Philadelphia Chapter #71, USA Art In Bloom 12

Art in Bloom featured floral arrangements created by the Philadelphia Chapter members. We walk into the Delaware Contemporary Art Museum in Wilmington, Delaware and look at a painting or a sculpture, wondering “what am I looking at?”. Contemporary art is the art of today, produced within “our lifetime”. The art reflects the diverse and eclectic, global influence and advance technology and it is an abstract that mirrors the living world.

Ikebana is the art of flower arranging which also evolves with time. The contemporary floral art combination of materials, methods, concepts, and subjects continue challenges to the boundaries. Such artists include Yuko Takagi – (Contemporary Floral Art – 2011) and the “Shiki” series of Makoto Azuma (Flower Art – 2019).

The Contemporary Art of Ikebana met with the Western Contemporary Art in Delaware Contemporary Art Museum on December 1, 2023. Organized by Ms. Maret Headley with 21 Ikebanists of Philadelphia Chapter using their artistic work to complement and synchronize with the art displayed at the Museum, the paintings and sculptures become alive in 3-dimentional and reach out.

Philadelphia Flower Show
The Philadelphia Horticultural Society (PHS) Philadelphia Flower Show is the nation’s largest and the world’s longest-running horticultural event, featuring stunning displays by premier Floral and landscape designers from around the globe. Started in 1829 by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Show introduces diverse and sustainable plant varieties and garden design concepts. In addition to garden displays, the Flower Show hosts esteemed competitions in horticulture, gardening presentations, demonstrations and artistic floral arranging in which I.I. Chapter 71 as a main part.

The theme of this year Flower Show is “United by Flowers”. Funded by PHS Philadelphia Flower Show, I.I. Chapter 71 with new Committee Chair, Ms. Mary Jane Risch, Color expert, Ms. Ronell Douglas, Coordinators Ms. Sarah Goetz and Ms. Chung Un Kim and many members of the Chapter present exhibits during the entire show. The show was open to the public from Friday, March 1 through Sunday, March 10.

The three rotations with 38 exhibitors from 4 schools (Ichiyo, Ikenobo, Ohara, Sogetsu – two Study Groups and one Branch) using 13 individual pedestals throughout the length of the show.

There were three demonstrations scheduled for each day from Saturday March 2 to Sunday March 10, 2024. These demonstrations were extremely popular with show visitors. Members of I.I. Chapter 71 can volunteer 2 hours for one day to standby the exhibition for answer any questions by the visitors. On Friday, March 8, 2024, my schedule to standby I.I. Chapter 71 exhibitions, a visitor from Albany, New York State approached me and said: “Every year I go to Philadelphia Flower Show only to see the Ikebana exhibition”. I answer her with a smile: “Thank you”. At that moment all of my exhaustion from traveling back and forth from home to Philadelphia vanished, but with a warm reward feeling.