Ikebana demonstration in Minneapolis

I did an Ikebana demonstration in Minneapolis, MN. The reason why I went to there is to attend the enrollment ceremony of Macalester college as my daughter starts to study there. The president of the biggest flower school in Minneapolis, the Koehler & Dramm Institute of Floristry, kindly invited me to do a demonstration there. I really appreciate Ms. Ardith Beveridge for her powerful support.

The right person is Ardith who supported me a lot. As the company has a wholesale flower market and container shop as well as a flower school, I could use flowers and containers freely with their generosity.

I arranged 12 Ikebana works.

Firstly, I showed the principle of Ikebana, “Less is More”. The use of one flower, one leaf and one piece of foliage has more meaning than the use of many. I arranged only one branch and one flower in a small vase to show the beauty of simplicity.

The second arrangement is the easy and simple one that everyone can start from today.  I created beautiful spaces just with a few leaves and flowers with adding a movement in the structure.

The third one. I made the most of the lines of  grass, steel grass, to show the beauty of leaves. People tend to think that leaves are sub-character, but they have their own beauty if you pay close attention to them.

The 4th arrangement. I changed the shape of leaves dramatically.

Here is a video to make this Ikebana arrangement.

The fifth Arrangement.

The 6th arrangement with palm leaves and hydrangea.

I changed the shape of palm leaves and created the diversified possibility of leaves.  A big circle of Siberian dogwood gives a dramatic tension in space.

The 7th arrangement. Center part is Artichoke, a vegetable.

The 8th arrangement features the color, red.

The 9th arrangement. Inspired by the shape of vase, I aimed at the geometric structure.

Horsetail and a fig branches.

The 10th arrangement is a earthy and powerful structure to show the dignity of our mother nature.

The 11th arrangement is a huge one. I was explaining how to fix materials in a big-mouth and tall vase.
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The final arrangement. The biggest arrangement in this demonstration.

Every arrangement was auctioned, a silent auction that guests write down their price at that they want to buy.

With Ardith

With Yoshie who is also a teacher of Ikebana and supported me a lot.

If you have time, please check the photo album of this demonstration. I uploaded a lot of photos.
Photo album of Ikebana Demonstration in Minneapolis