'SMALL IS (ALSO) BEAUTIFUL'

After the large sculptural piece of last week, this week I have made a work at the other end of the scale. I made this small arrangement for a class in which my teacher set the exercise of, 'an arrangement using chrysanthemums'. I thought about their traditional use in Japan and how well they go with pine. However, I decided to try to create something with a contemporary rather than naturalistic feel.

In this quirky vase, from Mashiko, I arranged pine needles only and then added a single purple chrysanthemum.

I then decided to experiment with the pine needles alone. Using them upside down I created a mass by inserting some first into a kenzan then adding individual clusters (fascicles) of needles in such a way that they interlocked and became self supporting. The blue crystalline glaze vase is by Dean Smith, a ceramic artist from Castlemaine in Victoria, and was a gift from an American friend who also practices Sogetsu Ikebana.

Here it is on the shelf in our living room.

Greetings from Christopher
25th May 2013