The traditional artform of Japanese flower arrangement known as ikebana has a centuries-old tradition and is counted as one of the three classical Japanese arts of refinement.
Because of the art’s rich history, traditional schools have rigid rules which students have to adhere to.
However, the Sogetsu school was formed to break away from traditional Ikebana and allow its students to promote their own individual styles and expressions. Today, it is considered one of the unconventional schools where practitioners are given more creative freedom in designing and building their pieces.
“The Sogestu school is avant-garde. We are not traditional. When the school was formed, our headmaster asked ‘Why can’t we make things that we want to do?’ He wanted more freedom. This is how it all started,” Sogestu Ikebana Philippines directress Margot Perez shared.
This is readily apparent in the recently-held Ikebana Sogetsu exhibit at Uptown Mall in Bonifacio Global City (BGC). The first since the pandemic lockdown in 2020, the Ikebana Sogetsu exhibit named Papel saw participants incorporate paper in its many forms into their arrangements.
“I told the participants ‘We are going to use paper but I do not want you to be doing paper flowers because the Ike in Ikebana means life and there needs to be a live piece. However, they can insert paper in their arrangements. This is why the arrangements are all different,” Perez added.
One of the most eye-catching pieces in the exhibit is the work done by Harold Hanopol, one of the younger Ikebana Sogetsu artists. Titled Hope, the piece which featured blue and yellow roses was inspired by the works of Ukranian artist Arthur Tselishchev.
“Shin, the longest vertical lines in the arrangement, depicts two artists coming from the East and the West, giving the best they could to provide inspiration through their art.
Hikae, the focal point of the arrangement is a dedication to the brave souls who lost their lives in the war. The deep red color of the glaze of the Sang De Boeuf vessel depicts the innocent lives lost during the war. Though they may have departed from this world, their memory lives on, a poignant reminder of the price of peace and the enduring strength of the human spirit,” Hanopol shared.
For first time exhibitor and the newest student of Ikebana Sogetsu Lora Rivera, getting into floral arrangement was a natural progression. “I’ve done calligraphy, acrylic, and watercolor at Sunshine Place and when they offered ikebana classes to me; it was easy to say yes. I did flowers when I was painting and this was another way to interpret flowers in another form,” she said.
Rivera’s piece used corrugated cardboard, giving it an industrial look while the weaving forms maintained an organic feel. “When they said that paper would be the subject matter, what came to me was that it was an unconventional material so I should think of a paper material that nobody would use. That was corrugated cardboard,” Rivera explained.
The unique designs presented highlighted the students’ creativity. From towering structures to smaller works, multicolored hues to monochrome pieces, each piece was distinctive and showed to the audience the design sensibilities of each artist.
