NYZ: The Silence of Flowers – An Ikebana Workshop

Join Ikenobo ikebana artist Paula Tam to learn how to sense the unspoken poetry of flowers and create arrangements for an altar. The class will begin with a brief overview of ikebana history and philosophy, followed by a demonstration illustrating fundamental arrangement techniques, and finally, you will spend the majority of the time creating your own arrangement using flowers. All supplies are provided and you get to take the flowers you use home with you.

This class is a perfect opportunity for anyone to start practicing the meditative art of ikebana and for Zen practitioners to learn a skill for altar care.

Co-hosted by Tea Arts & Culture.

Tickets for this workshop are $60. Reduced tickets available for sangha members who sign up to maintain Shobo-ji’s altar arrangements. Contact office@newyorkzendo.org to inquire.

About the Instructor:
Paula Tam is an accomplished Ikenobo ikebana artist holding the titles of Professor of Ikenobo Ikebana, President of Ikenobo California Pacific Chapter, Ikebana Coordinator of the Japanese Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vice President of Ikebana International New York Chapter, and Former President of Ikebana International New York Chapter (2013-2015).

Paula has been studying Ikenobo ikebana for 30 years and was awarded the rank of “Sokatoku”, rank #18, the highest Ikenobo Diploma in Ikenobo Floral Art. She graduated from the Ikenobo Central Institute of Floral Art in Kyoto. She has been passionately teaching and promoting ikebana. Her arrangements have been exhibited in New York, Shanghai, Malaysia, and Kyoto; including in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Museum, Tenri Gallery, Japanese Stroll Garden, Japanese Ambassadors’ residences, among others. She has given ikebana demonstrations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, SinoVision TV station and for Ikebana International New York Chapter. Her passion in ikebana propels her to pursue higher levels of studies continuously. At present she is specializing in Koten-Rikka (classical Meiji Rikka) and Shoka with the most venerable Ikenobo professors in Ikenobo Headquarters. In her ikebana she likes to explore how life, nature, and ikebana interact.