Demonstration and Exhibition 2

 "Spring is in the air" exhibition, most of the materials that we used were seasonal flowers. Here were our class members' arrangements.

On cloud 9 [身在雲端]. Demo by Sylvia Wei

Spring Reflections（春光外洩）by me

A  Basket of Summer Dream. Demo by Granzynka Shaarani

Go Modern [ 朝向時代]. by MeeiHuey sensei　

Graceful [婀哪多姿]. by June Wu

A writer's Inspiration. Demo by Grazynka Shaarani

The dawn of spring [春曉]. by Chih Huang

Looking out the windows [窗外]. by June Wu

Old and Young [老與少].
by Sensei

Peeking through the window
 [別有洞天]. by Sylvia Wei 

Invitation to the dance [ 邀舞]. by Chih Huang

Encounter [邂逅]. by Sylvia Wei

Hope Rising from the rubble. by Cheryl
Background is NYC painting

Reflection. by Cheryl 

Wave. by Mary

Decay. by Mary

Ah! Spring [春到人間].
 by Betty

Romancing [花前月下].
by Doris

Flowering in the basket
 [柳暗花明]. by Doris

Ever Green [松柏長青].
by Betty

March and April Orchids Bloom

 I was so busy and occupied by my many Ikebana activities this month. So I did not have much time to care and pay attention to my orchids. But they are still blooming so beautifully and smell nicely too.

Epi. Ciliare. Miniature, flower is 2" in size

Onc. Pacific Panachc 

L. Purpurata var. carnea x  Bl. Richard Mueller

Orange red cattleya

Onc. Mtdm. Issaku Nagata

still blooming over 6 weeks

Onc. Sherry Baby

Large Centerpiece at the Liberty Place

This Centerpiece was done by a group of Meiihuey Sensei's students. Under her leadership, we constructed a huge and beautiful arrangement at Liberty Place, city of Philadelphia. The arrangement is one of the many Japanese cherry blossom festival programs in the Greater Philadelphia. (4/11 to 4/17/2016)
Materials: Cherry blossom, mum, bamboo, willow, orchid, pine and many greens...
Here are the pictures I took from front, back and side view:

Hello Spring!

Judith Setsuko Hata Sensei and her students (Sogetsu Wasetsu Group) held an Ikebana Flower Exhibition at the Nippon Club, NYC. April 7-9-2016. Hata Sensei is a Senior Teacher of Sogetsu Ikebana, Riji Rank, the highest teacher's degree. She learned her art directly under Sofu Teshigahara, founder of the Sogetsu school, and then under his daughter and successor, Kasumi Teshigahara. Over 50 years, she has led her Study Group, comprised of students from all over the New York metropolitan area and the world.
As I mentioned before, she comes to our Main Line study group (PA) once a month to teach us. I am lucky enough to be one of her students. She is in her 80s, I admire her youthful look and energy. I believe her passion for Ikebana does all of this!
The first three pictures were Hata Sensei's arrangements. The other were some of her students' arrangements.

 

 

Spring is in The Air

Spring is definitely here! Two arrangements I made in MeeiHuey Sensei's class on March 22.
1) Spring is in the air: The bare branch looked like it is being swept away by the harsh Winter wind, with the Spring flowers coming along just on time.
2) An arrangement using Bamboo: Black pine and plum flower arranged with three bamboo sticks, vertical style. It 's simple and as fresh as Spring.

Class for March

Hata Sensei's class for March were:
1) Variation #3 Upright Style Nageire
Practiced the skill of fixing the branch in Nageire (long tall container) to be in the right angle or degrees.

Wild cheery blossom, Daffodil and green

2) Freestyle: All green arrangement (Glass container optional)

Trifoliate orange, mum, leched branch,Leucodendron and green

Sensei's demo with all green leaves and carnation

3) In a Suiban without Kenzan: I want to point it out here that I should not use driftwood to secure the branches. I did this arrangement many times before, I just wanted to try something different. Sensei said it's a no no!

Sensei's demo, showing the water is important 

My arrangement, driftwood used as kenzan, should not be allowed. 

In this class, there is no way that I can take a good picture. I have to apologize for that, because there is no background behind the arrangement. But I like to post all the arrangements here as my record of my work, also as my monthly journal.

Using Left Over Materials from Flower Show

After I broke down my arrangement at the end of the first rotation in the Philadelphia flower show. I want to use the leftover materials, they were still fresh. And I have this interesting one piece of wood stick which I like very much. So I chose a ceramic container with hole (see below), the stick went through it as a structure and arranged it with flowers for another different arrangement. (3/8/2016)