Metropolitan Museum

The Sogetsu School of Ikebana chose some of their New York based members to create some beautiful arrangements to be displayed at the Metropolitan Museum! Two of those members were my Grandmother (Kazuko Moriwaki) and my Aunt (Shoko Iwata).

When we first walked in, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my Aunt's arrangement (top) was the center piece in the room. It had a strong sweep to it that left me staring at it for a while. Below that was an arrangement done by my Grandmother, and two other members (Yuriko Hiramoto and Jacqueline Lorieo). This one was very interesting in that it had two arrangements almost physically interacting with each other to become one piece. Really beautiful and inspiring work from everyone who participated.

But it had also been a while since my last visit to this grand museum and I ended up having a lot of fun with my Leica camera. Below are some various shots I took throughout the enormous structure.

Ikebana Lesson 7

I forget what these flowers are called but they look and feel really strange. Almost artificial in a way I guess. But they are so fun to arrange with. This is probably the simplest arrangement I have done so far. Adding more in such a small container would've made it way too cluttered taking away from the focus on the "mystery" flowers. If anyone knows what they're called let me know in the comments section below. Thanks!

Ikebana Lesson 6

Whoops, I forgot to post one of the last arrangements I worked on. I made this one on March 14th. I chose the "Pod-shaped" container since it was so different from what I've used before. It was also more of a challenge since the hole was so small so there wasn't much space for the flowers to spread freely. I liked it in the end though. It was a very colorful arrangement.

I also attended a workshop the other week which included a demonstration by Gary Heise and a delicious pizza lunch. I took photos of the event. I'll upload them soon.

Ikebana Lesson 5

Here's what I did at my last Ikebana lesson, only this time using two sakura branches and some lilies. It's becoming quite hard to photograph these arrangements as they are getting larger and more difficult to maneuver around. But then again it's also fun to take them apart and rearrange. Most of the time you end up with an even better arrangement that way!

Ikebana Lessons

Last friday I had my 4th Ikebana (Japanese Flower Arranging) lesson and decided I'm going to start photographing all my arrangements. Here are a couple pictures:




My teacher just so happens to be my Grandmother. She's been teaching from her home for many years now and I, being a website/graphic designer, not only realized how much fun it would be, but also how these lessons could serve as weekly design exercises.