” Dozens of signature floral compositions reveal the wide breadth of flower arrangement styles during the Spring Ikebana Floral Festival at Yume Japanese Gardens and Museum.
Yume is the Tucson region’s first and only authentic Japanese gardens, and Ikebana is the traditional art of Japanese flower arranging. Ikebana – “living flowers” – uniquely emphasizes shape, line, and form by giving equal weight to the branches, stems, and leaves of a plant rather than merely arranging its blooms. Classical Ikebana dates to the 15^th century and successor schools have emerged since. In all of them, deep-rooted design rules and a Zen-like discipline subtly harmonize nature and the hand of the arranger.
Some 50 signature arrangements created by students and teachers of five major schools of Ikebana practice will adorn the grounds and buildings of Yume during the festival. One of the largest such combined exhibitions in Arizona, it offers an unusually broad look at the variety of styles in Japanese flower arranging. A further attraction lies in the vases in which the arrangements are displayed, many of them handmade in Japan with a refined elegance.
The Ikebana festival runs 9:30 am to 4:30 pm daily, February 19-27. Admission is $15 for adults and $5 for children under 15. “

Yume Japanese Gardens is located at 2130 N. Alvernon Way, Tucson.

www.yumegardens.org

OLD PUEBLO POEMS

“Calling creatives, writers, and aspiring poets from the Old Pueblo and beyond!

The Downtown Tucson Partnership together with the University of Arizona Poetry Center are proud to announce the 1^stannual Old Pueblo Poems literary competition. Twenty winning haiku poems will be featured on signage located along Congress Street in Downtown Tucson.  These decorative signs will provide visual and cultural interest throughout the Spring season, beginning March 21st.    

What is a Haiku…

… a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.

Learn more about how to write a Haiku here.

Haiku entries will be judged by Tucson’s Poet Laureate, TC Tolbert.

This year’s theme will be “Life in the City.” 

Only one entry per person, with a maximum of three haiku allowed. Submissions will be accepted through February 25^th.  All winners will receive a $25 Downtown Gift Card and have their work featured on public signage, online and in the media. Winners will be announced on Downtown Tucson Partnership’s social media (@downtowntucson) and by email to all entrants. “

https://www.downtowntucson.org/oldpueblopoems/?platform=hootsuite

“Join in one of Japan’s most distinctive rituals and see why refinement and subtlety are by-words in Japanese culture.

In classical kimono and following canons of etiquette established nearly 1,000 years ago, a master devoted to the art and spirituality of “The Way of Tea” will prepare and serve you a bowl of matcha, or powdered green tea, and a traditional Japanese sweet to nibble.

Performed with all the formality and reverence that time-honored custom decrees, our Winter/Spring 2019 tea ceremonies take place February 9, March 23, and April 6, at 1:00 pm. The ceremonies are not intended for children under the age of 15.

The February 9 ceremony has sold out, but you may still register to attend the ceremonies on Saturday, March 23 and Saturday, April 6.

Please RSVP at least one week beforehand to yume.gardens@gmail.com, with your name, phone number, and the number in your party.  If you must cancel your reservation, notify us as soon as possible, so that we may accommodate others who wish to participate.

The cost to attend a ceremony is $15 per person, and you may purchase a ticket online. (Do remember to RSVP.) Click on “Events” in the menu bar at Yume Garden’s website, at the top of any page, then click “Buy Tickets” in the submenu that opens.

Whether you obtain your ticket online or purchase it in person on the day of the ceremony, you must also pay the applicable Gardens admission fee upon arrival for the event. Members of Yume Japanese Gardens enjoy free entry, and pay only the $15 ceremony charge.

For these events, please park in the lot behind our main gate on North Alvernon Way, or on East Justin Lane, one half block south of Yume. Non-resident parking is no longer permitted on East Hampton Place, on the north side of the Gardens.”

www.yumegardens.org

Harvill Building is at 1103 E. 2nd Street, Tucson, south of Speedway Blvd., east of Mountain Avenue.

”
FRAGILE CHERRY BLOSSOMS CONTRAST WITH JAPAN’S HARD URBAN EDGE IN “SAKURA: PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK TAYLOR”

The delicate pink “sakura,” or cherry blossom, is the beloved herald of spring in Japan. Outings to parks to stroll and picnic under blooming cherry trees and to reflect on the fleeting character of life as petals fall are especially popular with residents of the country’s heavily built-up cities.

Opening next February 9 at Yume Japanese Gardens of Tucson, the exhibition “Sakura: Photography by Mark Taylor” departs from the usual idyllic portrayals of cherry blossom season. Instead, it embraces the opposition visible in the sight of nature flowering amid the dense visual grid of buildings, power lines, freeways, and signs in Japan’s urban jungle.

“I looked for the tension between the traditional and the contemporary,” says Taylor. “People have been photographed often picnicking under cherry trees. I wanted to avoid that and present the blossoms in a modern context, using the hardscape of cities as a strong graphic background.”

Although composing his color photographs in a contemporary spirit, Taylor also uses cropping and fragmentation and other techniques employed in traditional Ukiyo-e woodblock prints to offer a unique view of cherry blossom time.

In one image in the exhibition, a yellow commuter train hurtles past a house flanked by a blooming tree, an eruption of restlessness into tranquility. In another, a tree invitingly extends its canopy of flowers, but cannot be reached, standing isolated behind a hurricane fence with a sign proclaiming “Fire Cistern.”

“Sakura” opens in the Art Gallery of Yume Japanese Gardens on February 9, 2019, with a free artist reception for Taylor from 5 to 7 pm. The show runs until May 4, and all photographs in the exhibition will be sale.”

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Yume Japanese Gardens (yumegardens.org) is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization, at 2130 N. Alvernon Way. It features six examples of classical Japanese landscape design, a replica traditional Japanese cottage, a museum of Japanese art and handicrafts, an art gallery, and a gift shop. It also holds seasonal Japanese festivals, tea ceremonies, and Ikebana classes. For more information about “Sakura” by Mark Taylor or the Gardens, contact Patricia Deridder at (520) 272-3200 or yume.gardens@gmail.com.