Try your hand at Ikebana
31/07/08
As part of the its continuing programme of Japanese events there will be an Ikebana “taster session” on Saturday, 2 August from 2pm until 4pm at Glover House, 78 Balgownie Road, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen.
The drop-in sessions are aimed very much at beginners and will explore the Japanese art of flower arrangement. Ikebana is more than just putting flowers in a container. It is a disciplined art form in which the arrangement is a living thing in which nature and humanity are brought together. It is steeped in the philosophy of developing closeness with nature.
Ikebana is different from "flower arrangement" because of its asymmetrical form and the use of empty space as an essential feature of the composition. A sense of harmony among the materials, the container, and the setting is essential. These are characteristics of aesthetics that Ikebana shares with traditional Japanese paintings, gardens, architecture, and design.
Both men and women study this art form. Indeed, in the past, Ikebana was considered an appropriate pastime for even the toughest samurai.
Glover House is also open from 2pm – 4pm this Sunday, 3 August as part of its programme of opening on the first Sunday afternoon of each month. This week visitors can have a go at a family quiz designed to test visitors’ observational skills as they make their way round the house.
Thomas Blake Glover (1838 -1911) was born the son of a coastguard in Fraserburgh, and was brought up in Aberdeen. He sailed to the far East at the age of 19, arriving in Nagasaki just as Japan was opening up for trade with the West. Glover took advantage of this and used his crucial position as an importer of modern Western technology and ideas to help the forward-looking Samurai clans overthrow the reactionary Shogun and restored the hereditary emperor, thus ushering in the modern Meiji era.
He is also sometimes said to be the originator of the story of the opera Madame Butterfly by Puccini, and is greatly revered in Japan while he remains relatively unknown in his native country.
Aberdeen City Council manages the house on behalf of the Grampian Japan Trust this year, which has benefited from a grant from the Energising Aberdeen fund.
Glover House - opening hours:
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday
10.30am to 12.30pm and 1.00pm to 4.30pm (last entry 4.00pm)
Sunday
Open first Sunday of each month from 1.30pm to 4.30pm (last entry 4.00pm).
Glover House will close for winter at the end of October. The entry fee is £3.00 for adults, £2.00 for children/concessions and £7.00 for families. Workshops are included in the entrance charge.
For further information contact Jane Kidd, Glover House, 79 Balgownie Rd, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen AB22 8JS, tel 01224 709301 email JaKidd@aberdeencity.gov.uk
If you have any queries regarding this, or any other news story, please contact Aberdeen City Council on: 01224 522000.
