College of East Asian Studies

The symbolism of many plants and flowers has long been codified across Japanese art, from seasonal floral motifs on kimonos to poetic tropes in classical literature. In an era of refined court culture that prized allusive expression, plants and their manipulated forms, such as classical flower arrangements [rikka], embodied moral and emotional subtexts that transgressed cultural anxieties and taboos. Featuring homoerotic encounters, courtly love stories, and meditations on transience, the exhibition The Blooming Mirror explores the myriad aesthetic and affective functions of cultivated Japanese nature, presenting objects from Wesleyan’s College of East Asian Studies Art and Archival Collection and facsimiles of Japanese literati paintings and narrative handscrolls that employ plants as semiotic vessels.

The exhibition was curated by Maxwell Maveus ’26 as part of a tutorial in curatorial practice led by Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Assistant Curator of Education Rosemary Lennox and Associate Director and Curator of Visual Arts Benjamin Chaffee ’00. Exhibition support provided by the College of East Asian Studies.

This exhibition will be closed from Saturday, March 7 through Monday, March 23, 2026.

RELATED EVENTS

Opening Reception - Wednesday, February 18, 2025 at Noon; includes a celebratory luncheon.

Ikebana Workshop: Learn the Art of Japanese Flower Arranging
Friday, March 27, 2026 from 2pm to 3pm
Friday, April 24, 2026 from 2pm to 3pm
College of East Asian Studies at Mansfield Freeman Center, Seminar Room
Each session is limited to 20 guests. RSVP online.

Ikebana, or Japanese floral arrangement, utilizes the manipulation of flowers and branches to emphasize the beauty of their natural forms. Unlike Western arrangements, codified compositional principles dictate ikebana, generating distinctive architectural structures. In this beginner-friendly workshop, participants will learn the basic principles of form, balance, and proportion in Enshū-style arrangement, and will leave with an understanding of how ikebana reflects broader Japanese aesthetic and philosophical values. All materials will be provided. After the workshop, participants will be invited to leave their arrangements to be displayed in the College of East Asian Studies, or to take them home.

The workshop will be led by Maxwell Maveus ‘26, who trained at the Kadou Enshū school of ikebana in Kyoto. Kadou translates to “the Way of Flowers,” and the Enshū tradition, founded by the 17th-century tea master Kobori Enshū, emphasizes clarity of line, asymmetrical form, and spatial harmony.