All of the Portland Ikebana Schools participated in the jam-packed series of re-opening events at the Japanese Garden. Each day, from March 28 to April 1, a school provided arrangements for invitation-only events, culminating with the first day open to the public on Sunday, April 2.

To fulfill the requests for arrangements at specific locations in the new Cultural Village–the staircase, the design studio and the classroom–the arrangers faced particular challenges. The relatively small footprints at each site were surrounded by glass, viewable from all sides, and in the line of sight with strong architectural vertical design. Taking the opportunity to work with these complicated settings, the practitioners created strong, often bold arrangements which held their own against repeating lines and backgrounds that changed as passersby moved around them.

Click to view photos. (Note: Descriptions are visible if you scroll through the photos, one by one, not as a slideshow.)