Our first face to face speaker meeting since the beginning of the Covid restrictions was held in our new venue Redwood Audley. We thank all of you who organised our move, we had a lovely meal and everything ran very smoothly.
We welcomed Kate Newnham, from Bristol Museum and Art Gallery and she talked told us about “Flowers in Japanese Art”. She told us about the connection between flowers and poetry, flowers and the Tea Ceremony and how animals and birds go together too. She also told us how the blossoms and flowers of the seasons influence Japanese life and are a talking point when visiting homes etc.
At the end of the evening President Sue (Immediate Past President Marion was there
too), presented Bristol Museum with our lovely plate for safe keeping. The plate was given to us by our Japanese Friendship Link Yuko some years ago. Kate knew we were going to do this and had done a bit of research. She told us that it is a very special porcelain plate (Arita ware) made by Inoue Manji at his studio. She told us about Inoue’s work and that his son and grandson continue working in the family business. We are very honoured to own this plate and have let Yuko know that it is now safe and on display in Bristol Museum.
Kate is an inspirational speaker and we thank her for sharing her knowledge with us.