Let’s wrap up our initial tour of the Expo with some examples of medium and shohin displays. Given a standard exhibit space that’s six feet wide, it’s common to fill the area with two or more trees depending on their size. For medium-sized trees under 18″, we expect to see displays featuring two bonsai and […]
Display
Kokufu scoring exercise part 2: multi-point displays
This week’s topic is scoring multi-point displays – displays that feature more than one bonsai within a six-foot space. This is the most common approach to displaying small and medium-sized bonsai, trees that are up to 8″ and 18″ tall respectively. While it’s relatively easy to come up with a system that accounts for characteristics […]
Practice displays at Sei Boku Bonsai Kai
Earlier this week I visited the Sei Boku Bonsai Kai to talk about display ahead of their annual exhibit in June. After running through the basics, we looked at member displays with an eye toward making improvements using the stands, trees, and accents we had on hand. We started the exercise by having members set […]
Bonsai displays at the Bay Area Suiseki and Shohin Show
Shohin bonsai are often displayed vertically to make use of limited exhibit space and to bring small trees closer to eye level. This can lead to interesting arrangements of trees that are often far more complex than the arrangement of larger bonsai on display. The shohin displays below were featured at the recent Bay Area […]
Combining elements to balance shohin displays
Over the years I’ve come to expect directional bonsai to be displayed next to shohin box displays. Box display with shimpaku that leans toward the center of the display At Gafu-ten, I was surprised by how many of these trees shared their own stand with the accent plant. Box display with an additional stand Close-up […]