Shoso Shimbo
Class Location: Murrumbeena & City (RMIT University City Campus)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shoso_shimbo/
Shoso Shimbo PhD is a certified teacher of Ikebana and has over 30 years experience in Ikebana. He studied under the late Sogetsu Head Master, Hiroshi Teshigahara.
Shoso was selected by Belle magazine as one of six “Australia’s top floral designers” and has won multiple awards including the Gold Award at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show. His work was selected for International Floral Art 2014/2015 & 2016/2017, Stichting Kunstboek (Belgium).
His sculptural works have been featured in some of the major contemporary art exhibitions including the Toyota Sculpture Exhibition, Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award Finalists Exhibition, Lorne Sculpture and the New Wave Art Festival at the National Gallery of Victoria.
Shoso has an MA in Japanese Studies, a Master of Fine Art and PhD in Education. He is also qualified as a garden designer (Japan Horticultural Society) specialising in Japanese gardens. He is a vice president of International Society of Ikebana Research and he teaches Japanese Aesthetics at RMIT University Short Courses.
He is a founding director of Ikebana Gallery Award, Wa Melbourne Ikebana Festival and Ikebana Dojo. He has numerous publications on Ikebana and contemporary art and is a regular contributor to the International Journal of Ikebana Studies. A collection of his works, "Shoso Shimbo 2020: Ikebana and Environmental Art" is available with eBook.
Shoso 2016 - 2020
Group Exhibitions (Curated)
2019 Wa ∙ Ikebana Exhibition, Abbotsford Convent (Since 2015)
2019 Sogetsu Victoria Group Exhibition, Hawthorn Town Hall
2018 Yering Station Sculpture Exhibition
2017 Yering Station Sculpture Exhibition
Commissioned Works / Special Displays (selected)
2020 New Year’s display, Koko restaurant, Crown Hotel (Since 2009)
2020 Sculpture commission, Le Pine, Kew East, Melbourne
2019 Ikebana performance, Suntory Roku Launch, Crown Hotel
2019 Ikebana display, RMIT Open Day
2019 Ikebana performance with the Gregorian Brothers, Melbourne Recital Centre
2019 Ikebana performance: The way of flower, Melbourne Recital Centre
2018 Biennale of Australian Art (BOAA), Ballarat
2018 Ikebana performance, International Academic Forum, Kobe, Japan
2018 Lorne Sculpture
2016 Ikebana Display, the Snow Travel Expo, Japan Foundation
2016 Wye River Project, Lorne Sculpture
Awards
2019 Shop Window Competition, Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (2nd Place)
2017 The Arnold Bloch Leiber Prize 17th Annual Yarra Valley Arts / Yering Station Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition & Awards
Publication
2020 Environmental art as public art, UNESCO Observatory, Multi-Disciplinary Research in the Arts, 6, 1.9.
2018 Nature in ikebana: Beyond sustainability (いけ花における自然：存続可能性を超えて). International Journal of Ikebana Studies (IJIS), 6, pp. 55- 60.
2017 Ikebana in environmental art (環境芸術におけるいけ花の可能性), International Journal of Ikebana Studies (IJIS), 5, pp. 109-113.
2016 Environmental art and ikebana, International Journal of Ikebana Studies (IJIS), 4, pp. 27-38.
Conference Papers
2020 Nature in Ikebana: The freestyle ikebana movement in the 1920’s and 1930’s, and its effect on Avant-garde Ikebana after the war. The 11th Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities, The International Academic Forum (virtual presentation).
2018 Creativity & Education: Environmental art as a vehicle of message. Central de Studii European, Facultatea de Drept, Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Co-funded by the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union, 17 April, Iasi, Romania.
2018 Environmental art as public art. Creating Utopia Conference, Sponsored by Deakin University, Lorne Sculpture Biennale, March 22 - 25, Qdos Arts, Lorne. Australia.
2018 Japanese aesthetics and environmental art. The Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities, The International Academic Forum. March 30 - April 1, Kobe, Japan.
2017 Transition of environmental art: In search of the strategies for sustainability. The Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities, The International Academic Forum. March 30 - April 2, Kobe, Japan.