Ikebana at Annie Gould Gallery
Annie Gould Gallery hosted an ikebana demonstration Saturday, Feb. 11, with artist Helena Arouca.
Ikebana is a traditional Japanese art that focuses on arranging flowers into a harmonious form. Arouca has been practicing the medium since 1990 and has earned three certifications in her home country of Brazil, the United States and Japan. She started making pottery eight years ago to provide more vase options for the classes she teaches.
Gallery owner Annie Gould met Arouca through another potter in Charlottesville and the two have supported one another ever since. The concept of bringing ikebana to the gallery appealed to Gould, who said she has been fascinated with flowers her entire life, due in part to the fact that her own mother was a professional florist.
Gould also shared that the demonstration is part of a larger effort to bring a wide array of creative opportunities and activities to downtown Gordonsville.
“We want to try to do a lot of events during the day on these three or four blocks,” she said. “We’ll have visiting artists and we’ll have all kinds of interactive events during the week.”
Arouca explained that the Japanese definition of ikebana roughly translates into “flower that has life,” and that while the art form involves simple elements, the more challenging part is the formation of relationships between those elements.
“It’s a balance of showing the vase and showing the flowers as individuals,” she said.
She also shared how personally fulfilling the art can be because of the possibilities for incorporating it into everyday life.
“It’s a beautiful art,” Arouca said. “You have art in your house or an office and every single week you can have something different.”
Even though ikebana can be a bit daunting for those who are unfamiliar, Arouca hoped the demonstration would inspire others to try their hand at it and talked lightheartedly about her own progress along the way.
“Everybody has something of value. I encourage everyone to do at least a little, because I was bad,” Arouca joked.
After watching a demonstration and checking out the various pieces on display throughout the gallery, The OC Bulletin had one last question: How do you know when an ikebana arrangement is finished? Arouca gave a more intuitive answer than one might expect for an art form with strict rules.
“It feels good,” she said. “It feels complete.”
Annie Gould Gallery is located at 109 S. Main St. in Gordonsville. To learn more, visit www.anniegouldgallery.com or call (540)-832-6352. To see more of Helena Arouca’s work, visit her Instagram page here.