New American Masters at the Rim

I was struck by this large Ponderosa pine at the 3rd U.S. National Exhibition. It’s even bigger than it looks here and also has more depth and movement than this two dimensional representation shows. Still, you can get some idea of its natural power. It belongs to Ryan Neil.

New American Masters show at the Pacific Rim Collection
Michael Hagedorn and Ryan Neil both apprenticed in Japan where the term Master isn’t thrown around casually, and my guess is that neither of them is completely comfortable with it being used in reference to themselves. However, whatever term your choose, there’s no question that Ryan and Michael are both highly skilled bonsai artists whose efforts are helping push North American bonsai closer to world-class bonsai.

Don’t miss it!
If you are anywhere near Seattle in the next couple weeks (until July 15th), don’t miss the show at the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection. It’s David DeGroot’s brainchild (David is the curator of the Pacific Rim Collection) and it features the bonsai of both Ryan and Michael. For more on the show, including one of Michael’s now famous humorous anecdotes (Michael is the author of the eminently readable and often quite funny Post-Dated: the Schooling of an Irreverent Bonsai Monk), you can visit Crataegus Bonsai.

Artisans Cup
It would be remiss to talk about Michael and Ryan without mentioning their upcoming (2013) Artisans Cup. But rather than suffering through more of my ramblings, this might be just the spot to quote Colin Lewis: “What’s really significant with the Artisans Cup is the venue: The Portland Museum of Art. This is the first time a major art establishment has truly acknowledged bonsai as worthy of its attention. It’s a huge step forward and will hopefully set a precedent for future events in museums across the country.” From the comments on our recent post about the Artisans Cup.

 

Western juniper, grass, ‘Chojubai’ quince—Michael Hagedorn

 

Lodgepole pine—Ryan Neil

 

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Bonsai Globetrotting, Make Your Own Rock, A Wild & Wonderful Hornbeam, The World’s Most Amazing Garden

This powerful pine with its lush, full (almost yellow on my screen) canopy that’s shaped more like something you’d see on a deciduous tree (or a roof on an abstract pagoda), makes little attempt to appear like a pine in nature. Still, naturalistic or not, it’s hard to deny how the power of its trunk and the lush beauty of its canopy complement each other. I found it here on facebook. It looks like it’s part of a Japanese bonsai nursery, but I couldn’t find any verification.

 

Dan Robinson’s wild and wonderful Hornbeam resides at the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection. The photo is from Bonsai Otaku (little trees for big geeks), a most excellent, somewhat new (December 2011), bonsai blog.

 

Brazil. Looking for a good excuse to visit Brazil? The dates are August 30th thru September 2nd. The place is Sao Paulo.

 

This sweet bunjin red pine was posted on facebook by Boon Manakitivipart, one of North America’s most influential bonsai artists and teachers. .

 

Make your own rock. This one is entirely hand made by Daiane Cardoso. I thought I saw a video somewhere of her making this rock, but now I can seem to locate it.

 

Madrid. Can’t make it to Brazil (above) at the end of the summer? How about Madrid in October?

 

Exposicio Bonsai. How about some cool summer breezes on a beautiful island in the Mediterranean?

 

Quebec? A little closer to home (at least for those of us in northern Vermont) and also closer to today, there’s the Expobonsai 2012 in Quebec, July 7th & 8th. This excellent old Trident maple clump with it rugged nebari is from their 2010 Expobonsai.

 

Not enough choices? There’s always Morten’s Shohin Bonsai Summer Workshop in Denmark.

 

One of the World’s most amazing gardens. A part of the Garden at the Adachi Museum of Art. I found this photo here on facebook, but if you like it and want to see more, you might want to go straight to the Adachi site.

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Real Cedar Bonsai & A Good Neighbor

Jim Gremel had a Blue Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica – one of the handful of true Cedars) at the 2012 U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition that looked a lot like this one.

Deer Meadow Bonsai & the 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition
Some of the trees that were offered for sale at the 3rd National were every bit as good as some of the trees in the display area.

One of my favorite vendors at the show was Jim Gremel (Deer Meadow Bonsai). Not only did Jim go to the trouble of coming all the way from Northern California, but he was a close neighbor of mine in the vendor section (I don’t usually write much about personality in this blog, but there’s something about Jim’s straightforward manner and sense of humor that I liked).

I was also impressed with Jim’s trees, including one that looked a lot like the one above (was it the same tree?). He didn’t bring many, but traffic around his display was strong throughout the show and he left with a lot fewer than he brought (I wasn’t going to mention the popularity of his annealed copper bonsai wire because we are now offering annealed copper wire, but there’s plenty of room in our bonsai world and it provides an opportunity to sneak in a link, so why not?)

Now, if we can find some good photos of Suthin’s trees…

 

This classic beauty is a Green Atlas Cedar. I’m not sure why some are green and some are blue, but my best guess is that the blue ones are cultivars.

 

Even though this Cork Elm is a deciduous tree that is shaped like a conifer (there really are no laws, other than nature’s tendencies, that say you can’t do this, however, Robert Steven might have something to say about it), the gnarly old trunk, with its perfect taper, grabbed my attention (like the others shown here, it’s on Jim’s website).

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National Bonsai Exhibition Video

3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition video by BonsaiInBuffalo.com
Bill Valanvanis just posted an excellent new video by BonsaiInBuffalo.com. You can purchase the DVD at International Bonsai. You can also view it on YouTube.

Bon appetit!
I captured a few shots from the video to give you a small taste and perhaps whet your appetite for more.

Jim Doyle’s Eastern White Cedar.

 

 

 

 

That’s Bill on the left. Yasuo Mitsuya, one of the three judges, is the gentleman in the center toward the back.

 

Marty Schmallenberg’s Elm.

 

Vendor’s area. Stone Lantern is the red and blue table cloths, right front.

 

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El Tim Goes Wild

Every now and then you see a perfect wild uncontrived bonsai. A bonsai that isn’t a bonsai at all. No humans necessary (well, almost… in this case, there is the photographer). Photo borrowed from El Tim Bonsai. The caption reads: El Tim Bonsai with Alejandro Sartori.

El Tim
The photos in this post are from El Tim’s facebook page. In El Tim’s own words (translated and possibly butchered by me): El Tim is an idea, a way to understand Bonsai. A group of people with one goal, dedicated to the effort and necessary constancy to reach a greater understanding and knowledge of this art. El TIM is an attitude.

Here’s the original Spanish: El Tim es una idea, una forma de entender El Bonsai, que une a un grupo de gente con un único fin, dedicar el esfuerzo y la constancia necesarias para alcanzar un mayor entendimiento y conocimiento de este arte. EL TIM es una actitud.

Emulating nature
The three photos shown here are all from a large El Tim gallery of great photos of wild trees and landscapes (I took the liberty of cropping out the name El Tim from each photo shown here) The gallery is titled Emulando a la naturaleza.

 

Another natural bonsai. It’s not exactly cut from the same mold as the tree above, but there are some striking similarities.

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What Happens When an Artist Tries His Hand at Bonsai?

You can see this bonsai and other examples of Pierre Leloup’s art on his facebook page and on his website.

The luck of the draw
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.

With the exception of his now famous planting, Pierre and Sangi were not there to show (or sell) Pierre’s bonsai. They were instead offering some of his suiseki collection. As well as one of his wonderful hand-built screens.

What does happen?
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.

Even without his bonsai
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.

A piece of one of Pierre’s gardens.

 

One of Pierre’s suiseki.

 

A section of the screen that Pierre and Sangi brought to the show.

 

I couldn’t resist. 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!


Lest we forget, this is a bonsai blog. And yes, it’s Pierre’s.

 

We don’t usually show people in this blog, but we’ll make an exception in this case. That’s Pierre at the Exhibition with his planting. BTW: that amazing base that grabs your attention is hand carved wood. By Pierre, of course.

 

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Bonsai Winners, Part Three

The Finest Evergreen Bonsai. San Jose Juniper by Anthony Alario of Providence, Rhode Island.

Round three
This is our third and final posting of the winners of the 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition which was held just over two weeks ago. We’ll give it rest after this, until the book comes out later this year.

Night and day and just a tad
To repeat myself from the last post; “the photos from the 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition are professional and well done. However, the difference between seeing the splendid power of top quality bonsai up close and personal, and photos of those same top quality bonsai are, to borrow a common phrase, like night and day. Really. If you were there, you know what I mean. If you weren’t, well, I hope you enjoy the photos.”

Now, after a little time to reflect, I think my statement was just a tad cavalier (I was there and you weren’t). So to cover my tracks… I realize that many of you were unable to attend and the photos are all you have to get an idea of the quality of the trees. This is not different from other shows that we are unable to attend (we have all been enjoying photos of trees from all over the world that we’ve never seen). So thanks to the people who go to trouble to take and share their photos. Though a photo will never be a perfect substitute for the real time and space experience, still, they can give you a pretty good idea of just how great these trees really are (oh well…).

Courtesy of Bill Valavanis
All the photos shown in this post are courtesy of Bill Valavanis. You can to go Bill’s posting on the Internet Bonsai Club if you’d like to see all the winners in one place and read Bill’s comments.

 

The Finest North American Species Bonsai. Coast Redwood by Robert Shimon of Point Arena, California.

Finest Bonsai & Companion Combination. By Michael Feduccia of Plant City, Florida.

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More Bonsai Winners

Winner of the Yoshimura Award. It’s a Nikko Satsuki Azalea by Robert Blankfield of Rochester, New York.

Round two
This is our second posting of the winners of the 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition which was held two weeks ago. We still have some to show, so stand by for a third posting.

Night and day
The photos from the 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition are professional and well done. However, the difference between seeing the splendid power of top quality bonsai up close and personal, and photos of those same top quality bonsai are, to borrow a common phrase, like night and day. Really. If you were there, you know what I mean. If you weren’t, well, I hope you enjoy the photos.

Courtesy of Bill Valavanis
All the photos shown in this post are courtesy of Bill Valavanis. You can to go Bill’s posting on the Internet Bonsai Club if you’d like to see all the winners in one place and read Bill’s comments.

 

Finest Shohin Bonsai Composition; mixed species. By Melvyn Goldstein of Euclid, Ohio.

 

Finest Tropical Bonsai. By Michael Sullivan of Cooper City, Florida. Bill identifies it simply as a ‘Nia’ which I take to be Nia buxifolia.

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Red Hot but Very Cool Summer Bonsai Book Sale

Set of five bonsai classics. Retail 144.75. Previously 79.00. Now only 59.00 for the set.

Discounted discount prices
We’ve been lowering book prices for a while now. Now we’re taking a big leap and lowering some of them way below our previous low prices.

A drop in the bucket
We’re only showing some of your great discounts here. If you get a chance, peruse our bonsai books on our website for even more. Our peruse our entire website for deep discounts on other items as well.

Set of our two most popular books. Retail 59.90. Now only 29.95 for the set.

 

Set of two bonsai favorites. Retail 54.90. Now only 15.00.

 

Our classic Pine book. Retail 29.95. Previous price 24.95. Now only 18.00.

 

Set of three Bonsai DVDs. Retail 79.85. Previously 48.00. Now only 42.00 for the set.

 

Set of 2 DVDs by Andy Smith. Retail 49.90. Previously 32.00. Now only 25.00 for the set.

Check out our website for more deeply discounted Bonsai Books

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