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Mieko Kubota is an accomplished artist in ikebana, a Japanese method of
flower arranging. Well-recognized for her creativity, Kubota teaches and
demonstrates ikebana throughout South Florida. She lives with her daughter
and her daughter’s small children in a house in Miami, whose entranceway
is decked with bonsai formed from blooming bougainvillea and ficus plants.
For several years, she has served as an interpreter and tutor for the
Dade County school system.
Ikebana, like many traditional Japanese arts, has a history dating back
several centuries. Flowers and greenery are arranged both to reflect the
artist’s interpretation of natural forces and to create new meanings linked
to the non-natural environment. There are many schools of ikebana, which
range from the strictly traditional to the various contemporary free-style
forms. Kubota’s own style is eclectic. Similar to the manner in which
a jazz musician improvises within standard chord changes, she explores
personal interpretations of traditional ikebana patterns. Her designs
incorporate found objects, experimental containers, native plants and
tropical flowers.
Kubota is the local president of the Ikebana International school, which
was founded in the United States in the 1950s. The motto of Ikebana International
is “friendship through flowers.” In keeping with this motto,
Kubota uses ikebana to reach out to others in the community through the
beauty of arranged flowers. She has taught ikebana at Fairchild Tropical
Garden in Miami for several years, as well as at other locations. In addition
to teaching, she has demonstrated the art on many occasions. For instance,
she donates her time each year to fund-raisers for the Miami Horticultural
Society, held at the Miami Museum of Science. One year she demonstrated
flower arranging techniques to music, thus creating a performance piece.
Kubota’s perceptions of ikebana parallel her feelings about bonsai,
the Japanese art of shaping small shrubs to give the illusion of trees
in nature. In 1971 Kubota and her late husband founded a nursery in rural
southern Dade County, dedicated to bonsai. She comments that “bonsai
teaches you that you must follow the rules of nature. You shape bonsai
to emphasize nature’s shape. And there are many styles of bonsai, but
nature decides what style it will be.”
Kubota is also a skilled origami artist. In origami, a paper sculpture
is created out of a single piece of folded paper, without using scissors,
tape, glue or staples. Popular forms are the crane, frog, ship and balloon.
Like most folk arts, origami has been passed down through oral instruction
and demonstration, with mothers teaching designs to their children. Kubota
has passed on this traditional art to her daughter and grandchildren.
— Laura Ogden
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