Learn and make your own Ikebana flower arrangements--Sogetue style
Time: Spring 2021
Learn and make your own Ikebana flower arrangements were lead by Max Zhang and me. We first introduced the differences between European-style flower arrangements (holding flowers) and Japanese ikebana. Then, I presented a step-by-step procedure on how to make a basic Japanese Sogetue Ikebana with an introduction of the basic concepts of Shin, Soe, Hikae (position name for branches and flowers), and kenzan (a unique tool in ikebana to hold flowers). Finally, I left 30 minutes for everyone to create their product. We exhibited all the flower arrangements students made in the school dining hall, campus center, and art barn. The purpose of our workshop is to spread the culture of Japanese flower arrangements. The Japanese ikebana and the Sogetue style have spread and emerged worldwide these days, which floral art education institutions were built up by professional artists around the world. Therefore, we wanted to share this beautiful culture with the school community and made it an exciting experience at the same time. Moreover, during the preparation and demonstration of this workshop, we got many unexpected gains.
The whole preparation process was tense and complex, but in the end, we broke the limitations brought by the epidemic to the greatest extent. Because of the epidemic, we can only present our workshop on Google Meet. However, we still would like everyone to learn the culture while participating in it. To do so, we must maintain close contact with teachers to find ways to obtain flower materials and tools safely. With the help of many teachers, we got the required materials and achieved the perspective effect. Meanwhile, during the communication with the school and teachers, we also feel more trusted and learned how to communicate effectively.
One of the significant features of Japanese ikebana is to use branches to express the beauty of curves, which is a brand new concept and inspiration for me and many of my classmates. The workshop successfully led everyone to learn to observe, discover, and praise the environment from different directions, which is the same in people's relationships. I believe that many students have realized this after the workshop. Although we showed everyone basic Japanese ikebana works, we did not set any restrictions or templates for the students when they were free to create. This helps to stimulate and maximize everyone's creativity and imagination to understand that anyone should have the ability to define, discover, and create beauty. Moreover, we wanted everyone to learn to be more tolerant and respectful of other’s works, which represent their perspective of beauty while they were sharing their creations. Our workshop was not only just lectures but also interactive. Therefore, the atmosphere of our workshop was relaxed. In a pleasant environment, we successfully let more students concretely learn and try Japanese ikebana, and spread Japanese traditional culture. This has also stimulated everyone's interest in exploring new things and is more tolerant of various cultures. I believe they would be more willing to try new things in the future and explore different cultures in different countries with awe and excitement.