Workshop Overview
Simple and easy Ikebana at your home
When you hear about Ikebana, maybe you think you need special tools and skills. For this class, we will help you make a simple Ikebana arrangement at your home using standard tools you probably already have. A few things you will need:
- You will need to find your own flowers. We are sorry that we are unable to deliver flowers to your home (try calling around; some local shops will deliver). But any flowers are OK! Just make sure to get 2-3 varieties, and choose what you like. We don’t need a lot.
- You will need clippers or scissors that you don’t mind using to cut flower stems.
- A vase. If you don’t have a vase, you can use a glass, a coffee cup, a cereal bowl, or your choice of container, as long as it has a little depth. You might even surprise yourself with how nice a non-traditional vase can look with a cute arrangement of flowers.
*If you have your own Kenzan, Flower Pin, or Pin Frog, you can use it. And if you want to buy one, you can order on Amazon online. Go to the link.
In this class, we will check each student’s tools and flowers, then help you with tips on how to build up and create your own Ikebana arrangement.
For this Ikebana class, bring your creativity and we will support you with some Ikebana theory. The most important thing is that flowers can help you relax and this class can be a therapeutic time for you to focus and create. You don’t need so many rules: let’s relax and enjoy touching flowers while adding life and warmth to your home in this class.
**Classes will be held via the Zoom Video Conferencing application, a private Zoom link will be sent to participants before the class begins. The classes will be held in Eastern Time.
Ikebana, well-known as traditional Japanese flower arrangement, was developed as a Buddhist expression of the beauty of nature. There are many Ikebana “ryuha”, or schools, and various styles of arrangement within each. In this class, instructor Ryoko Arnwine will introduce you to Misho-Ryu Ikebana and teach you how to have fun arranging flowers in an open and approachable environment.
In class, Ryoko will first demonstrate how to arrange Ikebana and teach participants a few basic techniques and rules. After the demonstration, participants will be able to get hands-on and arrange their own Ikebana, while the instructor provides help along the way. When you learn by doing, it’s easier to internalize the process and techniques than if you focus on memorizing a bunch of rules first.
Instructor Ryoko Arnwine wants all participants feel how beautiful the Japanese art of flowers is. Join her to experience a new hands-on way of expressing the beauty of nature.
Class Schedule for 2024:
- January 7
- February 4
- March 3
- April 7
- May 5
- June 2
- July 7
- September 1
- October 6
- November 3
- December 1
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About the Instructor
Ryoko Arnwine
Ikebana Instructor
Ryoko Arnwine is a Japanese floral designer and Ikebana practitioner. She studied Misho-Ryu Ikebana for 7 years in Osaka, where she worked as a floral designer for the Ritz-Carlton and other local boutique flower shops. She is well-versed in both modern styles and traditional Japanese flower arrangement, as well as flower shop management.
Since Ryoko came to New York in 2017, she has worked as a freelance floral designer, offering her unique, cross-cultural blend of experience and techniques.
