Tag: ikebana

Ikebana

Ikebana – the beautifully simple and elegant Japanese art of flower arranging.

I don’t know if this would qualify as an elegant flower arrangement, but it is an interesting arrangement of lines and shapes, disguised as an ikebana painted on canvas. Colors, too. And a reflection on a semi-shiny surface. I wanted to explore open space in a painting and how to fill it fairly simply. Maybe an austere environment?

As with the gladioli the other day, I used fluid acrylics on a cotton canvas mounted on board. Many of the same techniques were used, too – vertical and horizontal brushwork using a 1/2 flat brush. When I had reached a point of needing to “finish” the painting, it just didn’t work. I wanted to add some swirls of lines, vetoed it, and decided that some softer shapes with a bit of curve might work. The flowers and leaves were dotted and dabbed in to take away the vertical and horizontal lines of the original ones. I think this worked. But, as this is so different than what I seem to do – a new area of exploration – I am not really sure about it at all!!

Fluid acrylics on cotton canvas on board, 11×14.

Shozo Sato: Renaissance Man

Every now and again, someone in the public will catch your eye because of your interests.  Shozo Sato is one of those individuals who has come into my life over the years.  I have never met him, but as an individual, his range of accomplishments in traditional Japanese arts never ceases to intrigue me.

In 1965 he wrote a book about Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, and since then this book has been reprinted in various formats.  He is an accomplished calligrapher, and has written a book about sumi-e.  Cha no yu, the Japanese Tea Ceremony, is another of his accomplishments.  Most recently, he has brought the Kabuki theater to the U.S., and produced MacBeth, Medea in the Kabuki tradition; you may see more about this here at http://www.ket.org, and a review here.  He has also produced Othello at the University of Illinois.  I would love to see Shakespeare in Kabuki!

Shozo Sato is Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois and currently teaches at Northwestern University, and at the Japan House, which is located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and part of the College of Fine and Applied Arts.

In my opinion, Mr. Sato is a living treasure and an artist who enriches all of us through his creativity and dynamic sharing of his knowledge.