We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Jane Redmon, a teacher of Sogetsu Ikebana from Washington, DC, discusses an "all green" arrangement she just completed using the Sogetsu style of plant and flower arranging. Redmon holds the highest teaching level offered by Ikebana International. She was the presenter during the Chinook Ikebana chapter's recent 60th anniversary.
Jane Redmon (left), an international teacher of Sogetsu Ikebana-a style of Japanese plant and flower arranging-begins an all green arrangement while being assisted by Linda Haugen (right), a member of the Chinook chapter of Ikebana International. The local chapter, the only Ikebana chapter in Montana, invited Redmon to demonstrate as part of the chapter's 60th anniversary celebration. More than 40 guests attended the celebration last week in Chinook.
Chinook Chapter Number 8 of Ikebana International held a 60th anniversary celebration commemorating the chapters organizing in 1957. For readers not familiar with Ikebana, it's a form of flower arranging that first appeared in Japan in the 6th century when Buddhism came to the country. The Chinook chapter, which also includes members from other towns along the Hi-Line, is of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana, a less restrictive form of plant and flower arranging that advocates enjoying Ikebana arrangements "using all types of plants, any place, any time."
The founding of Chinook's chapter of Ikebana International, the only chapter in Montana, was inspired by a local resident who married a Japanese man and lived in Japan for many years. When Allie Marie Umstead would come back to visit family and friends in Chinook, she brought Ikebana techniques and taught them to locals.
When the international Ikebana group formed in 1956, a chapter was soon started in Chinook. The chapter was the eighth to be created world-wide. There are nearly 300 chapters around the globe on every continent but Antarctica. The exact date of when the local chapter started was not available, but it has been operating for 60 years.
The 60th anniversary celebration of Ikebana on the Hi-Line
Last week the members of the Ikebana chapter held a celebration at the Girl Scout Hut in Chinook's Sweet Park. About 40+ guests, including current members, several former chapter members, a contingent from the Valley Garden Society in Glasgow and other guests with an interest in flower arranging, attended the event.
Members had created a number of arrangements, incorporating the principles of Sogetsu Ikebana, and exhibited them around the meeting room in the Scout Hut. There were banners with the theme of the celebration-"60 years of fellowship through flowers." The main feature of the event was a series of plant and flower demonstrations, using the Sogetsu inspired style, followed by cake and lots of visiting.
The presenter was Jane Redmon. Redmon, a member of the Washington, DC area chapter, which was the first chartered chapter in the U.S. She holds the rank of "Teacher Riji 1st Grade"-the highest level of training a Sogetsu teacher can achieve. Redmon first got interested in Ikebana-style arranging through the Smithsonian Institution. She worked through the various levels of training, including a stint in Tokyo, then came back to the U.S. to teach and administer with various groups associated with Ikebana.
No stranger to Chinook, Redmon was a part of the local chapter's 50th anniversary celebration and made other trips through the years. She recalled this was her fourth trip to Montana. During each trip she demonstrates arrangements and shares new techniques developed by the Sogetsu School.
Redmon did a series of demonstrations, using plants and flowers gathered by locals, showing various "free-style arranging principles" that are part of Ikebana. The first demonstration was using "all green plants." Sogetsu Ikebana emphasizes the creation of pieces that are not symmetrical, unlike most western flower arrangements, but rather incorporate the use of space to create openness. The arrangement had green plants including coniferous branches and common leaves from local flower gardens.
For each of the demonstrations Redmon used a series of unusual and varied containers. Linda Haugen, a long-time member of the local chapter, said of the collection of vases, "My mother got interested in Ikebana about the time I started college. She kept all the vases and containers she acquired and I inherited them."
In her opening remarks, Redmon noted, "There are only two living charter members of the first chapter formed in Washington, DC." Interestingly, there is a surviving member of the original charter members of the Chinook chapter. Redmon said Allie Marie Umstead, now in her 90's, lives in the Washington, DC area and is still a member of Chapter No. 1 in D.C. There are no other surviving members from the first chapter organized along the Hi-Line.
The Sogetsu School of Ikebana emphasizes that students be "individual and imaginative." In one of the demonstrations, Redmon used a combination of cattails and chokecherries to create an arrangement that "reflects the colors and style of the container it's in." In past working meetings of the group I've attended, I've seen arraigners use everything from weeds to corn cobs.
The Hi-Line chapter meets once a month from April to October. At each meeting members practice arranging, learn new techniques and critique the their work. One long time member said, "We strive to encourage, not just criticize."
Learn more about Ikebana International by going to its website (search for Ikebana International). For information about joining the local chapter, contact Linda Haugen at 357-3756.
