IKEBANA & Art

In addition to natural arranging, I am evolving into creating abstract ikebana and art. Shaping an idea or concept with unnatural materials gives me great pleasure and places high demands on my creativity, technical skills and the use of principles in art.  Dealing with proportions, use of materials and colors, contrasts and rhythm are some of the elements.

This development is not new. The founder of the Sogetsu School Sofu Teshigahara also tried to create art from an ikebana perspective, which was especially expressed in his sculptures, drawings and calligraphy.

When creating and judging abstract ikebana and art, the following aspects are important:

• – originality and imagination
• – movement, space and emptiness
• – balance and the use of proportions
• – harmony

‘Once all the rules are learned and the techniques are mastered, un unbound field remains for freer personal expression using varied materials’.

A question of interest when creating an ikebana work or a work of art: when is it (abstract) ikebana and when is it art? What does the eye of the viewer do? How does an artist, an ikebanist, a passer-by look at the arrangement?