Wicked Beauty

This arrangement, exhibited at NY's Nippon Club and currently at DUMBO Arts Center, features one American Beauty rose, surrounded by the thorns of the honey locust tree, in a wire birdfeeder. 
 The thorns were a gift from the gardener of our neighborhood park, who had spied me gazing longingly at them for years. From first sight, I was captivated by their wicked beauty. Some of the spikes are 4 inches long! Formed in clusters on the tree trunk, they call to mind a medieval torture chamber. Yet one spring day, I spotted a fledgling bird slip inside the thorn clusters to evade a cat. That was the moment my fascination turned to love, which grew deeper as I learned more. Evidently dating back to prehistoric times, the thorns developed as adaptive protection against mastodons which favored the tree's honey-sweet seedpods. Even today, they are feared and loathed alike by gardeners, hikers and farmers (they're sharp enough to puncture tractor tires), so a new thorn-less variety now proliferates. Alas, I fear that the thorned variety I've come to know and love will eventually become extinct. 

Windswept

On my way to installing this new piece at the DUMBO Arts Center, I was almost knocked off my feet by the high winds on that freezing, blustery mid-January day.

Hence, "Windswept" was created,
using French pussy willows, eucalyptus, mums and tuber-roses.
If the arrangement doesn't knock your socks off, maybe the intoxicating fragrance of the tuber-roses will do the trick!

Metropolitan Museum of Art

I was thrilled and honored to be invited to make an arrangement for the Met this week! I chose this beautiful bowl from their private collection, because of it's simple elegance. Also, being the dog days of summer, I thought it'd be perfect for an arrangement that might cool the senses.

Displayed in the Sackler Wing on the Met's second floor,
a few steps away from the spectacular Alexander McQueen exhibit which has drawn record-breaking crowds to the Met. Have you been? If not, you have 4 more days to catch it. After you've been wowed by McQueen's work and exhausted from standing hours in line, please stop by and rest your feet in the serene, Zen-like oasis that is the Japanese Reading Room, where my arrangement now sits.

Japanese paper tree branches (mitsukata), variegated aspidistra leaves, pale yellow and white phaeleonopsis orchids

Ephemeral Beauty

Sunrises, sunsets, shooting stars, snowflakes...other than starting with s's, what do they have in common? Ephemeral Beauty. That's what gives them the power to stop us dead, to take notice, to admire and to value them all the more, I think, because we are acutely aware of how fleeting their existence is.
Flowers share that quality. Undoubtedly, the very reason that fresh flowers are gifted as an archetypal gesture of ardor, appreciation, admiration and affection, and not artificial flowers. Even more fleeting than flowers are ice sculptures.

Recently on a hot summer day, I was invited to the studio of Okamoto Ice Sculpture in Long Island City for a special workshop on Ice and Ikebana. Here is what I created.
How about that for an exercise in extreme ephemeralism?!!!

Trash to Treasure

"One man's trash is another man's treasure"

Umbrella pine

This arrangement was made from umbrella pine branches that were rescued from the garbage at class. Hidden amidst the dead, brown needles were tiny green shoots! Immediately, I felt compelled to make an arrangement to celebrate this life-affirming discovery.
Looks like a a bonsai of sorts, doesn't it?

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Exhibit

Japanese paper tree branches, dyed eucalyptus, anthurium, euphorbia, carnations, in a matte white ceramic container.

For this year's exhibit at Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Cherry Blossom Festival, I chose not to use cherry. Unlike last year, the cherry blossoms at the Garden grounds are now in their magnificent prime, lusciously abundant and full. Why try to compete with nature when it's that perfect?

So, as a counterpoint to all that voluptuousness outside, I went for a minimal composition. The muted white branches and container created an elegant vertical column, punctuated by the contrasting colors of the flowers. I just love this acid spring green against the purple, don't you? The eucalyptus, a gift from my boss Mel, added some rhythm and whimsy.
Overall effect is, I think, a bit like a ballerina in a strikingly unexpected tutu.

Isn't this red-hot ceramic container cool? Its unusual shape and color inspired this arrangement. From my sensei's collection of mid-century containers, this one stands out as my favorite. Doesn't it look like something you'd find in the space-age tv show, The Jetsons?
Lately, I've been combing flea markets and vintage shops, seeing a lot of furniture, fashions and accessories from the 50's and 60's. Kinda weird, since I grew up with these things. Does that make ME vintage as well?