Activities – Ikebana

Instructor: Carol Brecker
Contact: Carol Brecker (tel. 480.225.4322)
Meets: 9:30 a.m.–Noon, two Mondays per month; see calendar for this season’s dates.

Ikebana (生け花), the art of Japanese flower arranging, is the creative display of natural materials with attention to the harmony of line, color, space and dimension. Ikebana – literally “living flowers” – is an ancient art. Said to have begun in China, flower arranging arrived in Japan with the introduction of Buddhism in the sixth century. Over centuries, the art form shed its religious mantle and came to be practiced by people from many levels of society. The strict rules and prescribed formal techniques that are a hallmark of most Japanese art forms serve as the foundation for the symbolic meanings inherent in ikebana, such as the unity of opposites and, ultimately, the harmonious balance between heaven, earth and humanity. Unlike Western-style floral arrangements, characterized by volume, color, and complexity, ikebana embraces the spare, poetic beauty of line.