Exhibit Books

Almost twenty years ago I made my first exhibit catalog – a retrospective featuring trees from Bay Island Bonsai’s first five exhibits.

BIB’s first exhibit book

Collecting the images and metadata from five years’ worth of trees was a big undertaking! I remember scanning photos and slides for most of the trees and mixing these with a few native digital files.

Shimpaku juniper, 2003

Highlights from the 2000 and 2001 exhibits

It felt like quite an achievement at the time – so much so that it ended up being the first and last retrospective project (BIB produced annual books thereafter).

Fast forwarding two decades, I’m happy to announce that the commemorative album from the first Pacific Bonsai Expo is now available!

The first Expo book

The book features photos of the 75 trees that were on display plus event photos that offer an idea of what the event was like for participants.

Saturday morning before the doors opened; Eric leading a tour
(Photos by Aki Yamakawa)

The book was the result of the Expo book team: Mark Britton, Larry Ganiron, George Haas, Thaison Kawal, Bob King, and Janet Roth.

For each tree in the exhibit, the team collected tree names, tree heights, artist statements, and when available, stand and container information.

Cork Oak by Michael Roberts
(Show tree photography by David Fenton)

The Expo team would like to thank everyone who pre-ordered the commemorative albums for their patience. We received the first printed copies over the weekend and will be sending all pre-orders out this week.

If you haven’t had a chance to order one, you can find them online at the Pacific Bonsai Expo Website.

In addition to preparing the exhibit catalog, the Expo team has been hard at work making preparations for the 2024 event. We’re really excited about it and will share details later this year!