Saturday, October 8, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Sunday, October 9, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
The premier annual bonsai show in the Southeast is celebrating its 16th successful year!
The Expo features juried exhibits by bonsai enthusiasts from a 6-state region.
The 2-day event also features:
An extensive display of ikebana flower arrangements presented by the Asheville Chapter of Ikebana International (both days)
Free demonstrations in bonsai (Sun. afternoon) and ikebana (Sat. morning)
A free presentation by bonsai artist Jim Doyle (Sun. morning)
A special presentation by 2011 Carolina Bonsai Expo guest artist Walter Pall (Sat. afternoon)
A comprehensive bonsai marketplace featuring tools, books, pots and plants (both days)
Bonsai workshops (both days)
A live auction of bonsai plants and related materials (Sun. afternoon)
On-site food service (both days)
All in the setting of a fantastic public garden nestled in the heart of the Southern Appalachians, surrounded by the splendors of the autumn season!
(Normal parking fees apply; Free to NC Arboretum Society Members)
Guest Artist
German bonsai artist Walter Pall is not only one of the most talented figures on the international bonsai scene; he is easily one of its most vibrant. Outspoken, thought-provoking and unconventional, he is a champion of the naturalistic style and a great proponent of working with wild-collected plants. His ideas about bonsai styling and bonsai display have sparked controversy and inspired a new generation of bonsai artists. The North Carolina Arboretum is proud to welcome him back for his second visit.
For those who may be unfamiliar with Mr. Pall and his work, a visit to his web site will prove an eye opening experience.
Participating Bonsai Clubs
North Carolina
Blue Ridge Bonsai Club, Asheville
Bonsai Society of the Carolinas, Charlotte
Cape Fear Bonsai Society, Wilmington
Hendersonville Bonsai Study Group, Hendersonville
Piedmont NC Bonsai Association, Winston Salem
Triangle Bonsai Society, Raleigh
South Carolina
Black Creek Study Group, Columbia
Upstate SC Study Group, Greenville
Tennessee
Knoxville Bonsai Society, Knoxville
Mid-Appalachian Bonsai Kai, Johnson City
Nashville Bonsai Society, Nashville
Virginia
Hinoki Bonsai Club, Roanoke
Mountain Empire Bonsai Society, Wytheville
Virginia Bonsai Society, Norfolk
Georgia
Atlanta Bonsai Society, Atlanta
Pennsylvania
Susquehanna Bonsai Club, Harrisburg
Bonsai Marketplace
Featuring the following vendors:
Bonsai Learning Center, Charlotte, NC
Matsu Momiji Nursery, Fuquay-Varina, NC
Meco Bonsai, Lancaster, PA
Meehan’s Miniatures, Rohrersville, MD
Mike Brawley Bonsai, Charlotte, NC
Nature's Way Nursery, Harrisburg, PA
Osiga Company, Ellicott City, MD
Tall Pines Bonsai, Columbia, SC
Turnbull Creek Bonsai, Burns, TN
Wild Things Bonsai Studio, Hartville, OH
Educational Progams
2011 CAROLINA BONSAI EXPO MAIN EVENT
“Naturalistic Bonsai Style”
Saturday, October 8, 1:00 to 5:00 PM
Internationally recognized bonsai authority and 2011 Carolina Bonsai Expo guest artist Walter Pall conducts a lesson in Naturalistic Bonsai design.
In a discussion thread on a well-known bonsai web site some time back, the topic turned to the idea of alternatives to the traditional, Japanese-identified style of bonsai. After some talk about American bonsai, and European bonsai, and naturalistic bonsai, one respondent had an angry reaction. “Ridiculous!” he wrote. “To me bonsai is bonsai. Other than to give benevolent justification for incompetence, there is no room for regional subdivisions. Nor is there room for ‘naturalistic’ bonsai. The very practice of bonsai is not natural. As soon as you lay scissor to twig nature has come to an end. A claim to be creating naturalistic bonsai is nothing more than a sales gimmick, as has been publicly acknowledged by its chief proponent.”
The name of this “chief proponent” was not mentioned, because there was no need to do so. At this point in time, the name of Walter Pall and the concept of naturalistic bonsai are practically synonymous. He has written extensively about it, defining it and defending it across several continents and the vast expanse of the Internet, answering questions from doubters and fending off attacks from people who view him as some sort of horticultural heretic. Now he is coming to Asheville to be guest artist at the 16th annual Carolina Bonsai Expo, and to make his definitive statement about the Naturalistic Style of bonsai.
The North Carolina Arboretum is proud to welcome one of the most provocative, articulate and talented bonsai artists in the world today – Mr. Walter Pall of Germany. In a very special educational presentation on Saturday afternoon, Mr. Pall will begin with a slide show to illustrate his ideas about naturalistic design, using beautiful photographic images of bonsai from his own collection and others he has seen in his travels around the world. He will then move on to a live demonstration of his technique and naturalistic design concept, working with an old, untrained Scots Pine. The result of his work will be the newest addition to the NC Arboretum’s bonsai collection. Perhaps somewhere along the way someone will ask if naturalistic bonsai is really nothing more than a sales gimmick… and you better believe there will be a ready and entertaining answer! The “Main Event” presentation from the guest artist is always a highlight of any Expo, but this year’s promises to be particularly memorable.
This program is being given a time slot of 4 hours, in order to allow Mr. Pall ample opportunity to cover his topic in-depth while working on a challenging tree. Registrants will be able to come and go freely during this time. The program will be conducted in the classrooms on the 1st floor of the Education Center.
The cost of this program is $20 for Arboretum members and $23 for non-members and the 100 available spaces will be sold on a first come, first served basis. Reservations can be made online (beginning 9/26/11), by phone during business hours Monday through Friday ((828) 665-2492 ask for Peggy Eavenson) or in person at the Arboretum. Reservations must be secured by payment, either by credit card at the time of registration or by personal check received within 5 working days of the time of registration.
2011 CAROLINA BONSAI EXPO WORKSHOPS
These educational programs will take place in the comfort of the Arboretum’s Greenhouse Support Facility, and will be open only to participants – no “observer” positions are available.
Saturday, October 8, 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Bonsai artist Randy Clark conducts a Literati bonsai workshop using staked Procumbens Juniper.
Please note: this program is not for novice or beginner level students! Participants must have experience and a firm grasp of bonsai fundamentals.
Writing about the literati approach in bonsai design, Mr. Clark recently observed: “Most people make the common mistake of assuming literati is a particular form of bonsai, like cascade or informal upright. This is understandable, but incorrect. In fact, literati is an artistic approach which may be applied to any traditional bonsai form. The literati approach places emphasis on designs which reflect pictures of trees in ancient Chinese scroll paintings. It is a very free-form approach to the art which does not demand rigid adherence to many of the traditional bonsai styling rules.” Few plants lend themselves to literati design more readily than Procumbens Junipers that have been staked and pre-trained to grow upright. This workshop features just such plant material, expertly chosen by Mr. Clark expressly for this purpose. Each plant stands approximately two feet in height, and is well established in a 5-gallon plastic pot.
Randy Clark is a nationally known and much respected bonsai artist, teacher and nurseryman. He has 40 years of bonsai experience, including the past 20 years as proprietor of The Bonsai Learning Center in Charlotte, North Carolina’s only full time, full service bonsai nursery.
Class size will be limited to only 7 (seven) participants in order to maximize the one-on-one time for each student with Mr. Clark. Participants must provide their own tools and wire. Wiring will be an integral part of this workshop, so students are advised to have an ample supply of copper or aluminum bonsai wire in a range of gauges. Plants will not be re-potted as part of this class.
The cost of this workshop is $100 for Arboretum members and $110 for non-members and the 7 available spaces will be sold on a first come, first served basis. Reservations can be made by phone ((828) 665-2492 ask for Peggy Eavenson) or in person at the Arboretum; sorry, but no reservations may be made via the Internet. Reservations must be secured by payment, either by credit card at the time of registration or by personal check received within 5 working days of the time of registration.
Reservations will be taken beginning at 9:00 AM on Thursday, September 22. No reservations will be accepted prior to that time.
Sunday, October 9, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM
2011 Carolina Bonsai Expo guest artist Walter Pall conducts a workshop program on naturalistic bonsai design, using collected Ponderosa Pine
Please note: this program is not for novice or beginner level students! Participants must have experience and a firm grasp of bonsai fundamentals.
In this exclusive workshop students will work with old, wild-collected Ponderosa Pines, guided by one of the foremost bonsai artists in the world today. These trees are genuinely old. They were collected in Colorado and all have been established in containers for at least two years (some longer than that). They are currently being held at Nature’s Way Nursery in eastern Pennsylvania, where they have been successfully growing for at least one year. These plants were hand-selected by Mr. Pall expressly for this workshop, and are being provided at a reduced price in honor of his appearance at the Carolina Bonsai Expo. The Expo has never before in its sixteen-year history offered a workshop using this level of plant material.
Class size will be limited to only 7 (seven) participants in order to maximize the one-on-one time for each student with this world-class bonsai artist. Please note that this workshop is scheduled for five hours, in order to allow ample time for quality work on exceptional plant material. Participants must provide their own tools and wire. Wiring will be an integral part of this workshop, so students are required to have an ample supply of copper or aluminum bonsai wire in a range of gauges. Plants will not be re-potted as part of this class.
The cost of this workshop is $390 for Arboretum members and $440 for non-members and the 7 available spaces will be sold on a first come, first served basis. Reservations can be made by phone ((828) 665-2492 ask for Peggy Eavenson) or in person at the Arboretum; sorry, but no reservations may be made via the Internet. Reservations must be secured by payment, either by credit card at the time of registration or by personal check received within 5 working days of the time of registration.
Reservations will be taken beginning at 9:00 AM on Thursday, September 22. No reservations will be accepted prior to that time.
2011 Carolina Bonsai Expo Free Lectures and Demonstrations
(All programs listed take place in the classrooms on the 1st floor of the Education Center)
Saturday, October 8th:
11:00 AM to 12:00 PM – “Contemporary Ikebana in Unconventional Containers”, horticultural design demonstration by Terri Ellis Todd, Master in the Ichiyo School of Ikebana and past president of the Asheville Chapter of Ikebana International. Ikebana is a uniquely creative form of horticultural art, which often employs cut flowers, grasses, woody plant stems that may be bare or have leaves or fruit, and any number of other items that provide texture, color and form. In this presentation Mrs. Todd will be working in a more modern vein, using containers of her own personal design. Mrs. Todd is an active ikebana artist and teacher in the western North Carolina region, and she has presented excellent demonstrations and conducted numerous workshops at the NC Arboretum and the Folk Art Center, among other places. The Arboretum is proud to feature her once again, in a continuation of the harmonious relationship between bonsai and ikebana at the Carolina Bonsai Expo.
Sunday, October 9th:
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM – “Something Wild”, bonsai lecture, slide show and demonstration by Jim Doyle, bonsai artist and proprietor of Nature’s Way Nursery in Harrisburg, PA. Few people in American bonsai are as well known and well liked as Jim, who has toured as a teacher extensively in this country and in Europe, and furthered his bonsai knowledge through numerous visits to China and Japan. In the past ten years he has become a fixture at the Carolina Bonsai Expo. Jim was a guest artist at the 2001 Expo and has returned each year as a vendor, exhibitor, auctioneer and teacher, and has generally been a great friend to bonsai at the NC Arboretum. In this special presentation, he will share his personal philosophy regarding nature and the design and appreciation of bonsai. Although he is pleasant and mild mannered on the outside, on the inside Jim has some untamed urges, and now he is ready to unleash them on the world. The Arboretum is pleased to give him the stage and provide this opportunity for Expo attendees to experience something wild.
1:00 to 2:00 PM – “Starting Out in Bonsai”, bonsai lecture and demonstration by Arthur Joura, bonsai curator at the NC Arboretum, with John Geanangel and Ken Duncan of the Black Creek Study Group, Columbia, SC. The Carolina Bonsai Expo is a showcase for some of the finest bonsai in the eastern US, and features guest bonsai artists of international stature, but the people behind the amazing trees and the experts up on the stage all had to start someplace – at one point they were all bonsai beginners. For those who are at that point right now, or think they might like to be, this presentation is specifically for you. What kinds of plants are good to start with? How do you keep a bonsai healthy? How do you know what to cut off? These questions and any others you might have will be addressed, by words and examples, in a lively and entertaining hour of learning. Ken, John and Arthur have participated in every Expo since the first, and have often shared the stage in joint presentations, never failing to produce a pleasing blend of good work and good fun. This program is intended for people who are just getting started in bonsai, but it is also open to anyone who might like a reminder of why they did.
