Presented by Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research and Cranbrook House and Gardens Auxiliary in Partnership with Ikebana International Detroit Chapter 85
Ikebana Exhibition, Demonstrations, and Tours of the Cranbrook Japanese Garden and Cranbrook House
Saturday and Sunday, October 8 and 9, 2022, 12:00 – 5:00pm
$25 Adults and Seniors
$10 Full-time Students with ID
Tickets will be available at the door.
Tickets for the Ikebana Exhibition and Preview benefit the educational programs of Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research, Cranbrook House and Gardens Auxiliary, and Ikebana International Detroit Chapter 85. Preview tickets also include admission to Cranbrook House and the exhibition on Saturday and Sunday.
Ikebana: The Art of Japanese Floral Arrangement is sponsored at Cranbrook, in part, by the Clannad Foundation and the Japan Business Society of Detroit/JBSD Foundation.
IKEBANA / 生け花: THE ART OF JAPANESE FLORAL ARRANGEMENT
In this special exhibition in the magnificent rooms of Cranbrook House, the members of Ikebana International Detroit Chapter 85, present a display of nearly thirty arrangements by some of Michigan’s most respected ikebana artists. The exhibition, which includes ikebana demonstrations and tours of both the Cranbrook Japanese Garden and Cranbrook House, celebrates the legacy of the Japanese Garden and its ongoing rejuvenation by Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.
Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, has been translated as “living flowers” or “giving life to flowers,” and is unique from other approaches to flower arrangement. In ikebana, asymmetry and the use of empty space are essential features of the overall composition. A sense of harmony among the materials, the container, and the setting is also crucial.
Placed throughout Cranbrook House—from the Reception Hall and Library to George Booth’s private Still Room—the ikebana arrangements will vary in their scale and design, representing several of the schools of ikebana practiced by artists around the world. Originating in the seventh century when floral offerings were made at altars, ikebana reached its first zenith in the sixteenth century under the influence of Buddhist tea masters. There now are over 1,000 different types of schools of ikebana throughout the world.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY IKEBANA SCHEDULE
Informal tours of Cranbrook House, led by docents positioned throughout the house, will take place throughout the afternoon on both Saturday and Sunday. Space is limited at the Ikebana Demonstrations; first-come, first-served.
12:00pm Cranbrook House Opens
12:00 – 5:00pm Informal Tours of Cranbrook House
12:15 – 12:45pm Ikebana Demonstration, Oak Room
12:45 – 1:45pm Japanese Garden Tour, Departing from the North Porch
1:45 – 2:15pm Ikebana Demonstration, Oak Room
2:15 – 3:15pm Japanese Garden Tour, Departing from the North Porch
3:15 – 3:45pm Ikebana Demonstration, Oak Room
3:45 – 4:45pm Japanese Garden Tour, Departing from the North Porch
5:00pm Cranbrook House Closes
IKEBANA DEMONSTRATIONS
On both Saturday and Sunday afternoon, visitors will have an opportunity to watch ikebana demonstrations and ask questions about the art. The demonstrations, presented in the Oak Room, will feature three certified ikebana instructors—Cheryl Linck, Janet Knowlton, and Leslie Rosinski—all of whom are members of Ikebana International Detroit Chapter 85—practicing three different schools.
In the 15th century, the 12th abbot of the Rokkaku-dō temple in Kyoto (the second oldest Buddhist temple in Japan), Sankei Ikenobo, created a method of flower arranging that came to be known as ikebana. It was then that the Ikenobo School was born. In addition to the Ikenobo School, the demonstrations will include instructors that represent the avant-gardist Sōgetsu School, which was founded in 1927 and was one of the first schools to have English textbooks, as well as the equally contemporary Ichiyo School, which was founded in 1937 and encourages personal interpretation.
For more information on Ikebana International Detroit Chapter 85, please visit their website.
CRANBROOK JAPANESE GARDEN TOURS
The Cranbrook Japanese Garden is among the oldest Japanese-style gardens in North America. Created in 1915 by Cranbrook founder George Gough Booth and his father Henry Wood Booth, this one-acre, pond-style strolling garden, which is centered on the Lily Pond and its two small islands, features an iconic vermillion Japanese-style bridge, the original Japanese Kasuga Lantern, and the recently rehabilitated Lily Pond Cascade with its new Mountain Lantern. Walking tours, led by a member of the Center’s staff, will include a history of the garden and its historic features, as well as an overview of the Center’s rejuvenation of the Japanese Garden under the direction and vision of Sadafumi Uchiyama, Chief Curator and Director of the International Training Institute at the Portland Japanese Garden in Oregon.
For more information on the Cranbrook Japanese Garden, including the creation of the New Entrance Garden, please visit the Center for Collections and Research Japanese Garden website.
CRANBROOK HOUSE TOURS
Cranbrook House is the former home of Cranbrook’s founders, George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth. Designed by Detroit-based architect Albert Kahn and completed in 1908 with additions in 1918 and 1919, the home is the oldest surviving Tudoresque manor in Metropolitan Detroit open for public tours. At approximately 30,000 square feet, nearly every detail—from the tiling to the ornamental hand-carved oak paneled walls and Tudor Rose ceilings—in the estate exemplifies George Booth’s devotion to the Arts and Crafts Movement. Docents will be positioned throughout the first floor of the house offering visitors an opportunity to ask questions and learn about the history of the manor and its founders, while viewing the Booths’ impressive Library, Dining Room, Living Room, offices, and other spaces filled with important works of art and design.
For more information on Cranbrook House, visit the Cranbrook House and Gardens website.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Cranbrook House is located at 380 Lone Pine Road, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, 48304, across from Christ Church Cranbrook. Free parking is available in the Cranbrook House parking lot, a five-minute walk from the house’s front door. Additional parking is available on the service drive that runs parallel to Lone Pine Road, south and west of the Cranbrook House parking lot.
REGISTRATION
Advance registration and tickets are required for the Ikebana Exhibition Preview on Friday evening and encouraged for the exhibition on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Tickets are non-refundable (but may be transferred to another participant). For more information, please contact Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research at 248.645.3307 (Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 4:30pm) or center@cranbrook.edu.
PHOTO CREDITS
Banner: Glass Bowl Arrangement from Ikebana International Detroit Chapter 85; Photography by Beverly Benson Wolf, BB Wolf Fine Art Photography, Copyright 2020 Ikebana International Detroit Chapter 85.
Ikebana Arrangement in the Sunset Porch of Cranbrook House; Courtesy of Cheryl Linck.
Basket Arrangement from Ikebana International Detroit Chapter 85. Photography by Beverly Benson Wolf, BB Wolf Fine Art Photography, Copyright 2020 Ikebana International Detroit Chapter 85.
Ikebana Arrangement, June 2022; Courtesy of Ikebana International Detroit Chapter 85 website.
Dining Room in Cranbrook House, May 14, 2018; Photography by James Haefner, Courtesy Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.
Cranbrook Japanese Bridge, July 16, 2019; Photography by Eric Franchy, Courtesy Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.