My Ikebana journey actually started in early February of this year (2020) when I traveled to Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids MI for a morning introductory class on Ikebana. After the class I asked the instructor for more information about continuing to learn Ikebana. She emailed me contact info for the Lansing Ikebana Chapter #134 (Michigan), and to an international Ikebana teacher and artist, Ilse Beunen, who lives and teaches in Belgium.
I contacted the Lansing Ikebana Chapter and was invited to attend their winter meeting later in February. I attended that meeting and joined the Chapter as well.
I contacted Ilse Beunen and found she has a regular e-newsletter which I signed up to receive.
Then COVID hit us all in mid-March…no more in-person Lansing Ikebana Chapter meetings and Ilse Beunen couldn’t teach in-person in her Belgium studio anymore. As a result ZOOM was added to our vocabulary and lives. My Chapter meetings through next year are Ikebana videos from the International Office and seen by the members in the comfort of our own homes. Ilse has learned to use Zoom to reach out to the world to teach Ikebana.
Through Ilse’s e-newsletter I learned she was offering a four-week session this past summer via Zoom on learning different Ikebana techniques and it would only be open to six participants. I signed up and got in! After the four weeks, the six participants were eager to continue so Ilse organized a 10-week Beginner’s Course of Sogetsu Ikebana for us…via Zoom…which began in late August. Sogetsu Ikebana is one of the four main Japanese Schools of Ikebana and there are a total of 110 lessons to complete the full course of study.
We have just completed our first 10-week course of lessons and we each have received our Certificate of Completion for Part One from Ilse! We all will admit, including Ilse, it has been both an interesting and challenging journey. Without Zoom none of us would be having this incredible opportunity to learn Ikebana from a renown and respected teacher such as Ilse. Yet learning to work with and communicate through the technology, in addition to learning the skills needed to do Ikebana correctly, has had its ups and downs. But we have made it through this first set of 10 lessons and are looking forward to starting up again in January for our next 10 lessons.
Here are pictures of my designs from the past couple months representing different basic techniques that all students of Sogetsu Ikebana must master. When I could I used floral materials from my own garden and I am including pictures of that as well.
Lesson #1 –
Basic Upright Moribana (shallow vase) with left side orientation –
Apple tree branches and store-bought roses
Lesson #2 –
Basic Upright Moribana (shallow vase) with right-side orientation –
Limelight Hydrangea and Rudbeckia from my late summer garden
Limelight Hydrangeas turning to a rosy pink as summer turns to fall
Rudbeckia growing tall along the side fence in the back yard
Lesson #3 –
Basic Upright Nagerie (tall vase) with right-side orientation –
Japanese Maple and Pink Mandevilla
Japanese Maple Tree highlighted by the setting autumn sun
Pink Mandevilla and Hibiscus growing in pots along the front porch
Lesson #4 –
Basic Upright Nagerie (tall vase) Free-Style with left-side orientation –
Limelight Hydrangeas and large Hosta leaves
Limelight Hydrangeas growing along the back fence in the back yard –
large leaf Hostas growing behind and under the Limelight Hydrangeas
Ornamental Pumpkin Totem – used bottom ornamental pumpkin for my Fall Free-Style Nagerie
Lesson #5 –
Fall Free-Style Upright Nagerie (tall vase incorporated in a large ornamental pumpkin) –
Crab apple branches, brown chrysanthemums, ornamental grass tassels, and mini-pumpkins with vines –
all from my garden
Fall Free-Style Nagerie adjusted after teacher’s comments to create
a stronger “line” closer to the ornamental pumpkin vase
Four baby Boo Pumpkins plants planted next to the compost pile in a structure of tomato cages
Boo Pumpkin plants getting some growth on them
Four Boo Pumpkin vines now growing over my compost pile –
I started these plants from seed in early Spring
Little Boo Pumpkins finally showing up!
Lesson #6 –
Basic Slanted Moribana (shallow vase) with left-side orientation –
Store-bought foliage
Lesson #8 –
Basic Slanted Nagerie (tall vase) with left-side orientation –
Zebra Ornamental Grass and Knock-Out Roses from the garden
Knock-Out Roses still blooming in mid-November along the side of the house
Final Assignment…
Thanksgiving tablescape with assignment to make a paper vase for flowers
and use water tubes to hold seasonal flowers
12″ x12″ gold glittered ribbed cardstock folded in half and tied with cranberry satin ribbon bows –
two water tubes inside the fold hold autumn-colored store-bought chrysanthemums
I like your Ikebana arrangements and am glad you had a way to learn more about it online with your instructor. How many times have we said simple is profoundly beautiful. And this art shows that. I like when they do it at the tea house in Sagnaw and when the other lady does her flower arranging.. I also liked your 3 pumpkins that were stacked up. I think were going to try to do something like that next year for our porch decoration. As always, thank you for sharing and Happy Thanksgiving.