Arthur Skolnik presents: A Dozen Design Denotations. Meeting Date. Newsletter of The Bonsai Society of Upstate New York

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1 January 2010 Volume 37 Number 5 Newsletter of The Bonsai Society of Upstate New York Arthur Skolnik presents: A Dozen Design Denotations This month, Arthur Skolnik will present a lecture demonstration focusing on Bonsai basics. In 1980, Arthur was mesmerized by a bonsai display he saw at the Montreal Botanical Gardens and was forever captivated by the art form. After studying and practicing bonsai, he opened a bonsai business himself. After having spent time in Japan developing his talents, Skolnik released his video, The Growing Art of Bonsai and continues teaching via lectures/demos all over the world. He teaches seminars in Japanese style gardens and has himself won several awards for his own gardens. He has contributed to many international publications. Three of his viewing stones have been accepted into the US National Arboretum s permanent display. He continues to win many prestigious awards with his bonsai. Throughout his usual irreverent, humorous presentations, Arthur introduces the basic concepts of good bonsai and takes great pleasure in sharing them with others. Plan to attend. Meeting Date Tuesday January 26, :00 PM Meeting Brighton Town Lodge at Buckland Park 1341 Westfall Road Rochester, New York near corner of Westfall and Clinton President Harvey Carapella Billboard Editor Bob Kretzer kretzers@rochester.rr.com Billboard Staff Tom Friday Mark Arpag William Valavanis Visit Our Website

2 Programs PROGRAMS for January June 2010: January 26 Beginners Bonsai Arthur Skolnik, Toronto Help Needed For GardenScape 2010 GardenScape 2010 will take place at the Dome Arena in Henrietta on March 11 to 14. Our society is again having a double booth display at the show. We need members to help answer questions and provide the public with information on bonsai and our society. Please see Bob Pfromm to schedule your time to help our society spread bonsai information to the public. Also, we need fine quality flowering bonsai for the show. Please phone Bill Valavanis at to offer your bonsai for the society display. We will be setting up our display on Tuesday, March 10th at 5 pm and need help. Also, we will be taking down the display on Sunday, March 14th at 5 pm and many hands make light work for everyone. More information about the show can be found at, February 23 Rock Plantings III Harvey Carapella March GardenScape 2010 Society Display March 23 April 27 May June June 14 (Monday) Chinese Quince Lecture/Demo/Workshop Bill Valavanis Chinese Elm Bonsai Workshop & Program David Easterbrook, Montreal Upstate New York Bonsai Exhibition Demos by Pauline Muth, New York 2nd US National Bonsai Exhibition Kunio Kobayashi Demonstration Japan Election Time At the March meeting we will be electing new society officers. During the business meeting, the candidates for the offices will be presented and voted on. If anyone has any nominations give one of the nominating committee a call and let them know. Just make sure the person you are nominating knows about it before you call. Nominating Committee Joe Galley, Chair Ron Maggio Dave Steele Shimpaku Juniper - BSUNY Show 2009

3 Holiday Party Highlights Our annual Holiday party was another great success. Over forty members attended it and enjoyed the large variety of delicious goodies, deserts and beverages. The next event was the presentation of pictures by Will Hebert of their recent trip to Taiwan and then Japan by Bill Valavanis, Will Hebert, Ron Maggio, Doug McDade, and Joe Moore. Thanks guys for the great pictures and interesting comments on the places and the other bonsai display areas you visited! We applaud your photography skills. 3 After a short break for some more goodies, Harvey Carapella started our annual Mystery Auction and took bids on the donated and wrapped items. These included: calendars, scrolls, books, bonsai pots, a Christmas wreath, pre-bonsai plants, wine, and lots of other first-rate things. There was even one item just for the ladies. Once again our generous members donated some really splendid items and it helps. The Holiday Mystery Auction is one of our better income producing activities of the year. The funds we raised will be used to bring quality, educational programs to our members. A great big thank you to all our members who brought in goodies, items for the auction, and to those who bid and were lucky to get a special treasure. Many thanks also to Harvey for doing such a great job as our auctioneer. The Santa hat was a nice touch this year. Bill Valavanis Will Hebert showing trip pictures Harvey Carapella & Ron Maggio taking bids Will Hebert & Doug McDade

4 It s That Time Of Year Again... This is a good time to begin studying tree silhouettes around town and in your own garden (exercise caution when driving). Note that the overall silhouette is different for each species. East Avenue is an excellent place to study large mature Beech, Weeping beech and Ginkgo. Highland Park and Mt. Hope Cemetery are also good locations for large Japanese maples and Paper bark maples. A warmer winter project is to study books and magazines (ask me which magazine). Work schedules often prohibit studying during the active growing season. Our book and video library has excellent selections and all are available at the Society meetings. Keep warm and study bonsai styles in nature and in books and tapes, because It s that time of the year again... W.N.V. Bonsai Society of Upstate New York P.O. Box Rochester, New York 14692

5 Arthur Skolnik s 12 Rules for Bonsai Here are my Dozen Design Denotations, but first, a definition of Bonsai that I really like. The art is practiced by training young (age doesn t matter) trees to acquire and display the features of age while remaining small. Here s another to reproduce the dignified beauty of a tree that has survived exposure to the elements. 1. All trees have a front or best view. The Japanese say the trunk of a tree is like the soul of a tree and when you can see the trunk, you have a good idea of what type of life the tree has had or what type of conditions the tree has endured. 2. All trees should lean (slightly) toward the viewer, branches too. Even a slanting style tree it leans to one side or the other making it a slanting style but here too, the top and branches leans toward the viewer. 3. We re not trying to make exact copies of trees in nature; we re trying to symbolically represent the feeling and beauty of trees in nature. Arguably the most important feature of a great Bonsai is the buttress or flare of the trunk at ground level. This is a strong feature of age. 4. A tapered trunk and branches are extremely important in creating the feeling of a large and majestic tree. The bottom is thick, the top is thin and ideally, there is no sudden change in thickness. This applies equally to branches. 5. The silhouette of the foliage mass should be contained within a scalene triangle. Looking down on each branch, the foliage here too should be contained within a scalene triangle. Taking it one step further, looking through each branch, the foliage nearest the trunk should be thickest and thinnest near the tip a triangle too. 6. Branches should never be stacked, one on top of the next. They aren t in nature because upper branches would shade lower ones. Ideally, the branch placement should follow one of these patterns: first branch on the left or right, next branch on the opposite side a little higher up, next branch a little higher up, in the back. Another pattern would be where the back branch is positioned between the two side branches. Using letters only, here it is again: l.r.b. or r.l.b. and l.b.r. or r.b.l. Follow this pattern roughly ¾ of the way up the tree. At that point, up to the domed top, front branches, to create a bit of mystery, are acceptable. Skolnik Cypress

6 7. The spaces between branches should get smaller and smaller the higher up the tree you look. 8. The first branch should be positioned 1/3 of the total length of the trunk, up from the bottom. 9. The longest branch should be the first and the lengths of the rest of the branches should diminish as you look up the tree. That s how the triangular silhouette is created. 10. The spread of the branches should be 2/3 the height of the tree. 11. In designing old trees with thick trunks, a pleasing proportion of trunk height to width should be 1 to Don t ruin a nice tree trying to make it perfect. There are 3 aspects to learning Bonsai design. 1. Study trees in nature. Familiarize yourself with the horticulture/biology ways trees grow and the effect of the environment of them. 2. Learn and understand the rules for design by studying/critiquing trees in books/exhibits and practice applying them. 3. Blend #1 and #2 without being rigid along with a dose of creativity. A tree perfectly designed, using rules as your only guide, may end up looking stiff but a tree without some order may look unruly. If you study the scales in music or color charts in painting, you will slowly learn that bending the rules combined with an experienced eye for balance, harmony, rhythm, proportion etc. often means breaking rules in order to create something artistic and unique which reflects your personality (as well as the tree s). If your full time job and income are not based on growing and selling Bonsai, Bonsai should be fun. These are the basic rules to follow. But if you study the scales in music or color charts in painting, you will slowly learn that bending the rules combined with an experienced eye for balance, harmony, rhythm, proportion etc. often means breaking rules in order to create something artistic, creative and which reflects your personality. Remember, what is essential is invisible to the eye. Arthur Skolnik Skolnik Korean Hornbeam

7 Selecting Bonsai Pots by Tom Friday The ancient art of bonsai takes normal sized trees and turns them into delicate miniatures. These days we seem to idolize youth; bonsai does not follow this trend and places a higher value on the look of age. The older and more mature the bonsai tree, the more it is admired and worth. Bonsai Pots Do Matter The container in which a bonsai tree is grown can make or break the look of the tree. Bonsai pots are as important to the design of the look of the tree as the tree itself. One should choose a bonsai plant and then match the plant to the pot instead of doing it the other way around. Function First, Then Shape First and foremost, a bonsai pot is functional. The pot must be able to hold the roots of the tree for one or two years. Bonsai trees that grow best outdoors must have a pot that will hold up to winter cold and frost. It should have enough drainage holes to keep your tree from sitting in wet soil. Bonsai containers are usually shallow. However, if you are trying to get a tree to produce fruit, use a slightly deeper container so the tree will have access to higher amounts of nutrients and water. Color Counts As a general rule, unglazed, darker-colored containers tend to make classic bonsai trees look old - a highly desired result in the world of bonsai. The older and more mature the tree looks, the more muted should be the container in which it grows. Flowering trees look best growing in glazed containers tinted with shades of green, blue, and purple. Please note that the bonsai tree, not the bonsai pot, is the star of the show here. The container should add to the look of the tree and not draw attention away from it. Evergreen trees, on the other hand, look their best in neutral brown, gray, and dark red unglazed bonsai pots. Refined trees look their best in light colored containers. Pot Shapes Are Important Too There are various opinions as to which shapes of bonsai pots are most suitable. Usually oval containers go with deciduous trees, rectangular containers go with evergreen trees, and hexagonal bonsai pots are best for trees with shorter, thicker trunks. Forest bonsai styles need a shallow, medium width pot to hold three to seven trees. Cascade trees will require taller, deeper pots for balance. Remember to keep the size and shape of the container in scale with the tree. We all know, you have to learn the rules before you break them. Follow the rules of bonsai tradition and scale, and after you gain bonsai experience you can experiment with breaking the rules. Seijen Japanese Maple - BSUNY Show 2009