How to put on a bonsai show
Step-by-step instructions for putting on a bonsai exhibit, bonsai sold separately.
1. Get a truck for the supplies.
One truck packed – Boon’s happy
2. Get another truck for the trees.
John and I carefully pack the truck
3. Set up the backdrops.
John, Jeff and Vince are champs at setting up backdrops
4. Apply table dressing.
Sam, Marie, Scott, and Janet spread out the felt – light blue, like Kokufu
Backdrops ready to go
5. Gather stands.
We tend to bring more than we need – it helps setting up the displays
6. Set up the displays.
We usually begin with the biggest trees, the stands make good placeholders
Here a fine art/suiseki display is taking shape complements of Mas Nakajima.
We keep the trees off to one side until we’re ready for them.
We protect the stands by applying felt to pot feet.
Accents complete the display
7. Judge the show.
We divide the trees into like groups and vote for the winners.
It’s a good learning exercise – and fun!
8. Place the awards.
Members’ Choice Award – small deciduous & broadleaf
9. Point a lot.
Jim rallies the troops.
10. Ponder the finer points of display.
The serious business of bonsai
11. Hold an auction.
Tom holding a juniper for sale
Our barker extraordinaire, Chris Johnston.
12. Shoot the show.
Taking good pictures makes a big difference. We owe Eric great thanks for managing this for us.
That covers the basics. For bonus points, try:
- printing programs
- hosting a vendor area
- encouraging club sales
- serving tea and snacks
- breaking even
When it’s all over, put everything back in its place.
BIB 11th annual exhibit – conifers
Bonsai exhibits are our best opportunity to simply enjoy the trees. Every year during BIB’s annual exhibit, I make time to wander the hall as if I were a visitor. I study bark and branch placement, moss-work, accents, and display. It’s some of the best fun bonsai has to offer.
One of the first things that strikes me about a tree is its balance, or “baransu,” as Yasuo Mitsuya would say. The shimpaku below has it in spades. Dense, green foliage, wonderful course to fine ramification, and a silhouette that’s as Japanese in character as any tree in the exhibit.
I also like the pot. It’s a great fit for the tree and is a useful shape for a number of varieties. I saw many in the same style all over Japan last winter and looked very carefully for one like it at every stop, but never found it in the size I was looking for.
Shimpaku
A Ponderosa pine an aisle away had a similar lifeline that twisted around a deadwood trunk. The roughly textured shari reveals prolonged battle with the elements, and the wonderful twists show the tree’s flexibility in response to harsh conditions.
Some found the less-developed foliage distracting – I didn’t. The branches will ramify and the foliage will improve with time. Ponderosa aren’t as well known for their foliage as they are for their movement, and this tree has good movement.
Ponderosa pine
I find it interesting that the Ponderosa and the shimpaku ended up in such similar pots. Both are brown, scalloped ovals that work well with sinuous trunk-lines. The larger, more powerful tree is potted in a deeper bowl with less tapered sides, and the feet are turned toward us to create a strong profile. The more delicate tree is potted in a container with very tapered sides and feet turned to the sides to create a more delicate silhouette. Both are appropriate and attractive choices.
Now that Western junipers have been making their way into people’s collections, we’re starting to see them in exhibits. BIB showed several last year and at least six this year.
Western juniper
Western juniper
They are a great variety for bonsai. Attractive foliage that’s easy to refine, great vigor, and often spectacular movement combine to make these trees perfect vehicles for their owners’ visions. In time the branches will develop to create more appropriate backdrops for the exciting trunks. More developed foliage will do wonders for the trees’ balance by influencing our sense of the trees’ depth and direction.
Western juniper
Western juniper
Some junipers have less desirable foliage. Californias often fall into this category. Many of the first Californias – and sometimes Sierras – to be collected, were grafted with shimpaku foliage. Today they are mature looking trees, trained, like the tree below, in the Japanese style, but with an unmistakably indigenous trunk.
California juniper with shimpaku foliage
Atlas cedars have long been popular material for bonsai. Easy to bend – when they don’t snap – and the needles don’t grow too long.
Blue atlas cedar – cascade
Blue atlas cedar – formal upright
Juniperus procumbens is a very popular variety for bonsai due in part to specimens like the rock planting below. Long trained as bonsai, this procumbens is in great health and conveys its age well. Great moss-work completes the scene.
Procumbens juniper – root over rock
The specimen below is another long-time bonsai growing out of a rock. Or is it two trees growing out of the rock? The debate remains open, but I put little stock in the answer. It’s a unique tree with a special branch/trunk to one side. In another five to ten years the foliage will fill in and create a silhouette worthy of the old trunk.
The pot, if you look closely, is a beautiful Chinese antique. Somewhat warped by time, the pot boasts one of the more striking patinas in the hall. Between the pot and the rock, the bonsai was one of the heaviest in the exhibit.
Ezo spruce – root over rook
White pine can be a challenge in Northern California. Some varieties do well, others have trouble staying alive. In between, many five-needle pines vacillate between sparse and full from year to year. The past year was good, but not great for white pine. The semi-cascade below is one of my favorite white pines, and one of my favorite bonsai in the area. If I can find someone with the photos, I’ll be happy to share its story someday.
Japanese white pine
Japanese white pine
Japanese white pine
Sam offered a good reminder the other day – books from past BIB exhibits are available. Check back mid-year for the 2010 book.
BIB 11th annual exhibit – shohin
Shohin has a fun place in the bonsai repertoire. Like satsuki devotees, some artists limit their palate to the endeavor. Others find they focus on it but maintain “large” bonsai as well. Urushibata is a great example of this sort. They also host their own conventions. One of the best that I know about is the biennial event held by the California Shohin Society in Santa Nella, CA. The next one is a week away – visit Shohin Seminar 2010 for details.
One of my favorite unproductive discussion topics focuses on which is harder, the maintenance of large or small bonsai. Unfortunately I cannot reproduce even the tenor of the greatest expounding on the topic I’ve witnessed, but if you’re curious, find Guy Guidry after dinner at your local bonsai convention and fire away.
Herewith, some photos of shohin on display at Bay Island Bonsai’s 11th annual exhibit.
Japanese Maple
Ficus
Shimpaku ‘Itiogawa’
Hokkaido elm
The display of shohin allows for a bit more creativity than that of large or medium trees. By grouping elements together on a stand or slab, units of various size can contribute as elements of larger and more complex displays.
Shimpaku ‘Itoigawa’
Tiniest accent with crab
Box display with black pine, Japanese maple, ficus, olive, and flowering quince ‘chojubai’
Potentilla in outstanding antique pot
How many elements does the following display contain? Depends on how you count. More important questions: is the display balanced? Harmonious? Seasonal? Attractive? That’s where it gets interesting. Setting up shohin displays is one of the trickier tasks of setting up an exhibit. While most of us spend our time picking out the right stand and accent for our trees, the shohin crew attempt to coordinate more trees, stands, stones and accents than I’d know what to do with.
Shohin display with potentilla, shimpaku ‘itoigawa’ and white pine
For BIB’s first few exhibits we didn’t have enough shohin among us to complete a single box display. Now we have several. It’s a great addition to the exhibit.
BIB 11th annual exhibit – deciduous and broadleaf trees
Why hold a bonsai exhibit in winter? Not to keep the visitors away. Despite the fact that half of the trees in the exhibit are without leaves and most of the other half are fighting off winter’s tendency to tinge foliage with a yellowish or bronze cast, many bonsai are at their best this time of year. Late winter and early spring are great times to show flowering bonsai, but managing the silhouettes of trees covered with new growth is a challenge. In summer, many trees are beat up by the heat. Fall is a good time to show bonsai as pines are in check and fall color may be evident. But it’s only in winter that we can clearly see the structure of deciduous trees.
Deciduous trees are great when in leaf too. With careful technique, leaves can be shrunk to fit the scale of the tree. Leaves hide, however, the degree to which a tree’s branches are ramified. Great branch structure is a source of pride for deciduous tree owners. It is, after all, a great challenge to develop and maintain good ramification.
For example, the tree below is very well-developed. Although the tree is attractive in summer, it’s far more dramatic in winter. We experience the tree in three dimensions by examining the tree front to back and top to bottom. We can also get a better sense of its age without leaves. It was a pleasure to have this tree in the exhibit.
Chinese elm
The pomegranate below has one of the older and more impressive trunks in the exhibit. We can imagine it as a craggy old monster of a tree well-suited to a scary movie. We can also see that it can benefit from greater ramification. Within a few years this tree can develop into a truly impressive bonsai.
Pomegranate with fruit from last fall
My trident maple is beginning to suggest its eventual silhouette, but it has a long way to go. Daisaku Nomoto suggested that one could prepare any trident for Kokufu within three years. I knew tridents developed quickly, but three years? I asked how this was possible. “Easy,” he intoned. “Wire the tree and cutback three times each year and the tree will be ready.” Easier said than done, I’ve found. In the future, I’ll focus on developing the primary branch on the right hand side of the tree to improve its balance.
Root over rock trident maple
This gooseberry was one of the more fun deciduous trees in the exhibit. Nothing manicured about it – save the Bunzan pot.
Gooseberry
The chojubai below was a perfect complement to the suiseki it accompanied (photos forthcoming).
Flowering quince ‘chojubai’
We were fairly hard up for color at this year’s exhibit. The small pyracantha below did more than it’s fair share.
Pyracantha with mondo grass accent
Although typically grown for their flowers, azalea can also make great bonsai. Their trunks can show great age and their branches great development. The tree below, one of very few azaleas in this year’s exhibit, is off to a good start.
Satsuki azalea
Oaks, on the other hand, were very well represented this year. Oak, like redwood, is a popular variety for bonsai that you just don’t see very often in Japan. And although they grow in a variety of climates around the world, they are very evocative trees for Californians.
Cork oak
Here’s a question – is this a near-view or far-view bonsai? In other words, is the tree shown at “actual size” or does it evoke a much larger tree of similar proportions?
California live oak
Another question – why include broadleaf evergreens with the deciduous trees? For historical reasons. From what I’ve seen, many bonsai organizations in the US have greater success with coniferous trees than with deciduous. In Bay Island Bonsai, this bias is reflected in our judging as we have one category for conifers and another for deciduous and broadleaf trees.
Why coniferous collections are so commonly superior to deciduous collections is an interesting topic. To put it bluntly, I believe it’s harder to kill conifers than it is to kill deciduous trees. And it’s harder to ramify branches on deciduous trees than it is on conifers. Yes, there are many exceptions – and thank goodness! I very much appreciate deciduous trees and am working hard to improve my own. I’ve seen great improvement just in the past few years – a good sign that we’ll see more deciduous trees in future exhibits. A budding crop of newly minted bonsai experts returning from study in Japan will only fuel this trend.
2 comments