In 1977, 'Shibui', the first Bermuda chapter of Ikebana International, was established thanks, in large part, to the efforts of Kitten Ellison. Recently, she was honoured during its special 25th anniversary dinner. This week Lifestyle's Nancy Acton talks with Mrs. Ellison about her life as an Ikebana teacher, international exhibitor, and permanent student of the Japanese art of flower arranging.

In 1970, Kitten Ellison was among a group of members of the Bermuda Garden Club who were studying to be judges. Part of the qualifying requirement was learning all forms of flower arranging, so expert Stella Coe was brought from London to give a demonstration and workshops on Ikebana. Mrs. Ellison, along with some of her fellow students, found the art of Japanese flower arranging so fascinating that they became hooked - so much so, in fact, that Mrs. Coe was brought back again in 1972.

It was then, through discussions with Mrs. Coe, that Mrs. Ellison also learned about Ikebana International - an organisation founded in post-war Japan to "stimulate, cultivate and perpetuate the study of Ikebana, related arts and culture by demonstrations and public exhibitions, and strengthen relationships among teachers and students of Ikebana with a deeper purpose of establishing" friendships through flowers.

"Why not form a study group and become a Bermuda chapter of Ikebana International?" Mrs. Coe suggested.

"You have to be a study group before you become a full-fledged chapter," Mrs. Ellison says. "So we set up a study group in 1973 and formed an executive, and I was elected its first president."

In 1975, she travelled to London, along with the late Lorna Mercer, for intensive study with Ms Coe in order to qualify as an Ikebana instructor, and has never looked back. In 1977, largely through Mrs. Ellison's efforts, 'Shibui' officially became the 180th Ikebana International chapter. Today she is the only member to have remained with the chapter from its inception.

Noting that there are "literally hundreds" of schools of Ikebana, Mrs. Ellison teaches one of the three major ones: Sogetsu, and today she looks back with pride on the many students whom she has qualified as teachers over the years.

Mindful that the study of Ikebana is structured and ongoing, she explains that the traditional path is for students to work their way through perfecting certain set designs before gaining the necessary diplomas that lead to a teaching diploma.

"Unfortunately, the diploma costs a lot of money so most of the students just want to learn the designs," Mrs. Ellison says. "It's very sad. It means you are not getting any more young teachers coming along because they cannot teach without a diploma."

The good news, then, is that, despite falling membership, she still "loves to teach" and has no plans to stop.

"I still get an amazing kick out of the occasions when the student who has been working with me for a long time does a tremendous arrangement. I feel as if someone has given me a huge gift. Some ladies do their work and it's done, while others do things which are so beautiful and so wonderful, and you think, 'I was partly responsible for that'."

As someone who travels, even in blizzards, to give workshops, Mrs. Ellison has come appreciate even more the wonderful material Bermuda offers Ikebana designers.

"Nobody really knows how lucky they are with all the branches and leaves Bermuda. You can make the most fabulous design or arrangement just by picking three branches," she says.

Indeed, what may appear to the layman as a very simple design has, in fact, taken a great deal of thought, planning and preparation, all of it stemming from the fourth century.

"Ikebana started in about the fourth century through monks in the Buddhist temples placing flowers as offerings, and that progressed until they became very stylised," Mrs. Ellison says. "Because it started in a religious environment and there was a lot of philosophy attached to the fact that they were giving these things to Buddha, the most predominant branch is heaven, the next most prominent is man, and the third is earth, so right there you have your religious philosophy. Basic designs have to be in a set position which give you balance, proportion and line, and our format is line, mass and colour."

While membership in Bermuda's Ikebana chapter has dwindled to 23 (and it would welcome more), it is by no means dead - and as far as Mrs. Ellison is concerned it won't be, for she believes passionately not only in Ikebana, but also the chapter's future here. Finance, of course, is an issue because Ikebana International demands fulfilment of certain requirements by its chapters: four meetings a year, a workshop every few months, and public exhibitions which, in an era when most members work, is not always easy.

"All of us have found exhibitions very hard work in the last few years because we must find a venue that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and we have to schedule them when most of the students, who are now working, can fit it into their own schedules," the teacher says. "It can take up to five days to prepare an exhibition, but there is also a great deal of satisfaction when it goes up."

Despite the fact that she is a long-standing Ikebana teacher, has exhibited internationally, attended the Ikebana school in Japan, and attended many conventions, Mrs. Ellison is quick to stress that she by no means an expert on her art.

"It doesn't matter how qualified you are, you never stop learning. There is always something to be learned in any situation," she assures.

Asked what Ikebana means to her personally, she responds: "Many times it has given me a way of being focused on one thing, and through being totally immersed in what I am doing it calms me down, and also stimulates my creativity.

"One of the things I really enjoy is if someone brings me something and says: 'Kitten, I have just found this. It looks like something you can do a wonderful design with.' That gives me a wonderful challenge and tremendous satisfaction - to know that I have taken (for example) one magnolia flower and enhanced its beauty with maybe a single branch with lichen."

On a broader level, Mrs. Ellison, who has also taught western flower arranging, says "it is the manipulation of branches and flowers to see what else you can do with them" which has brought her such pleasure.

"It is a constant challenge, even after all these years. It really is."