Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, has been translated as “living flowers” or “giving life to flowers.” Join us from 1:15-2:15pm for an ikebana presentation by Caleb Hendrickson, Saga Goryu School. The demonstration will take place at the Cathy Rudd Cultural Corner, located in the Jordan Schnitzer Japanese Arts Learning Center.

Caleb grew up gardening with their parents, Grandma Gardner, homeschool friends, and visionary clients. Today, Caleb gardens at Portland Japanese Garden and studies with Saga Goryu Ikebana North America Chapter. 

Caleb practices gardening with the curators at PJG (Sadafumi Uchiyama and Hugo Torii) since 2016, and started studying in the Saga Goryu school of ikebana, with instruction from David Komeiji, 4-and-a-half years ago. 

Caleb says:

“Nature is sharing messages with us every day, even when we are too busy to listen. Gardens bring nature’s message closer and clearer to our perception. Ikebana reflects our experience and familiarity of being in harmony in the world around us. My mentors have shared with me that we need to slow down. We need to find inner peace/our center. We need to reflect nature’s cooperation, aspirations, and conflict resolution to those around us. It matters most when the message comes from our heart. Origami, gardening, ikebana — these Japanese cultural art forms teach us how to recognize our heart and harmony in the world. View it, frame it and internalize it, reflect it.”