Sogetsu Ikebana at the Asian Art Museum

Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. Each week at the Asian Art Museum, a group of volunteers create ikebana to enhance the atmosphere of the historic San Francisco building. The museum's Flower Committee practices according to the Sogetsu School, a branch of the craft that emerged in 1927 as a freeform alternative to traditional Japanese methods. Follow two members of the committee, Naoko and Ricardo, as they carefully browse the San Francisco Flower Mart for materials and ultimately create two very different sculptures to occupy two different spaces at the museum. This film was commissioned by the Asian Art Museum and is a part of their Flower Power exhibit, an exploration of the importance of flowers in the history of Asian art.

Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement

...and the Sogetsu School teaches that it can be practiced anywhere, any time.

Each week at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, a group of volunteers create flower arrangements to bring life to several spots within the building. In anticipation of the upcoming Flower Power exhibit showcasing the importance of flowers in Asian art, the museum wanted to document the process of making these weekly ikebana arrangements. Together we created a 5 minute film to loop within the exhibition hall that follows two floral designers, Naoko and Ricardo. The video is also showcased online.

Traditional ikebana has more strict guidelines on the plant materials and vases that the artist can use. Yet one of the artform's most recent branches allows for near total freedom on what you can use in your designs, allowing for unexpected and thought-provoking arrangements. The Sogetsu School was founded by Sofu Tesigahara in 1927. Today, Naoko and Ricardo bring their own life experiences and creative insight to their practice of ikebana, and through a meditative process, create peaceful, seasonal arrangements that become part and parcel of the spacetime they occupy.

“Ikebana can be done anywhere by anyone. There are no national or ethnic boundaries. Like flowing water or drifting clouds, ikebana spreads throughout the world . . .”

— Sofu Teshigahara, founder of the Sogetsu School