A virtuoso raises grasses to an artform.
Everyone knows about bonsai (especially if you've watched the karate kid film) but I wanted to look at these other approaches to greenery that originated in Japan. Firstly: Kusamono. This translates as 'grass thing' and is an arrangement of growing plants replicating a little slice of nature. When I saw pictures of Rosetta Sarah Elkin's 'Tiny Taxonomies' they reminded me of this. She created little fragments of landscape in the tops of steel tubes, reflecting the local surroundings. Each one is like a little garden. She recreates it in different locations, using plants from the surroundings. For example her London version used plants and materials from Highgate Cemetery. Next is Kokedama or string gardens: Wabi kusa is a more random arrangement, where plants are wrapped onto balls of earth, sat in water and left to sprout. It reminds me a bit of the heads you made out of tights as a kid with grass sprouting out of them for hair. And lastly there's the art of flower arranging, Japanese style: Ikebana. minimal & elegant.
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When we display bonsai, we usually include an accent plant, as it has become known over the years. The correct term should be shitakusa, which is translated from the Japanese shita, below or under,…
This month we had the delight to have Young Choe, probably the foremost kusamono artist working in the United States, give a presentation and workshop at Crataegus Bonsai. Young studied with Keiko …
Another one of Ritta Cooper’s beautiful kusamono plantings Robin Jehan’s unusual kusamono planting There will be very many more examples in the Exhibition on 27th May 2012 KUSAMONO Kusa…
Here are a few more unusual Kusamono that I have in my garden, I have used some in displays.
Hey all, I was out in the backyard today "playing" as it were, and while I was moving around my new and small beginnings of a kusamono collection I thought, "ho
I haven't posted anything for quite long. I was quite busy with severals shows during the first half of this year. I have produced a lot of...
A virtuoso raises grasses to an artform.
Part-time kusamono master, part-time seed protector, Young Choe gives us a glimpse into the art and science behind bonsai accents.We’ve all had that moment walking through a forest - feeling tiny beneath Doug firs, yet gigantic amongst baby ferns. This suspension between massive and miniature ecology fuels our obsession with bonsai - an art that imitates and sensationalizes nature’s scale, in miniature. With bonsai, an integral aspect of recreating nature is derived in the accent plantings of kusamono.
Over the past few years, I have continued to include articles that focus on the “other” components that enhance the presentation of bonsai - giving a sense of completion. In particular, the journal has featured numerous articles on bonsai containers and most recently on bonsai stands. It is only app
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Favourites: Wabikusa Somekind of hydrocotyle flowering. This is just so beautiful!
When we display bonsai, we usually include an accent plant, as it has become known over the years. The correct term should be shitakusa, which is translated from the Japanese shita, below or under,…
This month we had the delight to have Young Choe, probably the foremost kusamono artist working in the United States, give a presentation and workshop at Crataegus Bonsai. Young studied with Keiko …
Explore ragesoss' 14648 photos on Flickr!
