Bjorn And the Pacific Bonsai Expo
Editor’s Note: Due to February being unusually short, the PDF version will be available soon.
Cover photo: A pair of oak trees in a vineyard showing fall colors. (Photo by Jeff Lewis)
Bjorn Bjorholm Demonstration
By Tung X. Dao
The Marin Bonsai Club, Midori Bonsai Club, and Redwood Empire Bonsai Society (REBS) would like to announce a joint Zoom demonstration featuring Bjorn Bjorholm on Tuesday, April 5 at 7pm Pacific Time. Note to our Midori members that this is not on our usual First Thursday Meeting, but two days prior. This event is hosted by the Marin Bonsai club and co-sponsored by Midori Bonsai and REBS.
The topic will be announced shortly. It will be a 2 hour demonstration and will cover two different topics with a fifteen minute Q&A intermission. It will be streamed live from Bjorn’s studio in Nashville, Tennessee.
Note that only members in good standing will be sent a link to the event. If you have not paid your dues yet, this meeting alone will be worth the renewals. Non-members may attend for a nominal fee. Please contact Tung for more information.
Related to this, Bjorn will be a juror at the Pacific Bonsai Expo later this year, which leads us to the next topic. 🌳
How your club can support the Pacific Bonsai Expo
By Jonas Dupuich
This article is originally published on Bonsai Tonight. Republished here with permission from the author.
I’ve received questions from clubs in recent weeks about what they can do to support the Pacific Bonsai Expo this fall. They’re excited about the event and they want to help! As part of documenting the process of how the event is coming together, I thought I’d share suggestions for how bonsai clubs can support regional bonsai events like the Expo.
My top suggestion is for clubs to spread awareness about the exhibition among its membership. This can include mentioning the event at club meetings and publishing dates and venue information in the club newsletter and on social media accounts (#pacificbonsaiexpo: see dates and venue info for the Expo below).
Shohin display at the 2019 Gafu-ten.
Clubs are also in a great position to encourage their members to submit trees for juried exhibitions like the Expo or the U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. Encouraging members to submit trees can raise awareness about the club (the Expo will note club affiliations, if any, with accepted entries) and help clubs identify members who can show trees in their own exhibitions.
Some clubs have looked at providing services to their members that relate to the exhibit.
By hosting a photo day, clubs can help members set up displays and take photos so they can submit their trees to the jury for consideration. (The submission period for the Expo is open now through April 30.)
Clubs can also arrange for accepted entries to be driven to the exhibit. For clubs that aren’t close to the Oakland, California, venue, setting up a car pool can help members get their trees to the exhibit and reduce the number of cars headed to the event.
On the education front, clubs can present programs on exhibit-related topics like evaluation, display, and show prep. I’ve presented on these topics to a number of local clubs and there are a variety of enthusiasts and professionals around the country who are well-qualified to lead similar programs. Some clubs (Bay Island Bonsai is an example) include discussion of member displays at every monthly meeting!
Photography setup at the 2014 U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition.
One thing I haven’t seen much in the US is the idea of a “club display.” This would be any display that includes components contributed by different club members. The approach can work well with small and medium sized trees in that multiple members can contribute trees or an accent that will be displayed together.
We did this informally at the Bay Island Bonsai exhibit when we mixed and matched display elements including trees, stands, and accents. By doing the matching up front it can be much easier to create a display with multiple elements like a shohin display, and it could help make a submission more competitive by combining multiple outstanding display elements.
If your club is located in the greater Bay Area, it might be in a good position to provide resources to help the event run smoothly.
Clubs can encourage members to volunteer at the event. We’re currently looking for project leads, and once we’ve identified these we’ll put out a general call for volunteers later in the year.
Ambitious clubs are welcome to serve as project lead by managing the volunteers for an aspect of the event like security or the front desk. You can see a list of project lead opportunities on the Expo Volunteer page.
There are also opportunities for clubs to support the event financially. One way to provide support is to cover exhibitor’s fees for any members whose trees are accepted for display. Clubs are also welcome to sponsor awards or make direct contributions to the event (see Donations and Sponsorships for details).
If you have questions about any of the above suggestions or have additional suggestions for how bonsai clubs can support regional events, feel free to note them in the comments below. 🌳
The Pacific Bonsai Expo
An Exhibition of Extraordinary Bonsai
The Bridge Yard
Oakland, California
November 12-13, 2022
Mammoth Auction & Sale 2022
by George Haas (Mammoth Auction & Sale Chair)
I want to thank all those who volunteered to help out with the 2022 Mammoth Auction & Sale over the weekend of February 19 and 20, 2022. I don’t want to mention names for fear of leaving one out, but there were many of you who spent a day or the two days at the Lakeside Park Garden Center, Oakland, CA. I believe some of you even got the opportunity to visit the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt.
2022 Mammoth Auction & Sale recorded a new high in gross receipts from the live auction on Saturday. There were 110 auction items. Only one bonsai tree was returned to its owner having a reserve bid price of $1,500.00. Sometimes having a high reserve bid price works against you in a live auction. There were some 120 bidder number cards and catalogs sold. The Vista Room at the garden center was packed with standing room in the rear only. Bidding was very lively, ranging from $100.00 to $1,100.00 for bonsai trees.
Vendors and bargain sales took place on Sunday from 9:00 a.m. for vendors and 10:00 a.m. for bargain sales. The vendors did extremely well. Some bonsai supply items were sold out, especially akadama soil.
The attendees for bargain sales started to line up outside the entrance doors to the garden center before 8:00 a.m. Bargain sales included bonsai trees, pre-bonsai, pots galore, display stands, bonsai equipment, etc. Only a few items remained at the 3:00 p.m. closing.
Some 100 or so sealed lunches were served both days to the volunteers. About 20 sealed lunches were sold to vendors and attendees for $8.00. The awesome sandwiches were prepared for the event by Safeway, Grand Ave., Oakland, CA.
COVID protocol required verified vaccinations and issued wristbands for entry to the garden center. Some 500 wristbands were issued. We ran out of wristbands early Sunday and resorted to marking in ink “VC” (aka Very Cool). Attendance was robust for the two-day event.
Again, I want to thank all the volunteers and attendees for making the 2022 Mammoth Auction & Sale a great success in fundraising for the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt.
Hope to see everyone in 2023. 🌳
UPCOMING MIDORI EVENTS
Saikei (Rock Plantings) with Jack Callon
March 3, 2022 at 7:30-9:30pm
Jack Callon, a long time fellow club member, asked the club to do a special presentation on this wonderful historical art form of bonsai. Jack has taken great interest in rock plantings over the years, showing groupings of trees styled as rock plantings, illustrating this special art form of Saikei. Now he wants to share with us how groupings of miniature trees in a shallow pot can depict a living miniature forest environment, and how to make and care for that forest. Jack has books that show wonderful examples of this art form that dates back to post World War II in Japan. I hope many of us will be inspired to try our hand at a Saikei after seeing Jack's presentation.
Our third Thursday meeting will be a normal workshop for club members to bring in their trees for help and to get answers to all of their questions. This will be your last chance to repot most of the trees in your collection, so bring in your tools and the soil necessary for this operation.
Juan Cruz’s Beginner’s Bonsai Workshop Class
Third Thursdays March-June
For those of you who would like to get additional help and instruction for your bonsai trees, the club will be offering a beginners class starting in March. Your instructor will be Juan Cruz, a dedicated bonsai artist who loves teaching the art of bonsai.
He will cover all basic aspects of this amazing hobby. Juan will be starting his first class in March at our usual workshop on our third Thursday meeting.
There will be an up front $5.00 charge to cover the four classes over a four month period. Please contact Juan at our first monthly meeting and let him know that you would like to be included with this group, a 6 person limit for the class. Juan will let you know what materials you'll need to bring to each class each month.
Bjorn Bjorholm Demonstration
Tuesday April 5, 2022 at 7-9pm on Zoom
Bjorn will be doing a demo in this not-to-be-missed event hosted by the Marin Bonsai Club with sponsorship from Midori Bonsai club and Redwood Empire Bonsai Society. This will be on zoom and only to members in good standing. More information will be emailed a few days prior to the event.
Cherry Blossom Festival
Saturday and Sunday April 30-May 1, 2022 at the Quinlan Community Center in Cupertino
April means that the cherry trees are in full bloom, and with that, we look forward to our bonsai show we put on every year at the Quinlan Community Center in Cupertino. This is a two day show, April 30th and May 1st, where our club has a chance to display many of our member’s bonsai trees and in addition have a place to work on our trees at the show.
This is an annual fun event for our club where hundreds of local residents pass through inspecting our trees and asking questions about their age and development. With that in mind, the club needs to start to organize volunteers to support the transportation of the backgrounds and tables needed for our tree displays.
In addition, a sign-up sheet will be passed around at the next few meetings for those who have trees to be included and be displayed. We need various sizes of trees and accent plants. Trees that are in full bloom or seasonal are always popular. Be sure to bring the show tables that accompany your trees. This is a two day event where it's nice to exchange out trees for the second day, adding diversity to our club show.
Nursery Tour
Saturday May 7th, 2022
our club plans to get everyone out on the road together, looking for new bonsai material at a few Bay Area nurseries. On Saturday May 7th, our club is planning a nursery road trip for everyone to two different nurseries which have proven to have plants with good potential for bonsai. 🌳
UPCOMING NORTHERN CALIFORNIA (AND BEYOND) BONSAI EVENTS
AMERICAN BONSAI ASSOCIATION SACRAMENTO SPRING SHOW AND SALE
April 9-10, 2022
Shepard Garden & Arts Center in McKinley Park
3330 McKinley Park, Sacramento
Bonsai exhibit, member and vendor sales, Bonsai demonstration featuring daily at 1:30pm with Andrew Robson as headliner.
There is a large vendor and member sales area, free admission and parking, and a beginner workshop Sunday morning from 10am-12pm (to register contact Renee Seely).
The benefit drawings on both Saturday and Sunday will include each day’s demonstration tree and many bonsai/bonsai related items. For additional information visit our website: American Bonsai Association of Sacramento, or contact Renee Seely, 916-929-2106, email breadcrust@comcast.net.
55th Annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival
April 9-10 & 16-17, 2022
Japantown Peace Plaza, San Francisco
www.sfcherryblossom.org
Welcome to the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival®, one of California’s most prominent celebrations of Asian traditions and the largest Cherry Blossom Festival on the West coast. All are welcome to join in the festivities as we celebrate Japanese and Japanese American culture with you, virtually!
Since 1968, the Festival serves to cultivate the continued alliance between Japan and the United States using culture as its bridge. Each year, over 220,000 people attend this dazzling display showcasing the vibrant colors and grace of the Japanese culture, and the rich heritage and diversity of the Japanese American community.
Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival
April 30 & May 1, 2022
Memorial Park, Cupertino
www.cupertinocherryblossomfestival.org
The Cupertino-Toyokawa Sister Cities Committee is responsible for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Cupertino. The committee is also responsible for selecting & sending the delegation of middle school students to Toyokawa every year and a delegation of adults every five years.
KUSAMURA BONSAI CLUB 62ND ANNUAL SHOW
April 30th and May 1st, 2022
12pm-4pm Saturday and 11am-4pm Sunday
Addison School
650 Addison Street
Palo Alto
Join us and see over 50 Bonsai Trees on display. There will be a Sale and Benefit drawing with over 100 bonsai and pots. Club members will put on a demonstration on Sunday at 1:30pm.
Bob Shimon of Mendocino Coast Bonsai presenting at 1:30pm Saturday.
For more information contact show co-chairs: Lynne O’Dell at lynnemo@gmail.com or Idris Anderson at idrisan@gmail.com. Details will also be posted at Kusamura Bonsai Club website.
LOTUS BONSAI ANNUAL SPRING SALE
May 14-15, 2022, 9am-4pm
Lotus Bonsai Nursery & Gardens
1435 Lower Lake Drive
Placerville, CA 95667
This is the not-to-be missed once a year sale at the nursery. Big discounts on all bonsai trees and stock plants.
VALLEY BONSAI SOCIETY 12TH ANNUAL SHOW
June 18-19, 2022
10am-4pm with demonstration at 1pm
Alden Lane Nursery
981 Alden Lane
Livermore, CA 94550
The finished tree will be raffled off at the end of the demonstrations. Bonsai pots, soil, etc. available for purchase. Admission is free.
Marin Bonsai Club at the Marin County Fair
June 30-July 4, 2022
Marin County Civic Center
Join the Marin Bonsai Club at the return of our annual show at the Marin County Fair. This year’s show will be outdoors as we celebrate Being So Happy Together.
PACIFIC BONSAI EXPO
November 12-13, 2022
The Bridge Yard
Oakland, CA
The Pacific Bonsai Expo is a juried exhibition featuring 70 outstanding bonsai displays and a selection of the community’s top vendors. Jurors Bjorn Bjorholm, Ryan Neil, and William N. Valavanis will select the trees. The exhibitors are the judges. Your trees are the stars. It’s an event not to be missed. 🌳
