Ikebana

On the 8^th of this month, I went for an Ikebana exhibition at the Lalit Kala Academy with some of my friends. Ikebana refers to Japanese flower arrangement and is one of the traditional arts of Japan. In contrast to the gathering of flowers typical of flower arrangement in western countries, Japanese flower arrangement is based on the line of twigs and/or leaves, filled in with a small number of blooms. The container is a key element of the composition. The exhibition consisted of a vast display of flower arrangements, all neatly categorized with nameplates indicating the names of the plants, their source of origin and the person who created the arrangement.

One of my friends’ neighbors was an Ikebana artist at the exhibition and she was explaining to us the nuances of the various patterns, their source and clarifying our queries. Most of the twigs, flowers and barks used in the arrangements were sourced from IIT.

What was interesting was that the arrangement made use of no only flowers, but it also consisted of a liberal sprinkling of twigs, barks, roots, stems, leaves-all artistically arranged. Some of the plants looked so exotic, but we learned that they were commonly found in several parts of the city. Some of the vases used were also very innovative and unique and sourced from different parts of the world. Few of the arrangements were enormous and occupied entire sections of the wall. The sad thing was that the flowers would wilt in a few days’ time and so these exhibits were only temporary works of the artists.

It was interesting in that I learnt something new.And enjoyed myself while I was at it.