I was thinking green when I went to my Ikebana class today. I wanted to work with cedar or pine—and whatever else was appealing. I was committed, too, to a red and white color scheme.
Three kinds of greens have been included in today’s arrangement. The intention was to provide variety and contrast. The reds were introduced via the dyed dogwood, the berries and the kangaroo paws. The chrysanthemums provide the only white.
A part of the asymmetry I wanted to create came in the positioning of the two different types of cypress, one to either side of the arrangement. The one is dense; the other is sparse. I opted for no pruning.
Sensei’s critique of my work included some pruning of the dense cypress “so the line would pop out.” She also introduced the straight line of the red dogwood that cuts across the arrangement. As she was shaping this last piece to be fitted into the arrangement, I tried to guess where I thought she might place it. I had a thought, a good one, as it turned out, but it lacked conviction!
All of this is the “stuff” of which mastery is made—eventually. Tuesday night I taught a class on assessment and the use of rubrics. “Novices are essentially rule-governed,” I said. “The master has a sound knowledge of the rules as well as a conditional understanding of when to obey, when to bend and when to ignore them. The master’s knowledge tends to be highly intuitive and difficult to articulate,” I continued. Experiencing Sensei as master is one of the highlights of every lesson I take.
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