Kathy Shaner, Bonsai Trailblazer

Transcription

1 Puget Sound Bonsai Association PSBA News Clippings April, 2014 P.O. Box 15437, Seattle, WA Volume 41 Number 3 Kathy Shaner, Bonsai Trailblazer Read carefully:~~ Unexpected material following~~ Check out the club on the Web at Current and past newsletters are available on that site. The editor welcomes articles for inclusion in future newsletters. Send them to: morgia@centurytel.net. Be sure to read Ken Wassum s Now Is The Time article on repotting pages 2-3. Kathy Shaner Workshop will be held at Bonsai NW in Tukwila on Sunday, April 27. The workshop has been filled room only for a limited number of observers. Save the date: October 3-4 is the annual Pacific Northwest Bonsai Clubs convention to be held in Victoria, B.C. Get your passport or enhanced driver s license so you can attend this convention. Watch the NC for more details in a future issue. New member workshop has been rescheduled for June 1st at Bonsai NW. See page 9 for details. Kathy Shaner s bonsai story began in the early 80 s. She was on a mission. She studied under many reputable bonsai instructors throughout California and joined almost a dozen different bonsai clubs over a ten year span. At some point she was drawn to what she believed to be The Source. She was accepted by Yasuo Mitsuya on Toyohashi, Japan for a 5 year internship that would begin her career as a bonsai master. She was the first American certified bonsai professional recognized by the professional bonsai growers branch of the Nippon Bonsai Association. We won t mention she was the first woman in that position. But thirty years as a professional has provided more than just practice following the rules of bonsai. Kathy had a foundation in Gendai bonsai. Gendai translated into English means modern, contemporary, but in the context of an art form it might carry the connotation of avant- garde or experimental. Buckle up folks. This is a woman who has paid her dues. She has moved way past rules, and is entertained by big ideas. When asked what sort of tree she wanted to work on, she was unmoved. Whatever your club members need me to do. I told her I noticed many bonsai masters simply work on trees that just need some tweaking and final wiring. How did she feel about that? Still she was unmoved. She began to slowly unravel my thinking. I feel freedom; I am not constrained as we were years ago. Our training gave us great information, but now I can follow nature. I am more interested in how nature would have influenced the tree. For years Bonsai culture was about no change. Now we can focus on what makes them healthier, how I can be influenced by what is natural to their species. Kathy travels constantly as a professional bonsai teacher. She doesn t suffer fools, and is a tool she would just as soon live without. She loves working with a problem tree; one that she can make beautiful, despite its flaws. Most shocking statement from Kathy Shaner? The old rules are outrageous. What does her sensai, Mr. Mitsuya think of her license? He has blessed me on my journey for new knowledge. Kathy is easy going, joyful, and promises the unexpected. You are blessed to have access to this passionate teacher. You will learn a great deal. Don t miss her demonstration at the Puget Sound Bonsai Association s April 28 meeting at the Center for Urban Horticulture.

2 Page 2 Now is the Time: April 2014 By Ken Wassum The PSBA club auction is coming up in June so this column is taking a little different perspective than usual. Every year about 70 or so trees go on the auction block. It can be a bit overwhelming to decide what to bid on. It is always a good idea to think ahead of time what you want to bid on. I suggest you have a strategy that can help guide you. Try to get there a little early to look around. Deciding whether to bid on trees when the auction starts can be difficult. Certainly many spur of the moment bids happen especially when we get caught up in the excitement of the auction, but try to scope things out ahead of time. It is a good idea to wander through the trees up for sale a couple times prior to the start of the auction and jot down a few you will bid on. Here are a few things to think about when bidding on trees: Before the auction, take a look at your collection. Are there gaps in types or quality of trees that you want to fill? Does your bonsai display area have a preponderance of sun or shade? It makes no sense to buy bonsai that require a lot of sun when your yard is very shady. Of course, the opposite holds true too; there is no point in buying trees that need some shade when you have none. Do you want to add deciduous or evergreen bonsai to your collection? What do you have expertise with? Are you feeling ready to learn some new skills to care for different trees? Do you want to add some new types of trees to your collection? Do you want to add collected trees to your collection, or do you feel you are not up to the challenge of taming a really wild looking tree to make it into a beautiful bonsai? Bigger trees can be stunning bonsai, but require the ability to move them and repot them. Smaller trees, like shohin, can require more attention and watering, especially in times of warm summer weather. They can require smaller fingers and more attention to detail to make them look good. Less hardy trees, such as trident maples, require more winter protection. Another thing to think about is how much you are willing to spend. More refined trees are going to go for a higher price than bonsai that are earlier in the development continuum. Trees that are a bit rougher go for less. Would you rather have one nicer tree or two or three trees that you can work on to improve them. Finished trees require good skill to maintain them. Do you have those skills? Will the really nice tree you buy suffer if you are not able to care for it? Things to pay attention to:

3 Page 3 Many buyers want a beefy trunk. It takes a long time to develop a fat trunk on some trees, especially in the pot. The same goes for nice, mature, flaky bark on pines and other evergreens. How do I say this? does the tree kind of suck but you want the pot? Let s face it, sometimes a tree may not be that appealing to you but the pot is nice. If you can get the tree for a good price then it might be a good buy to get a nice pot. The tree can always go in the landscape.. These lists can go on and on, but hopefully you get the idea. But, the most important thing you can do is simply SHOW UP!! See you there. Until then, have fun! Kathy Shaner Workshop Has Been Filled Kathy Shaner is PSBA s featured speaker/demo artist in April. The workshop is limited to 8 people and was filled on a first come first served basis. There is limited room for observers at $5 for each person.

4 Page 4 SAVE THE DATE! PSBA ANNUAL SUMMER POTLUCK SUNDAY JULY 20 TH, :00-5:00 PM Center for Urban Horticulture All PSBA members and your families are welcome for great food, bazaar, and informal fellowship. Watch this space for more details.

5 Page 5 PSBA BONSAI AUCTION, JUNE 7, 2014 The ninth annual PSBA bonsai auction is looking to be the best ever! It will be held June 7, Saturday, at that Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection in Federal Way. We will begin with an orientation to the auction trees at noon by Linda Breeden. John Conn will be doing a demo as the auction goes on and the tree will be auctioned off when it is finished. We will have some food and beverages available. The live auction will begin at 1:00 and end at 4:00pm. We plan to auction about 75 trees and a few suiseki (viewing stones with hand carved wooden pedestals.) We have two collectors as well as many of the oldest, deepest collections in the Pacific Northwest that are auctioning trees. If you have trees for the live auction you must contact auction organizers with tree details and deliver them to the Pac Rim greenhouse area during the week before the auction, no later than Friday noon (unless you are coming from out of town.) Trees must be labeled with your name and tree name with a waterproof label. If you have silent auction items, just bring them to the auction one hour early at the latest. There will be no charge for reserves that are not met in the silent auction, but we are limiting silent auction reserves to less than $100. If you have silent auction items, please have a description of the item, reserve if applicable and your contact information on a 3 x 5 card to give to the silent auction organizers (Margie Kinoshita and Pat Negron.) If you have questions or want to help out on auction day (June 7) or set up day (Friday June 6), please contact Doug Bradley bradley166@comcast.net or Linda Breeden lbreeden@fhcrc.org or call Credit cards will be accepted. Spread the word and join the fun! Below are some pictures of three trees that will be auctioned off.

6 Page 6 Preparing Your Tree For PSBA s Spring Exhibit May 3-4 at Pacific Rim in Federal Way After you have chosen the bonsai you want for the exhibit, you should groom the bonsai carefully. Don t wait until the night before the show, but begin now. Begin grooming from the top of the tree and work down; remove dead wood, damaged and yellow leaves and growth in the fork of trunk and branches. Check the wiring. Remove any wire that is too near girdling the tree or is too tight and cutting into a branch. Rewire only where necessary. Do the fine rewiring that will enhance the appearance of branches. Examine the trunk. Remove any moss that is on the trunk of the tree. Remove any debris from the soil, old leaves and needles and weeds. You can remove about ½ inch of the top of the soil and replace with new soil to make it look clean and fresh. If you have good looking topsoil you can add a very fine layer of it on top. If you have moss on the soil, it should be green and fresh looking. Remove any black moss. The day before the show, wipe your pots with a wet cloth, followed by a dry one. Wipe a small amount of baby oil or another type of clear oil to the unglazed pots. Wipe off the excess oil with a dry cloth. Make sure you have your name on the bottom of the pot. It is easy to use one of your return address labels for this. Please give the name of your tree or trees, along with the botanical and the common name and how long the bonsai has been in training as a bonsai to the chair of the show. Also mention any companion plants and stands that you plan to bring to the show. You should this information or questions to: Kathy Blanchard :blanchard98@aol.com or Pat Negron: pnegron@earthlink.net. Finally, you should prepare two 3x5 cards with your name and the list of the trees you are entering, along with a description of any stands and companion plants. Turn one card in to the person checking in your trees and you keep one so you can make sure to claim your plants at the end of the show. **Bring your trees to Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection between 8:00am and no later then 9:30am Saturday May 3 rd at the back gate of the facility. Check them in at the check in table. You can pick up your trees at 4:00pm on Sunday may 4 th.

7 Page 7 Pictures from April s PSBA Meeting with Dan Robinson carving on an azalea Photos: Dan s carving tool of choice is a Makita die grinder (model no longer available) with 3/8-inch core box nose bit (self-cleaning bit). He uses it to sculpt the trunk of this azalea for taper and addition of desired visual age / character effects. Finer carving was done with another Makita drill (on table) with a smaller diameter core drill bit. Both drills can be seen below.

8 Page NEW MEMBER CALENDAR Please note that we have rescheduled the April 27 th lecture on what to look for when buying a bonsai to Sunday, June 1, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. at Bonsai NW. The April 27 th date conflicted with the PSBA workshop with Kathy Shaner at Bonsai NW. This new date is one week prior to the PSBA Auction set for Saturday, June 7 th at 1:00 p.m. at the Pacific Rim Collection. The 2014 New Member schedule is: Feb. 23 rd & Mar. 16: new member workshop on potting. A total of 17 new members attended the two workshops. We want to thank Blache Bollert and Grant Rauzi for assisting at both of these workshops. June 1 st : lecture on what to look for when buying a bonsai Oct. 12 th : new member workshop on design and wiring The June 1 st lecture is an introduction into the elements of a bonsai. We discuss the overall qualities of a bonsai. We break down the various components of a tree into their the ideal forms and discuss what generally can and cannot be changed. Then we tour the collection at Bonsai NW to pick out individual trees to evaluate and apply these concepts. At the October workshop, we will address basic design for the purpose of limb placement and refinement. This is an introduction to wiring class. We will address basic wiring techniques designed to help you achieve the bonsai you envision. If you have any questions, contact Elsa Durham at still.floating2@gmail.com or (206)

9 Puget Sound Bonsai Association April PSBA displays trees at Sakura Con 2014 at the Seattle Convention Center Phone: psba.us The PSBA News Clippings Is published nine times each year by the Puget Sound Bonsai Association: P.O. Box 15437, Seattle, WA The newsletter is published in order to share general information about bonsai techniques, events, and other items of interest to members.. If you are not receiving copies, please contact Sally Montejano April 27 April 28 May 3-4 Kathy Shaner Workshop at Bonsai NW Sunday from 1-5 pm space for observers is limited. Kathy Shaner will be our PSBA guest artist At the Center for Urban Horticulture 7 PM PSBA s Spring Show at the Pacific Rim Collection in Federal Way Editor: Morgia Belcher or morgia@centurytel.net Assistant Editor: wanted someone to do this job! Production Editor: Jana Loyd Mailing Labels: Sally Montejano (sfumikom@gmail.com) June 24 October 3-4 Greg Brenden will demonstrate Kusamono plantings workshops to be determined PNBCA Convention in Victoria, British Columbia Questions about the publication should be directed to the editor. Permission to reprint articles is granted to other bonsai clubs for use in their publications, except where expressly prohibited or noted herein. News Clippings P.O. Box Seattle, WA