Filtering by Tag: demonstration

Zoom Demo At SMU

Added on by the ikebana shop.

Every year, we are honoured to be invited to present ikebana to the Japanese Culture course offered at St. Mary’s University.

Normally, the demonstration would have been live in the classroom. Afterwards, the students would have been able to see the ikebana arrangements up close and enjoy the subtle details.

But of course, this year is different. University lectures are being conducted online and so must our demonstration! We are posting the demo arrangements below so that the students may have a second look at them.

We’d like to thank Dr. Alexandre Avdulov of the Department of Modern Languages and Classics and all the students in the Japanese Culture course for your warm welcome and keen interest!

Believe it or not, this was our first “Zoom event” ever.

Believe it or not, this was our first “Zoom event” ever.

Arrangement No. 1 - Basic Upright Moribana

Arrangement No. 2 - Drawing Attention to the Container

Arrangement No. 3 - Seasonal Arrangement: Autumn

We hope you enjoyed the demonstration!

Exploring Japanese Culture at Ross Creek

Added on by the ikebana shop.

The Ross Creek Centre For The Arts is a not-for-profit organization with the noble mission to provide arts education to youth, nurturing the next generation artists through various programs in performing/visual arts, crafts, and even gardening/cooking! Many professional artists from all over also visit the Centre through their residency/retreat programs. This offers valuable opportunities for the youth to interact with established artists.

Last Sunday (Apr 7th, 2019), the Centre hosted a community event-- Exploring Japanese Culture. We were honoured to present an ikebana demonstration. The beautiful facility is tucked away in a small corner of the Annapolis Valley in Canning, NS, about 1.5 hrs drive from Halifax. For first-time visitors like us, the area felt remote. Would people really go there? Our concern was unfounded! The turnout was great and we found a very vibrant and involved community. The ikebana demonstration was well-received as was the chanoyu (tea ceremony) presentation after us.

Thank you Chris, Ken, Kathleen (wonderful food...and your Japanese cheesecake is to die for!) and the rest of the Ross Creek staff for your very warm welcome! We enjoyed ourselves immensely.

 

Demo At The Mahone Bay Garden Club

Added on by the ikebana shop.

Thank you very much to the Mahone Bay Garden Club for your warm welcome last night!

We were very happy for the opportunity to introduce ikebana to you.  We loved your insightful questions and sharp observations!  We hope you enjoyed our presentation!

Maybe we'll see some of you in our ikebana lessons one day!

Demonstration At The Chester Garden Club

Added on by the ikebana shop.

Thank you to the members of the Chester Garden Club for your warm welcome last night.  We are very happy to have the opportunity to introduce ikebana to you!

We hope you enjoyed the presentation.

...and we hope we'll see you in one of our ikebana lessons one day! 

Ikebana At The Berkeley

Added on by the ikebana shop.

On Sunday, Aug. 3rd, we had the opportunity to present a short demonstration of ikebana at The Berkeley (Gladstone St., Halifax), a retirement home for senior citizens.

We would like to thank Pam, one of the residents, for inviting and giving us the opportunity to introduce ikebana to the community at The Berkeley.

There was some animated discussion after the demonstration too.  We hope the flowers brought a little extra cheer to the Sunday afternoon.

Afterwards, our gracious host, Pam, showed us around the garden that the residents work on.  The flowers beds are set on raised plant boxes so that the ladies would not have to stoop down to tend them.  Such wonderful colours there!

We've left the flower arrangements at the residence so that people could enjoy them for a while longer.  Thank you everyone for your enthusiastic attention to our demonstration!  Thank you to the management and staff at The Berkeley for having us there.

Ikebana At The Halifax Public Gardens

Added on by the ikebana shop.

It was our first time to do an ikebana demonstration outdoors.  It was a bright, warm, sunny day.  We were surrounded by wonderful trees.  The setting was perfect....

....until the wind started to blow!  By normal standards, it was a mildly pleasant breeze.  By ikebana standards, it was a bit scary! :-)  Those rocks on the table were not ornamental. They were there to keep the table cover from flapping about!

Anyway, Miyako started doing what she did best.  At first there were only a few people...

...but not long after, people started to take notice.  

Something beautiful was being created here!

And more people came to watch.

Pretty soon, there was a good-sized crowd.

The Public Gardens had let us take some branches from the trees and bushes, like these beautiful rhododendrons.  (We added rocks on the kenzan to give it more weight to withstand the wind!)

Also some very lovely crab apple blossoms!  Unfortunately, the wind gods were merciless with this arrangement.  It got knocked over right after completion!  At least people still got a glimpse!  :-)

At the end, some curious members of the audience wanted to try using the kenzan!

We thank everyone who spent the afternoon with us.  We hope you enjoyed the "show".   Thank you to the Halifax Public Gardens, most especially to Ms. Helen MacLean, for making this possible (and for letting us take some of your branches!)  Thank you also to Miyako's students who came to offer support.  You know who you are!

 

All photos by the ikebana shop.  All rights reserved.

Ikebana Demo & Workshop At The Lord Nelson

Added on by the ikebana shop.

Updated June 5, 2014

Due to unavoidable circumstances, the schedule has been changed as follows:

  • Jun 8th (Sun), 1:00-3:00 p.m. ikebana demonstration by Miyako at the Halifax Public Gardens.  Open to the public.
  • Jun 10th (Tue) 6:30-8:30 p.m. Beginner ikebana workshop* at The Lord Nelson.

*Advanced registration for workshop is necessary.  Please contact Halifax Public Gardens directly.

Our apologies for any inconvenience.  See you there!


In celebration of the Nova Scotia Gardening Week, we are working together with the Halifax Public Gardens to present an ikebana demonstration and workshop at The Lord Nelson Hotel (1515 South Park St., Halifax NS) on June 8th, Sunday, 1-4 p.m.  The workshop is suited for those who have never tried ikebana before!

The cost for the activity is $30.  You get to bring home your arrangement!  We will prepare the containers and flowers but participants are asked to bring with them their own floral clippers (your regular gardening clippers are OK!)

Advanced registration is required.  Please contact Halifax Public Gardens directly by phone (902) 490-4518 or email.

We hope to see you there!

 


Demo At The Caritas Residence

Added on by the ikebana shop.

Last Nov 27th, we had the opportunity to present an ikebana demonstration at the Caritas Residence, Halifax NS.  The Caritas is a retirement residence sitting on a hill just above Mt. Saint Vincent University with a beautiful view of the Bedford Basin.  Senior citizens and retired Sisters of Charity live there.

IMG_1597.jpg

About 15 lovely ladies joined us.  Most of them had never heard of ikebana before so it was a pleasure to introduce this beautiful art to them.  They were a rapt audience! 

PB270051.jpg

"It was like poetry in motion," commented Sister Helen.  The smiles and words of appreciation after the demonstration made it all worthwhile. :-) 

Thank you very much for your kind and warm welcome!  We hope you enjoyed the ikebana.

Thank you to Susan B., Recreation Coordinator, for making this possible.  

Special thanks to our friend, Fran, who made the introductions...and for taking pictures with our clunky old camera!  Thank you Fran!

Ikebana Demonstration At SMU

Added on by the ikebana shop.

Last Thursday, Nov 14th, I had the chance to give an ikebana demonstration at St. Mary University in Halifax.

It was for the Introduction to Japanese Culture class in the Department of Modern Languages and Classics.

It was great to be around young people.  Their enthusiasm gave me energy.  They posed many interesting questions.  I hope I was able to answer them adequately!

The following day, some of the students even dropped by the shop to say "Hello" and told me they had enjoyed the presentation.  I really appreciated that!

Special thanks to Dr. Alexandre Avdulov for giving me this opportunity to present what ikebana is all about to your class....and thank you for being my photographer! :-)  --Miyako