May 28, 2003
Flowers ancient Asian art form
Workshop teaches Ikebana arranging
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Living the idea of friendship through flowers, area Ikebana enthusiasts gathered this weekend to learn more about this art of Japanese flower arranging.
A seminar on Saturday and a hands-on workshop on Sunday were both conducted by Harry Able of Smyrma, Ga., a master gardener in Asian Arts who has studied bonsai for 26 years. The events were held in conjunction with the Dennos Museum's exhibit Tradition and Transformation: The Art of Japan and sketched the basics of this Japanese art form called Ikebana.
On Saturday afternoon, Able held court and created beauty for 32 attendees during a Japanese Flower Arranging seminar held at the Milliken Auditorium. Many seminar and workshop attendees are members of the Mizuwmi Chapter #165 of Ikebana International, a local group founded in 1972 to promote Ikebana. Ikebana was founded in Japan in 1956 and Ikebana International now has chapters around the world.
Mizuwmi members hosted Able for his visit and some took him to the Farmer's Market before the seminar. There he gathered some additional materials for his classes to add to the vanload he brought from Georgia. Mizuwmi members also brought samples from their own gardens, surrounding Able's worktable with buckets of vibrant flowers.
From this palate, he created some simple, harmonious arrangements that typify Ikebana. Three main elements of the designs represent the heavens, man and earth.
"It is not really the number of flowers but the fullness or sparseness you are trying to create," said Able, who has a teaching certificate in the Ikenobo School and a Senior Associate Certificate with the Ichiyo School. "Why do we use three flowers in Ikebana? It means good luck."
More than 300 Ikebana schools exist around the world, with the Ikenobo and Ichiyo styles Able demonstrated representing just two of them. Each school has its cherished nuances that an expert can use to quickly distinguish among them.
"In the Ichiyo school, they try to stress the liveliness of the plant coming out at you rather that being stuck," Able noted.
In addition to living flowers, Able also incorporated dried flowers, twigs and bark into his creations. "Ikebana means living flowers but that doesn't mean we can't use dried flowers," he noted.
One of his more dramatic arrangements Saturday afternoon incorporated large bamboo stalks he harvested from his own yard. While discussing the unique properties of different varieties of bamboo, Able cut and trimmed these six-foot stalks of bamboo. He then embedded them in a container and surrounded them with delicate flowers, providing a study in contrasts.
"I have this theory, there's no trash when it comes to bamboo," said Able, who even incorporates dried bamboo stalk coverings into his arrangements.
On Sunday afternoon, Able conducted a hands-on workshop that led 15 attendees through the methods of making bamboo containers.
"It was just great, everybody had so much fun," said Eunice Pines, a member of the Mizuwmi Chapter #165 of Ikebana International for 12 years. "The janitor was going to come over and clean up for another event around 5 o'clock and she hated to come in there because everybody was having too much fun."
Pines said the workshop attendees appreciated learning about bamboo, a new material for them.
"The bamboo is different, usually our containers are ceramic or that sort of thing," she noted. "I don't think hardly anybody has bamboo containers but they do now."
While Ikebana practitioners are often gardeners, as many of the seminar and workshop attendees are, gardening is sometimes secondary to their devotion to flower arranging.
"It's a little bit different, we do garden because we like to grow the materials we use," Pines said.