On View
FLOWERS FOR ALINE: AN EXHIBITION BY SOGETSU IKEBANA LOS ANGELES BRANCH

 

April 18-21 & 25-28, 2024

Saturday, April 20, 2-4 pm: Free demonstrations by Sogetsu Masters

 

Hollyhock House presents Flowers for Aline, a special exhibition of 45 fresh-flower works by the Sogetsu Ikebana Los Angeles Branch. With dynamic arrangements featuring spring’s finest blooms, the installation will transform Frank Lloyd Wright’s “garden house,” designed in 1921 for the visionary arts patron Aline Barnsdall, who gifted the landmark site to the people of Los Angeles nearly a century ago.


The exhibition, curated by Hollyhock House director Abbey Chamberlain Brach and architect and ikebana artist Ravi GuneWardena, will feature expressive arrangements both inside and out—activating terraces gardens, spilling from cast concrete planter boxes, and responding to Wright’s artful interiors. For the first time since the site’s 2022 reopening, the child’s bedroom will be on view as part of this special exhibition with six ikebana works in this space alone. 


On Saturday, April 20, 2-4 pm, four high-ranking Sogetsu masters and selected students will present ikebana demonstrations free to the public in the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre. Demonstrations by Marilyn Drageset, Yumiko Inoue, Chiyoko Chasin, Tony Shum, Mikayo Arao, Keiko Miyahara, Haruko Takeichi, and Kaz Kitajima. 


Early advance reservations recommended for this limited-run exhibition. To book tickets, CLICK HERE

 


Photos: Hollyhock House living room, c. 1921, Los Angeles Public Library. Installation view of Ravi GuneWardena: Ikebana for Hollyhock House by Hiroshi Clark, 2023. Installation view of Sogutsu Ikebana Los Angeles Branch exhibition at MAK Center, 2012.

 

 

RAVI GUNEWARDENA: IKEBANA FOR HOLLYHOCK HOUSE

 

December 2023–Fall 2024

OFF VIEW: April 18–28, 2024 during Flowers for Aline: An Exhibition by the Sogetsu Ikebana Los Angeles Branch

 

Hollyhock House presents Ravi GuneWardena: Ikebana for Hollyhock House. The installation features striking new ikebana by GuneWardena, which reanimate the interiors of the Frank Lloyd Wright-described “garden house” through the Japanese art of flower arranging. The expressive arrangements introduce bold forms and textures with dried plant material, bringing nature indoors and further showcasing the influence of Japanese art and design on the site—built simultaneously with Wright’s Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.

 

“The placement of an ikebana arrangement can inform and define the work itself.  The light and space of Hollyhock House appear to have been designed with this art form in mind,” says GuneWardena.


The compositions reference the placement, mass, and scale of floral arrangements that Aline Barnsdall had in the house during the 1920s. GuneWardena also utilizes innovative materials that Sogetsu School founder Sofu Teshigahara embraced in his practice, dating back to the late 1920s. While ikebana is a centuries-old artform, the Sogetsu School, of which GuneWardena is a part, was established in 1927, challenging traditions of ikebana and celebrating freedom of individual expression. GuneWardena’s works active Wright’s gesamtkunstwerk interiors for Hollyhock House, adding new reference points in dialogue with the site’s holistic approach to art and architecture.


The exhibition is organized by Abbey Chamberlain Brach, Director & Curator at Hollyhock House.

 

EXHIBITION GUIDE 

 

Advance reservations recommended. To book a self-guided tour ticket, CLICK HERE.

 

 

Photo: Installation view of Ravi GuneWardena: Ikebana for Hollyhock House by Hiroshi Clark, 2023.

 

PAST

ENTANGLEMENTS: LOUISE BONNET AND ADAM SILVERMAN AT HOLLYHOCK HOUSE

 

February 15–June 24, 2023

 

Entanglements: Louise Bonnet and Adam Silverman at Hollyhock House is the first artist intervention at the UNESCO World Heritage Site and the first formal collaboration for the Los Angeles-based couple. In dialogue with the site, Bonnet’s paintings and drawing and Silverman’s ceramics engage the house’s 100-year history as a platform for artists and experimentation. The new works will be installed in Hollyhock House’s public rooms where Aline Barnsdall’s celebrated art collection was once on display.

 

Known for her portraits of exaggerated proportions and grotesque features, Bonnet continually explores emotions of melancholy, loneliness, nostalgia and grief in her works on canvas or paper. Silverman is among the most dynamic practitioners dedicated to ceramics today and is known for his sculptural vessels and richly textured glazes. He brings an architect’s sense of structure to his objects and utilizes personal and experimental techniques to glaze and fire his works.

 

The exhibition is organized by Abbey Chamberlain Brach, Curator at Hollyhock House. Special thanks to Galerie Max Hetzler.

 

BROCHURE | EXHIBITION CHECKLIST

 

Photos: Installation views of Entanglements: Louise Bonnet and Adam Silverman at Hollyhock House, 2022. Photographs by Joshua White, courtesy Galerie Max Hetzler.