This palatial planting by Pierre Leloup may have been the most talked about bonsai 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. There’s no way that a photo can capture the sheer size and splendor of this planting. Viewing it in real space is one of those mind stopping experiences. The photo is courtesy of Pierre Leloup and Sangi Louise Drolet, my Exhibition neighbors.
Yesterday’s post was about the upcoming 5th U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. In each of the two posts before that, the word Tanuki was part of the title.
Which brings us to my friend Pierre Leloup who I met at the 3rd National Bonsai Exhibition and who is, among other things, an accomplished tanuki bonsai artist (I’m not sure I’ve ever seen tanuki and artist together, but in this case I think it works), in addition to being a regular bonsai artist, Japanese garden artist, suiseki artist, master woodworker and just plain artist.
You can see this bonsai and other examples of Pierre Leloup’s art on his facebook page and on his website.
Most of the rest of this post is from a June 2012 Bark post titled Bonsai’s Big Leap: The 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. Tomorrow we’ll feature Pierre’s tanuki bonsai and some other works.
Pierre Leloup and Sangi Drolet were my immediate neighbors in the vendors section of the 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. As it turned out, they saved my life (in the not too literal sense). Not only did they help me load up at the end of the show (I was by myself and brought way too much stuff), but they fed me, offered me water when I was dry, and cheered me up during those tedious spells when everyone was attending demos and the aisles were empty.
Continued below….
Pierre with his show stopper. By the way, the wavy 'skirt' the planting sits on is wood that was carved by Pierre.
Based on what I saw at the show and then on Pierre’s website and facebook page, I was struck by the notion that some people come to bonsai when they are already accomplished artists, and what an advantage this could be. I don’t know how common it is, but in Pierre’s case, the results are exceptional.
Though this blog is devoted to bonsai, I think it would be worth showing (and linking) some of Pierre’s art, even if he didn’t do bonsai (which he does).
A piece of one of Pierre's gardens.
One of Pierre's suiseki. Pierre is a highly accomplished woodworker and of course, made the daiza.
A section of the screen that Pierre and Sangi brought to the show.
This wood sculpture by Pierre could be called 'Jin and Shari.' Here's the caption from Pierre's website: Le restaurant Overflow de Sherbrooke, entièrement aménagé par Pierre, a ouvert ses portes cette semaine. Un look tout à fait moderne et branché... une ambiance chaleureuse et décontractée... pour y boire une bière entre amis ou goûter aux excellentes bouchées chaudes et froides.
Pierre specializes in tanuki bonsai that are hard to tell from non-tanuki bonsai. Stay tuned for more of Pierre's bonsai and some of his other horticultural art tomorrow.You can never have too much Bonsai Wire
and…
…20% to 25% off Kilo Rolls of Bonsai Wire is a very good deal
20% off for 1-4 Kilo Rolls (15.60 each)
25% off 5 or more (14.63 each)