FALL NEWSLETTER #46
September 2020
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
2020 thus far has been an extraordinary year. All global activities have been severely influenced by Covid-19. With no exception, our year round exhibitions have also been cancelled for the safety of all. It seems that we’re going to have a new order of the world, a new way of moving into a new era – no hugs due to social distancing, and no smiling faces due to wearing masks. Do people still trust each other in the future? There’s so much uncertainty in the air. However, once you step out onto the field and wilderness, you’ll see those vibrant trees and flowers blooming. With Autumn coming, the foliage of trees are ready to change colours. It’s still a beautiful world out there!
On the other hand, the virtual and digital world is expanding. During the pandemic, the Powell Street Festival invited us to make a video to be presented at their Telethon. On August 1st, audiences from around the world were gathered behind screens in celebration of Japanese-Canadian culture. You can check our Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/VancouverIkebana to see the video. I’m glad we had the opportunity to be a part of it.
Also in August, Joan and I visited Sun Zen Art Gallery in the downtown area to discuss opportunities for collaborations in exhibitions (it’s a gallery of Chinese tea, tea pots, furniture, calligraphy and painting). Please see the last page for some pictures of the gallery. They were suggesting that we make ikebana in their antique teapots, for their second anniversary. I’m hoping we’ll be able to build a positive relationship going forward.
Meanwhile, the 2nd Annual National Asian Heritage Month Symposium is happening on September 10th to 13th, and I encourage you to participate in some of the events happening then. A separate Mailchimp message is being sent.
Ikebana is an art form with floral materials. The beauty of nature does bring tranquility and peace to our heart and soul. I encourage you all to make unique arrangements using the materials you can find from your garden or the neighbourhood and share with your friends. People will find love, peace and comfort with just a glimpse of the beautiful arrangements. Caring is crucial during this quarantine season; our love and ikebana can carry us through this difficult time!
Sincerely, Cecily Chang, President VIA
The following was printed in the Globe and Mail, on the Mother’s Day weekend this past spring. I was one of the people that Matthew Hague, a freelance writer in Toronto, interviewed for the article. In it, a new Ikebana book is mentioned, which has recently been ordered for our library. I hope that you enjoy the article. Joan
“Florals? For Spring? Groundbreaking!” So slammed Meryl Streep as fictional fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly in the film The Devil Wears Prada, dismissing petals and blossoms as cliche. She likely wasn’t talking about ikebana, though.
This Japanese art of austere flower arrangement often incorporates just one or two blooms that stand tall like attentive soldiers, held in place in a sleek vase by a kenzan – a small bed of nails hidden under a handful of stones and placed in a pool of water. The technique dates to the 6th-century, yet its minimal, modern sensibility feels very right for Mother’s Day weekend in 2020, when an interest in Instagram-worthy arrangements and more time to pick up new hobbies have converged.
What keeps ikebana interesting is that it’s not readily commercialized and rarely sold in flower shops. “Usually the arrangement falls apart during transportation”, says Joan Fairs, a master ikebana instructor and past president of the Vancouver Ikebana Association. “The way the stems stand vertically is very delicate and precarious but precious. Also the arrangement should be made with consideration of the room it will sit in. The whole composition, including the vase, should be harmonious with the surroundings.”
It’s hard to order site specificity over the phone, but if you’re designing for a home you know well, it’s not a problem. And while an ikebana arrangement may not last a typical delivery, it could survive a careful, socially distant porch drop-off.
The more personal the better, anyway.
“If you’re giving ikebana for Mother’s Day, you should do it yourself,” says Betty-Lou Arai, a Toronto-based master who has been teaching the craft at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto since the 1970’s. “You’re going to give it to your mother. It should be from your heart.”
DIYers can find inspiration in a book such as Ikebana Unbound: A Modern Approach to the Ancient Japanese Art of Flower Arranging. The instructional volume, which was released in April by popular San Francisco florists Studio Mondine, breaks down the approach in simple, easy-to-follow steps.
Ikebana has been heavily influenced by Buddhism, but as with the religion, there are different schools of thought. Rebecca Cragg teaches ikebana at Camellia Teas in Ottawa and studied flower arranging for seven years in Japan. She tends to stick to ikebana’s ancient past, prizing principles such as only using local, seasonal and unaltered flowers. “When I was learning in Japan, I tried to hand-open some unopened blooms, pulling the petals apart one by one”, she says. “My teacher yelled at me the word ‘virgin!’ In her rudimentary English, she was telling me I was violating – defiling – the flower.”
For mid-spring, strict seasonality may include peonies. Just not too many. “Try one”, Cragg says. “With a beautiful glass vase and heartfelt note. With just the flower itself, its colour, its height, its connection to the person you’re giving it to are all amplified by the simplicity. The peony might get lost with a bunch of daffodils and greenery and bundled with lots of ribbon.”
If peonies aren’t blooming yet, Cragg suggests searching out something evergreen. “If you can find a pine, great, because pine represents longevity and presumably we want our mothers to live a long time”, she says. In Vancouver, where spring tends to be more lush than in the east, Fairs has done May arrangements with white lilacs from her garden.
Not every ikebana expert is so strict about seasonality. “Traditionally, everything was limited to what was growing nearby”, Arai says. “But then freestyle came in in the 1960s, allowing just about anything – any flowers and containers. Freestyle is especially prevalent now because of how small the world is getting. You can buy tulips year-round. You couldn’t do that before.”
For a freestyle Mother’s Day arrangement, Arai might suggest pink alstroemeria, symbols of friendship and devotion also known as Peruvian lilies, neatly arrayed in a shallow glass dish with a flourish of thin ribbons of steel to add a touch of whimsy. “Its very pretty”, she says.
Even within freestyle, some of the other ikebana guidelines carry over. The flowers should be well proportioned to the vase, and the vase should be well-made glass or clay, not cheap plastic. The flowers themselves should be freshly cut, and not overcrowded or put together clumsily.
The act of arranging can even be a gift to the giver, providing a few moments of focus and calm. “Ikebana is very relaxing”, Arai says. “I teach a lot of business people, including men with corporate jobs. It’s so interesting to see them stare so intently at the flowers and get lost in what they are doing.”
Late Chrysanthemum Show
At GardenWorks, Mandeville Garden
4746 SE Marine Drive, Burnaby
SATURDAY
Nov 7, 2020… 12:00pm – 4:00pm
SUNDAY
Nov 8… 10:00am – 4:00pm
Members of the Chrysanthemum Association are still hoping to hold the show of late blooming chrysanthemums at GardenWorks, Mandeville Garden in November. Many meetings, plant sales and shows worldwide have been cancelled due to the corona virus. We hope that safe distancing will be possible at the nursery and that we will be able to get together to enjoy our displays and ikebana in a manner that Dr. Henry would approve. Masks would be a new feature at the show.
We wish you all a good summer. Stay safe and enjoy the lovely late blooms in our gardens.
Marie Ogryzlo
VIA in the Community
Vancouver Ikebana Association has been part of the Cherry Blossom Festival from the beginning of the event in Vancouver. We had displays and workshops at Queen Elizabeth Park and VanDusen Garden since 2002.
We even did workshops in tents on the lawn of VanDusen, as well as in the Cedar Room. We were looking forward to the workshops at Sakura Days this year. We miss sharing our ikebana with everyone this year. We will return to Sakura Days at VanDusen next year, we hope!
VIA has been a part of the flower and garden communities in Vancouver for over 50 years. We are a group of 5 different schools of ikebana. Our website is: Vancouver-ikebana.ca. We gather as flower friends for quarterly meetings and provide newsletters for members. We have an active library, container sales and participate in special events, such the Powell Street Festival, Mum Shows, and various other festivities. Our annual Spring Show was canceled this year, but it usually takes place in May. We offer classes and enjoy being guest speakers at events and clubs.
Judie Glick
TREASURER’S REPORT – August 28, 2020
Bank Balance December 31, 2019 $4667.38
Income $1635.08
Expenses $ 851.44
Bank Balance August 28, 2020 $5451.02
Plus 2 term deposits: Term of $2000.00, matures September 9, 2020 @1.7%% and another for $5000.00 matures June 1,2021 @ 1.1%
We have 73 paid up members plus 3 honorary members for a total of 76 members. I wish to thank all members who renewed their membership and maintained their support during this pandemic.
Rose Scott, Treasurer/Membership
Library Report
Ikebana Inspired by Emotions by Katrien VanMoerbeke was ordered earlier this year, and was shipped to Point Roberts. Unfortunately, it didn’t arrive to the post office there, before the border shut down. Hopefully, I will be able to get it in the near future.
Another book, Ikebana Unbound: A Modern Approach to the Ancient Japanese Art of Flower Arranging by Amanda Luu and Ivanka Matsuba has been ordered and should arrive to my home address soon.
If anyone would like to borrow a VIA library book, please contact Joan to arrange a pick up in Burnaby.
Romy Chan, Librarian
Upcoming Events
September 19th : Outdoor Business meeting at #802 8485 New Haven Close 1:30. RSVP to Cecily. Number of attendees limited.
November 7th and 8th: Point Grey Chrysanthemum Association Late Mum Show, GardenWorks, Burnaby.
November 21st to January 21st: Exhibition at Sun Zen Gallery, Vancouver. Details still to be worked out.
May 8th 2021: Spring Show Alan Emmott Centre, Burnaby
VIA Executive 2020
President Cecily Cheng yccecily@gmail.com 778-834-8153
Vice President Elizabeth Theriault theriaultelizabeth124@gmail.com 647-824-6055
Second Vice President Kimberly Cooke kfairs@shaw.ca 604- 218-4853
Past President Joan Fairs joanfairs@shaw.ca 604-813-8054
Treasurer Rose Scott rose_scott@telus.net 250-558-3661
Secretary Vacancy
Library Romy Chan sewmom@hotmail.com 604-339-1993
Newsletter editor Joan Fairs joanfairs@shaw.ca 604-813-8054
Please consider becoming our new Secretary, since the position is vacant.
Sun Zen Art Gallery 429 Howe Street, Vancouver
