March 14th International and Teachers' Classes

Today I attended two different classes, firstly the International Class conducted by Mrs Hosono, whom I have heard of many times but never had the opportunity to be in her class.

The International Class had two themes, Tonal Colours where the demonstration used Japanese Banana leaf and Spirea in a large greenish container. Second theme was Curved Lines and as usual I pushed the boundaries trying curved lines in glass container without a kenzan using Japanese Banana leaf and one small tonal leaf. Feeling very confident I moved the container and because the work was not anchored it moved so the whole process had to be recreated in situ.

The afternoon class was the same theme as the previous Teachers’ classes Discovering New Opportunities. Working with cherry blossom for the first time I studied the material wondering what new discovery I could make. I sliced along the bark on the lower part of the branch and carefully peeled it back to reveal similar markings as on the outer surface. The peeled bark dried very quickly forming different shapes. The Iemoto was curious as to what had happened to the bark and my reply was ‘I wanted to discover what was inside the branch’ – flummoxed her response was very positive because I was going beyond the normal and discovering something new.