Ikebana Florida

I had fun swiping eucalyptus branches from a newly vacant home nearby.  I thought they would fit in nicely with a spring arrangement.  Unfortunately I was in the dark and picked a half bald branch!

I also used some leftover branches to fill my new Jinsong Kim pieces I just picked up at the Melbourne Art Festival.  I hope to be able to purchase one of his larger pottery someday.

Obviously, I couldn’t decide whether I lived it better with or without the flower.  What do you think?

I thoroughly enjoyed the Student Art this year at the Melbourne Art Festival. I always find this section to be the most inspiring. The student art is the most expressive and honest. Please enjoy my photographs from this year’s festival.

Art from recycled materials is a great way to make use of all the wasteful plastics in our lives.

The variety of art in the student are area was vast, from digital media, to photography, drawing and a wide variety of inventive sculpture.

Here’s a short video I created with my original photography and videography for an elementary education life science and arts integration lesson plan!

Untitled from Elizabeth Gannon on Vimeo.

I found these flowers while hiking around Frenchman’s Forest in Palm Beach.

I was amused this week to see my neighbor’s rose bushes in full bloom.  We have been experiencing an extremely hot summer. To see the beautiful, daring flowers getting scorched in the Florida sun was demonstrative of how most residents are feeling this time of year!

It was also humorous to see the roses bloom after weeks of inattention (my neighbor has been abroad for 4 weeks and the roses left ignored).  I thought the burned ones were the prettiest.

I created a series of 4 flower arrangements for my parent’s 30^th wedding anniversary party.  I wanted to keep the arrangements simple, with only 2 or (in one case) three elements.  Starting with dried eucalyptus branches was a choice made based not only on cost and availability ($2.99/bunch at my local grocery store) but also because the material is easy to work with and assists a dramatic, minimal arrangement.

Here is a peek at one arrangement.  I am hoping to work with photographers to set up more photographs of my work.  I really enjoyed doing the 4 arrangements for the party, perhaps there will be more of this in my future?

I love Ikebana because of its innate connection with the environment around it.  Ikebana is oftentimes created with seasonal materials and, in Japan especially, to mark various yearly holidays.  The inspiration I find on the web is almost like being there, I can browse for hours taking it all in.  The connections between an arrangement and “live nature” are so obvious in Ikebana, let me show you..

I was really taken with the similarities and the challenges faced in making an arrangement resemble the material’s origin without being so literal.  I love looking at Ikebana students work online, seeing their development and skills in using different materials is so awesome.  But the “best stuff” comes from Japan, in my mind.  I see so much beauty in these arrangements, please click through and browse galleries.

Seven containers with Pine, Ikenobo arrangement.

Large “landscape” Ohara arrangement.  So beautiful.

More soon,

Billie

I love to wrap presents for the holidays and wanted to share some inspiration!

Furoshiki Gift Wrap

From Martha Stewart (always an awesome amount of interesting ideas!)

One more idea for those still shopping for the upcoming holidays… This site is a treasure trove of ideas here!

Back soon,

Billie

I’m happy to be back after a very busy few months.  The e-mails I have received from readers on Ikebana Florida have been so inspiring.  I volunteered with the Space Coast Art Festival over Thanksgiving weekend.  I had the awesome opportunity to assist in photographing the 2010 winners and judge’s selections.  All the artists were so talented and it was so much fun seeing the pieces up close, touching them, moving them, etc.

Jean Yao creates amazing baskets and containers from flower stalks of coconut, cabbage, and other palms.  She was born in Taiwan and studied Ikebana in Japan.  She now lives in Florida and creates beautiful art.  I had the opportunity to talk with her and hope to take workshops with her someday.

She does not dye her materials, only soaks and dries them, then weaves them.  She began this art form because she wanted to create her  own containers for floral arrangements.  I can really relate to this because I have a hard time finding appropriate Nageire containers all the time.

The winning piece again.  She won first prize in the Leather, Fiber, and Wood category.

She is an amazing artist and I can’t wait to see more of her work.
Thanks for reading, I will be back soon!
Billie