A free event coming to New Denver on Saturday, June 21, will pay tribute to Japanese Canadian internment camp survivors by celebrating a centuries-old form of flower art.
The craft of ikebana — Japanese flower arranging that bonds nature with human expression — will bloom in the Slocan Lake community for a day of exhibitions, demonstrations and workshops, made possible by a group of artists who've kept the practice alive in Vancouver.
"This event is not only for Japanese people, but for anyone," said Hollis Ho, a Japanese Canadian woman with the Vancouver Ikebana Association. "I was really wanting to take it into the small communities."
Supported by a Japanese Canadian Legacies Society Community Fund, the June 21 event will be carried out by Ho and nine other members of the New Denver Ikebana Project: Tazuko Tsai, Francesca Percival, Daniela Vahedi, Noni Mildenberger, Holly Anne Sakaki, Daphne Squire, Kenji Lee Morishita, Colleen Eaton and Victoria Furuya.
These teachers and students join from the five different schools in Vancouver currently practicing ikebana, according to Ho. Now, this all-ages and community-targeted event brings many of these ikebana practitioners to New Denver for their first time — though for some, the town has a bittersweet history.
"My Japanese Canadian mother, my grandparents, aunts, and uncles were interned in New Denver, Slocan, Rosebery, and Lemon Creek during the Second World War, so New Denver is the chosen location as it was the hub village of several Japanese Canadian internment camps during the war," Ho shared in a release, adding this began in 1942. "Many on our team have family members who faced the hardships of living in the camps."
The ikebana event, originally booked back in January 2024 for the previous summer, was previously stopped dead in its tracks due to the New Denver wildfires that displaced hundreds. Though "deflating" for Ho and fellow Japanese Canadians who'd already spent months planning things, "it's even more exciting this year, because we're (actually) going to do it."
A stop in Nakusp on the way to Slocan Lake will allow the New Denver Ikebana Project members to forage natural resources needed for the craft, such as flowers and branches.
Given that ikebana is usually exhibited by a team of 30 to 40 people, Ho said "it's dedication and enthusiasm" that make this possible with a group of just 10.
"It's a beautiful art form that's existed for hundreds of years," she added.
Ho and other organizers depart Vancouver for New Denver on Wednesday, June 18, and host the event 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 21 at Bosun Hall.
The lived ikebana demonstration starts at 1 p.m., and while the introductory workshop at 3 p.m. has already sold out, those interested can email ikebananewdenver@gmail.com to join the waitlist. The workshop costs $20 per person.
Learn more about this traditional art form via the Sogetsu School of Ikebana's Vancouver branch at sogetsuvancouver.com.
