Pat's Ikebana - Sogetsu - Training and Classes in a modern form of the traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement.

Pat's Ikebana offers classes at all levels in Sogetsu Ikebana.

Based in Brisbane, Australia, students gain experience in the basics of Sogetsu, and explore more advanced techniques as inspiration and skills develop.

Sogetsu Ikebana

Ikebana is the art of arranging flowers and other natural materials such as branches, grasses and the like in accordance with particular aesthetic principles.

While the art originated and developed in Japan several centuries ago, in various schools each with their own rules, the Sogetsu School is a modern school which encourages students to explore their own capacity to develop free form, and to explore the contemporary possibilities of the spatial environment of the arrangements.

In Australia, Sogetsu groups are based in Brisbane, Townsville, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Explore the links to our other pages to find details of classes and your teacher Pat Mackie, the galleries of typical arrangements and links to the Sogetsu world.

Pat Mackie

Pat Mackie is a leading practitioner of Sogetsu Ikebana in Brisbane, Australia and has been studying ikebana for 17 years. She has been teaching classes at her studio in Jindalee, Brisbane since 2001. See the classes page for details of class timings.

Pat has undertaken many courses at the Sogetsu headquarters in Tokyo and participates regularly in workshops throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Pat is a member of

Sogetsu Teachers Association Japan
Sogetsu Ikebana Association Brisbane – Gold Coast (Director 2002-5)
Ikebana International – Sydney Chapter

Sogetsu Ikebana in Brisbane

The Sogetsu School was introduced to Australia in 1958 by the late Norman Sparnon, a friend of Sofu Teshigahara who founded the school in Japan in 1927. Norman Sparnon studied Sogetsu Ikebana in Japan for thirteen years after World War II. From his home in Sydney he travelled extensively throughout Australia teaching Sogetsu Ikebana and in 1963 he introduced the art to Queensland through public demonstrations, lessons, workshops and exhibitions.

The local Association is a branch of the Sogetsu Teachers’ Association in Japan. The practicing teachers of our Association follow the curriculum set by the Sogetsu Ikebana School in Japan. Achievement certificates are awarded by the school in Japan. Students may join the local Association when they have obtained at least the first certificate in this curriculum. Those who gain certification at teacher level may also become members of Sogetsu Teachers’ Association in Japan.