Teachers' Workshop - Freestyle

I intended to attend the International Class but heard there was a Teachers’ workshop upstairs so always in for a challenge I attended that class instead. Maybe the first choice would have been a simpler option because the lesson theme proved harder than at first sight.

The theme set for today was Freestyle with a twist, which was we had to interpret an alphabet letter (Japanese or Western) or number. We were given about 40 minutes to sort this challenge out and believe me it is harder than it looks. I suppose one can work literally or use ‘artist licence’ to create a form that may some how represent your idea of the theme.

When the tutor critiqued the works he asked the class what the arrangement represented and for most of the time we were flummoxed because some were rather abstract. My work was recognised maybe because it resembled the number 100 so easily. My challenge was spent working on the fixture in the Tsubo, which was a single cross bar with the main branch of cherry blossom nailed in position. The Siberian Dogwood curled into recognisable shaped zeros.

It was a very unusual theme and certainly made you think beyond ‘flowers in a vase’. The Iemoto is very keen for Sogetsu artists to stretch their imagination to become more creative pushing the boundaries where we can discover new opportunities and one of the best places to do that is in class with the support of the tutors.