About IKEBANA4U
Ikebana4u School - founded 1999
Amira Matsuda founder, Riji ranked Instructor, teaching Ikebana Japanese floral art since 1999.
Amira has taught Ikebana to over 100 students over the years with more than 25 teachers graduating from her school and it is on going.
We have been fortunate to make our name in the Ikebana industry through actively participating in our community, exhibitions, presentations, and workshops. Although we still have ways we can get better, the experiences we have created is what Friendship through Flowers is all about.
Amira Matsuda
Riji Instructor / Master designer
Amira's journey with Ikebana started in 1995 when she started taking classes from a local teacher, Nan Mitchell.
- Amira served as the President of Ikebana International Dallas Chapter (2003 to 2005)
- 3 terms -Director of Sogetsu School, Dallas Branch.
- Riji ranking, teaching over 50 students regularly.
Some of her notable performances include:
- Live presentations and showcases for Queen Noor of Jordan
- The Grand Palace in Taipei, Taiwan
- The Takanawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo, Japan
- The Odaiba Hotel, Tokyo
- The Morikami Museum in Boca Raton, Florida
- The Swissotel in Chicago
- The Portola Plaza Hotel in Monterrey, California
- The Dallas Arboretum
- The Trammell Crow Museum
- The Irving Arts Center
- The Eismann Center
- The Plano , Colleyville, and Frisco Garden Clubs
- The Children’s Theatre, Plano Texas
- The International woman club of Plano
- The San Jose Library, San Jose, California
- The Ikebana International New Mexico Chapter
- The Ikebana International San Antonio Chapter
- The Ikebana International Houston Chapter
What is Ikebana?
Ikebana is the art of Japanese flower arrangements.
- It is a three dimensions artistic expression composed of flowers and plant materials to enhance their beauty.
- Ikebana emphasizes the character of its creator, great way to increase patience, focus and concentration.
- Learning Sogetsu School through hands on workshops will help develop discipline, techniques, and appreciation of nature.
- Ikebana is set based on certain rules and eye training.
- Special considerations for the elements used in the arrangements creating height, width, depth, and angle skills.
- The placement of all the elements, the usage of the space must be taking into account, at the end harmony must be accomplished.
- Ikebana can generally be divided into two styles: The shallow vase style, and the tall vase style
Left: Moribana: A Moribana arrangement is distinguished by a shallow container and the usage of a Kenzan (a needle pin holder that holds the proper position of the line material)
ALL ABOUT SPACE AND LINE
How can we achieve an overall view with a strong sense of artistic expression where the appearance of the setting is full of tension, fullness versus emptiness and how to make the lines beautifully recognized.
- Sogetsu school focuses on the enhancement of line's beauty in all aspects of the arrangement by carefully making a choice of the line, and how to emphasize it.
- A good Ikebana artist, should continually practice in order to instinctively know which necessary lines to keep and which ones to avoid, your hands and scissor- movements become more confident and your Ikebana will gradually improve.
- Curved lines, straight lines, and flexible lines, whatever creativity you add to the lines used in an Ikebana setting will help your Ikebana composition and make it powerful and interesting.
- Taking consideration to space will help you see the characteristics of the plant material and to achieve distinguished lines.
- Ikebana is an art of space, the space between branches, the space between flowers and leaves and any other element used in the setting, in other words, the space between branches and flowers come alive.
- The mystery of less is important, taking the scissors in hand to cut and eliminate is vital.
- The dynamics of your setting will show when you do so.
Let your heart go first, and then your hands will follow.
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The Basics
In an Ikebana arangement, the 3 main elements that form a composition;
- Height
- Width
- Depth
These must all be in harmony in order to achieve a fine balance.
Although an Ikebana arrangement is an expression of the creator, it must be arranged for the viewer's eye, which means it must look like a "front view", no matter what angle you look at it from in most cases. Therefore it is critical that the basic rules are followed to achieve this equalibrium.
Left: Nageire: A Nageire arrangement are materials arranged in tall, cylindrical, or urned shaped containers.
About Me
About Amira
Born in Babylon, Iraq, Amira Matsuda was raised with a big family of 13 brothers and sisters and had a simple life with roosters and sheep roaming her family's backyard.
After graduating college, a twist of fate was around the corner when Amira was hired at a Japanese construction company, Sumitomo, where she met her husband and moved to Japan in 1980. Amira quickly learned to speak Japanese and adapted to a new culture and lifestyle. She was granted Japanese citizenship, then later moved to Dallas, Texas in 1987.
Amira has always led an active lifestyle, constantly serving on the board of several charitable and cultural organizations, while balancing her time at home with her four children and husband. Currently, she is the President of the Iraqi American Association of North Texas.