Ms. Karen Napoli, Ichiyo Master of Ikebana
Ms. Karen Napoli is the head of the Rochester branch of the Ichiyo School of Ikebana and has been so for many years. She has studied in Japan under the head masters of the Ichiyo School. She offers lessons about weekly in her home and through her leadership has organized many exhibitions showing a broad range of Ichiyo Ikebana arrangements. It is not common to have a person with a Master Certificate in the Ichiyo School of Ikebana available to learn ikebana, but we are very fortunate here in the Rochester area. And now with one of her teachers here in the Buffalo area, a student does not have to leave the Buffalo area to take up this wonderful art.
Ms. Napoli was introduced to the Japanese culture for the first time during her relocation to Japan in 1992. She joined Ikebana International (I. I.) and served on their Board for a total of seven years. She also served two years as the I. I. Tokyo Founding Chapter President and four years as the I. I. Rochester Chapter President.
She started her study of Ichiyo Ikebana in 1993. The character of the teachers and the Ichiyo School is where she found her comfort zone and inspiration to pursue this art form.
While Ms. Napoli was in Japan, she exhibited in restaurants and public halls along with annual exhibits for the Tokyo Founding Chapter. She exhibited at the I. I. Ninth World Convention and the Seventh European Regional Conference. She gave workshops to international groups while in Japan through AJALT (a language school). She has taught several groups of children in the middle school and high school level in the Rochester area.
As the I. I. Rochester Chapter President, the chapter became active in promoting ikebana by giving educational demonstrations and narrations of ikebana history at public libraries, garden clubs, and women’s clubs. She is one of the four demonstrators and participates in all the Rochester Chapter’s exhibitions.
Since joining I. I. she has attended all four of the World Conventions plus was Coordinator of the Ninth World Conference with Ikezawa-san as Chairperson. She has tried to attend most of the North American I. I. Regional Conferences plus she attended a Regional Confernece in Singapore and one in Paris. She has also attended all the Ichiyo seminars in Washington, DC, several in Saxonburg, PA, one in St Petersburg, FL, Asheville, NC, and one in Atlanta, GA.
She belongs to the Ichiyo Pittsburgh Chapter where her current teacher, Shirley Winkler, is Chapter President. The Pittsburgh Chapter has celebrated 40 years and brought Iemoto Akihiro over twice for demonstrations and workshops.
To start her own Ichiyo Branch, she had to become a Master Teacher, be actively teaching and graduate three teachers. In 2012, she was awarded her Master Teacher Certificate and was formally assigned president of the Ichiyo School of Rochester Branch by Iemoto Akihiro Kasuya. The Iemoto was her teacher for the last five years of her living in Japan. She believes that living in Japan had a great influence on her interpretation and understanding of this art. She continues to take lessons from the Executive Master, Shirley Winkler, in Saxonburg, PA plus she travels to Japan every five years for study under the Iemoto. The pandemic stopped travel, so the current Iemoto teaches a monthly lesson over Zoom for teachers and above. It helps keep us current.
She teaches in her home. Everyone progresses at their own level and speed. She has beginners in the Primary Course, Instructors and Associate Masters studying together.
She has given Ichiyo Workshops for the Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Rochester Ikebana International Chapters and the Richmond Ikebana Society along with countless garden clubs and other local groups. Specific request arrangements have been set up in private homes and for special occasions. She also does some arrangements for her church.
The Ichiyo Ikebana of Rochester chapter had its first annual school exhibition at the Webster Public Library in 2010 and is planning the 11th Annual Exhibition this year of 2022.