In my four years here at UIUC, there was a certain class that I had always wanted to take. I was interested in the words “flower arrangement” and was curious to see what the class would be about. I had no prior experience with gardening or working with plants of any sort, so I thought it would be something unique to experience. Added to the fact that my freshman year was the first COVID-year, which meant that classes were mostly online, and I was dying for an in-person, hands-on experience of some sort. I originally was looking at horticulture classes, as things such as gardening and taking care of plants interested me. One of the courses was HORT 107: flower arrangement. I definitely wanted to take this class for the experience. Unfortunately, I think the professor of this course retired, so I did not have a chance to sign up for it. As an industrial design major, I was looking for art electives to complement my degree requirements and chose Japan house courses as they had interesting topics that also served as sources of inspiration in my design world. I was always trying to sign up for ARTJ 199: Ikebana, but the course is either full, not offered in a certain semester, or I did not have time in my schedule to slot it in. This went on until my final semester of college right before graduation: I finally got the ikebana course I wanted (ARTJ 199), and how fitting is it that it is the last course I needed to fulfill my Japanese Arts and Aesthetics minor as well. I will say that I did have some small experience with ikebana in the ARTJ 101 course I took the semester prior. At that time, the course had two classes (two weeks) dedicated to ikebana. Needless to say, the two ikebana arrangements I did in that course weren’t exactly the best visually as well as not applying most of the ikebana concepts. Which is why in taking this course, I hoped to refine my flower arrangement skills after getting a taste of what it is like. 

 

I hoped to not just make arrangements that just look nice visually, but also tell a story utilizing different materials and concepts. My first few arrangements were just playing around with different colors and materials, ensuring the sizes and spacing of them as well. Learning about kokoro taught me that flower arrangements aren’t just about cramming a variety of different flowers of color and sizes together and calling it a day. I have seen that at many flower shops and realized that this was done to give a sense of celebration or excitement or happiness. However, looking at them now, I now get a feeling of excitement but in a bad sense of chaos with the variety of colors and sizes of flowers crammed together in a bouquet making it visually unappealing for me to look at. I now see that kokoro is crucial in creating a starting point of an arrangement in wanting to know what the viewer should feel when looking at the arrangement. And I feel as if the most important concept to utilize that is ma (space). This concept is the one I utilized most in my arrangements as well as my favorite, since it gives meaning and purpose to what one considers negative: empty space. Usually, I originally thought that a lack of flowers in an arrangement at most flower shops signifies a barren and wilted landscape with a lack of happiness. I now see that this is the case because that empty space is not utilized properly. I loved creating space between plants as well as above or to the sides of the composition to let my imagination create a title for the arrangement. For example, “Happy Home” was a title for one of my arrangements because I created “ma” above and the sides of the arrangement to keep the plants within certain boundaries, making it seem like a home. What I did like the best was how my midterm was essentially my best work. I utilized ma a lot but made it creative utilizing zigzags for horsetails as well as using a bright and large yellow container compared to the more graceful, smaller, and subtle ones. It was meant to stand out for originality, and I think I did that well. I will say that flower arrangement is not the easiest. It especially did not get any easier as the semester went on. Making an arrangement that shows one’s kokoro as well as creating a title from it is hard as it is. But with the miniature and hanging arrangements introducing much harder technical techniques with wires and tape made it a challenge. I liked how they turned out for me, but the midterm was definitely less stressful for me than creating the hanging arrangement. I tended to prefer the midterm and earlier arrangements for less technical techniques that made it a much more relaxing experience. That is not to say that I did not like the miniature or hanging arrangements; they were a unique experience compared to the usual flower arrangements in traditional vessels. 

 

I like to think of this class as a sort of bubble haven away from the stress of other classes. Similar to how the tsukubai washes away the outside world from oneself, this class washes away any thoughts from other courses or projects with the relaxation of ikebana flower arrangement.. Like I said, the concept of ma was my favorite and I plan to see it as a whole new way of examining things. It's like the little breaks between studying. I shouldn’t just stay home but instead try out new restaurants around town (which I have been doing). And now not just ikebana, but I see empty space in a lot of media as meaningful. The tea ceremony I went to at Japan House a while back had a lot of parts where everyone was silent and still, as if to create a sort of mental equilibrium between movements and non-movements. Parts of movies where there is no narration which leaves it up to my imagination to piece together parts of the plot, making it more engaging. 

 

 I thank this class for making me perceive flower arrangements with a different and new eye. No longer will I see a standard bouquet of flowers as the best, but instead the ones that utilize ikebana concepts.