ST. Petersburg Chapter # 65 USA

09/15/25
Demonstration Workshop　 Chapter Meeting　 Open to the Public
First Program meeting of the 2025-26 Year
Our first meeting of the year featured a spectacular demonstration followed by a members’ workshop on the same theme, and a free beginners’ workshop .

We were delighted to welcome a full house for Mary Sharrow’s inspiring demonstration, themed “I Never Met a Stick I Didn’t Like”. To call it a “demonstration” hardly does it justice—Mary created 17 arrangements, turning the program into a mini-exhibition. Each piece revealed the endless possibilities of form, texture, and imagination. Her chosen theme, “gifts from trees,” came alive in ways that made us all see branches, sticks, seed pods, inflorescences, and other natural treasures with fresh eyes. Some of the specific material used included contorted mulberry branches, Harry Lauder’s walking stick, Benalu wood, mitsumata, manzanita, curly willow, driftwood, eucalyptus “well covered” bark tree and kiwi vine.

The audience was captivated from beginning to end, and many remarked that they would never look at “gifts from trees” the same way again. Truly, it was a memorable season opener that set the tone for a year filled with creativity and inspiration.

In the afternoon workshop members explored the theme, hands-on, creating their own arrangements that showed bold thinking and wonderful originality. Everyone truly thought outside the box—and the results were awesome!
Simultaneously, eight participants (seven guests and one new member) were given a hands-on treat to create an Ichiyo beginner’s arrangement taught by Sensei Jeanne Houlton. This was done as a marketing tool and to offer new members the opportunity to try a school before deciding which one to study. The participants were very pleased with their creations . Afterwards, one person joined our chapter and three other signed up for classes with three teachers from different schools.