vases or suiban that need a dusting or washing? Maybe. My spring chore was trying to clean my dirty hasami (ikebana shears) . But I just could not find any way to remove any of the grit, grime and rust on them. This is what I am talking about:
Yuck! So I figured that there must be some trick to it. I’ve been told to use peppermint oil, steel wool, and an assortment of other things. But I knew there had to be an easier way. Now I can tell you, there is. The Klingspor Sandflex hand block!
The Klingspor Sandflex hand block is a small, soap bar sized rubber block that is similar to an eraser with grit embedded in it. It’s easy to use and removes all that yuck from your hasami easily and safely. It comes in Course, Medium or Fine, and the Fine is recommended for ikebana shears(it is NOT recommended for use with the expensive gold plated shears). It’s available thru bonsai shops or online. I bought mine from Maiban Bonsai on Ebay. Here is the result of just a few minutes of polishing:
The annual spring exhibition of ikebana by the Washington,DC chapter of Ikebana International will open tomorrow, Friday April 2nd and will run thru April 26th. It will take place at the United States National Arboretum and is open daily from 10am to 4pm. The exhibition is located inthe National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, Special Exhibits Wing. Master demonstrators will give free ikebana demonstrations on Sundays April 4,11,18,and 26 at 1pm, all events are free to the public.
Here’s a short YouTube video of the exhibition from 2008:
Last night, March 4th, the Washington, DC Sogetsu Ikebana Chapter opened it’s biennial show in collaboration with the Art League Gallery in Alexandria, VA . The show pairs 22 ikebana artists with artwork chosen from Torpedo Factory artists, and is on display thru Sunday.
For my installation I chose a wood engraving by artist Rosemary Feit Covey and a horsehair ceramic piece by Phyllis Roderer. I created a two pieces of sculpture, composed of large nails and cable ties, and added a touch of pine and single stem of purple phalaenopis orchid.
The Biennial Sogetsu Ikebana Exhibition will also feature several other events :
Ikebana flower arranging demonstration by Tone Olsen : Saturday, March 6, 1:00 pm
Japanese Tea Ceremony and discussion of Chado, the Japanese way of tea, with Stephen di Girolamo of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution: Sunday, March 7, 1:30 pm
Musical performances by the Washington Toho Koto, Performed by Mrs. Kyoto Okamoto: Sunday, March 7, 3:00 pm
The Vancouver Olympic games not only has athletics, but also art. One such piece is the dramatic Vectorial Vancouver light display. The best part, it’s controlled by YOU on the internet. Go to the site and make your own light sculpture and have it seen briefly in the night sky over the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. I did two pieces that were seen in the night sky last night! One of them is pictured below:
More Hana Dome from the workshop, this one is wired also. It’s done with red stick dogwood branches, yellow chrysanthemums, and some green plumosa fern to give it a soft, gentle look. I’ve also included a link for a PDF file on how to wire so that you can see how it’s done.
In the photo below I show Hana Dome made by fixing branches together with nails, in this one I’ve used cherry branches. I completed the design using banksia protea and some dried banana leaves. There’s a link for another PDF file too, so that you can learn how to affix branches together with either screws or nails.
The new year brought a new challenge for me, and that challenge was leading my very first workshop. Earlier last year I had attended the 8th North American Sogetsu Seminar and took part in several workshops. One of the workshops was “Hana Dome” or “flower fixture”, and I was asked to teach that for the January workshop for the Washington,DC Sogetsu Ikebana chapter. Basically Hana Dome is a method of fixing branch material together, using either wire or nails, to make a fixture that will hold flowers and greens in place without the use of a kenzan.
I first demonstrated Hana Dome made from curly willow branches, and secured it with wire. Using the willow I chose to make a more organic form, something that I think the willow lends itself to. I placed the fixture in a ceramic container and added white calla lilies and a monstera leaf. You can use the ends of the wire as an interesting focal point by covering them with material such as the red hypericum berries pictured below, or simply bend the wires to blend with the fixture.
In part two I will talk more about the process of wiring branches together, and show another example from my demonstration.
