Ikebana Gallery Award 2014

We are very grateful to our wonderful judges who generously gave us their valuable input. Thank you Mr Ken Smith (Art, Design & Architecture, Monash University), Ms Lesley Kehoe (Lesley Kehoe Galleries), Ms Susan Renouf (Fashion, RMIT University), Dr Yoshiho Kobayashi (Kyoto Women’s University, International Society of Ikebana Studies) , Ms Hiroe Swen (Ceramic Artist) and Dr Osamu Inoue (Kyoto University of Art & Design, International Society of Ikebana Studies). 

Their contribution made this award, the world's first online Ikebana competition truly unique. It is so rare for Ikebana students to be assessed and to receive comments from art specialists like our judges. Please visit the “Judges” page for their profiles. 

We are pleased to announce that the winner of Ikebana Galley Award 2014 is Maddie Duke (Sogetsu School of Ikebana) from Melbourne, Australia. Maddie will receive a certificate from Ikebana Gallery. 

We received a following message from Maddie.

It’s exciting and encouraging to have won the 2014 Ikebana Gallery award! As a student it’s great to have the opportunity for our work to be viewed by a panel of experts. Congratulations to the other finalists and entrants, there were some amazing works! Thank you to my teacher Shoso Shimbo for your guidance and encouragement, it’s very exciting to be the first one of your students to win the award. When I made that arrangement, I had the time to do 3 lessons per week, and it definitely helped to develop skills and creativity. I’m looking forward to working hard to finish certificate three and moving onto certificate 4!

Our judges were asked to choose three works out of the five finalists in the order of their preference and the results were as follows: 

Mr Smith: 1.Paola, 2. Anca, 3. Maddie(c)
Ms Kehoe: 1. Maddie(c), 2. Paola, 3. Risa
Ms Renouf: 1. Maddie(a), 2. Anca, 3. Risa
Dr Kobayashi: 1. Maddie(c), 2. Anca, 3. Risa
Ms Swen: 1. Maddie(c), 2. Anca, 3. Risa 

We allocated 3 points to the first choice, 2 to the second and 1 to the third. The results were 10 points for Maddie (c), 8 points for Anca, 5 points for Paola, 4 points for Risa and 3 points for Maddie(a). Following are comments from our judges for each work.

a. Maddie

 Ms Renouf: I like the strong colours and proportion. Very pleasing to the eye.

b. Risa

Ms Swen: The work conveys genuine freshness and kindness.

Ms Renouf: I like the use of foliage and the classical line and form of the piece.

 c. Maddie

Ms Swen: I like gradations in blue colors and the beautiful circular rhythm with the slanting container.

Mr Smith: This arrangement demonstrates a powerful use of a dominant colour harmony. It also holds interest and attention by its combination of organic and man-made forms and thus by implication the tension between the natural and constructed worlds.

 d. Paola

Mr Smith: This is a very dramatic arrangement, the tall red glass container creates a powerful vertical axis and focuses attention at its apex. Here the carefully selected combination of flower and plant forms achieves a balance of small and large accents that holds this attention. This piece is a wonderful mix of geometric and organic form, of order and randomness, and of control and freedom.

 e. Anca

Ms Swen: What a poetic arrangement! It's just like an autumn landscape or a transient memory of an autumn day.

Mr Smith: This is a work of considerable subtlety with many delicate plant forms suspended in a similarly delicate glass container. The dominant arc form of the ensemble both attracts attention to its larger construction and at the same time allows for the slow and sustained appreciation of its details.

Ms Renouf: This piece is gentle, with a beautiful flow, and i love the look of suspension.

Congratulations to the winner, Maddie and to the other finalists. Thank you to all the Ikebana students who have shared their works on this blog. We are looking forward to receiving more images of your works for the Ikebana Gallery Award 2015.