Time for Wives of Envoys to Show What They Have Learned about the Flower Arrangement
By Kim se-jeong
Staff Reporter
An exhibition of the Im Wha Kong Flower Arrangement Society last Monday featured a total of 11 flower arrangements done by the flower artist's special students.
They were wives of foreign ambassadors in Korea: Yan Donko of Austria; Aida Al-Maainah of the United Arab Emirates; Tatiana Rusetskaya of Belarus; Pamela Morris of Britain; Marta Carullade Borda of Colombia; Datin Siti Aishah Abdullah of Brunei; Soniz B. Mejia R. of Ecuador; Bjorg Skdrstad of Norway, Naomi Ai-Midhadi of Qatar; Eva Vargo of Sweden; and Olga Chumakova of Ukraine.
It was a showcase of what they had learned for the past year from Im.
Pamela Morris, wife of the British ambassador, created a big piece with roses as in ``English Rose.''
Tatiana Resetskaya, wife of the Belarusan ambassador, captured a scene of the biggest national forest in Belarus along with wooden ornaments of European bison.
Aida Al-Maailnah of the UAE created a miniature garden with pots from the Middle East country.
Naomi Ai-Midhadi of Qatar made a white and pink rose arrangement to express sorrow for her mother who passed away.
Im's life-long commitment to flower arranging has produced up to 78 exhibitions.
The 83-year-old flower artist first held her solo exhibition in 1958, and has gained recognition as a flower art teacher.
Her first engagement with spouses of foreign diplomats traces back to 1960 when she first taught ``Mrs. Evans,'' wife of the British ambassador privately, then it grew extensively.
She meets with them once a week in a classroom at her residence, in Dongui-dong Seoul.
The exhibition was also an outing for other spouses in the diplomatic community in Korea, including Choi Ah-young, wife of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo; Lee Myoung sook, wife of Foreign Minister Song Min-soon; and Lyudmila Fen, wife of the dean of the diplomatic corps in Korea.