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Viewing stones at the Bay Area Suiseki and Shohin Show

July 2, 2019 by Jonas Dupuich

Last weekend wrapped up the first Bay Area Suiseki and Shohin Show. Held at the Lake Merritt Garden Center in Oakland, California, the event was sponsored by the San Francisco Suiseki Kai, California Suiseki Society, Bay Area Shohin Society, California Shohin Society and members of other Bay Area bonsai clubs.

Today we’ll look at a selection of the suiseki on display, beginning with a special exhibit of viewing stones by Mas Nakajima. Mas was a suiseki artist practicing in the Bay Area. For those unfamiliar with his work, his artist statement provides a good introduction.

My sculpture combines natural stone and wood to create harmony by integrating the life of wood with the simplicity and purity of natural stone. I begin by finding stones in riverbeds and mountains in California and keep the stones until I am ready to integrate them with the chosen wood. The process of unifying these two materials, by specific selection and by accidental match, results in unexpected and endless possibilities.

Working with wood and stone is very familiar to me, having been born and raised in a traditional Japanese-style wooden house, in a small town near the Japan Alps, surrounded by mountains, rivers, and forests. Twenty-five years of building and designing houses in the Bay Area has developed my aesthetic sensibility and my understanding of the relationship between an object and the surrounding space.

–Mas Nakajima, March 2006
Fuji-san

Fuji-san – Clear Creek
Mas Nakajima

Tranquility

Tranquility (Heian) – Eel River
Mas Nakajima

Northern California

Northern California
Mas Nakajima

To Have and to Hold

To Have and to Hold – Black Butte Lake
Janet Roth and Mas Nakajima

Peace

Peace – Eel River
Mas Nakajima

The main exhibit area featured open tables with suiseki, accents, and shohin bonsai. Here are highlights from the suiseki on display.

South

South – Klamath River

Tamari-Ishi

Tamari-Ishi – Eel River

Yamagata

Yamagata – Klamath River

Figure

Figure Stone – Van Duzen River

Kame

Kame – Eel River

North

North – Klamath River

Up next: shohin bonsai on display!

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Filed Under: Exhibits Tagged With: Suiseki

Previous Post: « Early branch work on large cork oak bonsai
Next Post: Highlights from the Bay Area Suiseki and Shohin Show »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Richard Sintchak says

    July 2, 2019 at 9:03 am

    So cool.

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