US National Shohin Bonsai Exhibition

Shohin and small size bonsai are a popular group because of their diminutive size and compressed beauty. In the United States they are always included in bonsai exhibitions. There have been well over 100 individual shohin bonsai displayed in each of the past five US National Bonsai Exhibitions. Every other year a well organized and attended bonsai seminar takes place in California full of small bonsai, workshops, demonstrations, displays and vendors too. During the past 30 some years I’ve sponsored over eight shohin bonsai symposia and seminars. Now is the time to raise the level and increase the popularity of shohin bonsai with an exhibition of fine quality of small size bonsai on the east coast.

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For the past four years, in early December, Steve Zeisel has sponsored and organized the Winter Silhouette Bonsai Expo held at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, North Carolina. This has been a well organized and attended event which has grown and improved each year. I’ve been honored to have displayed and presented programs in each of the Winter Silhouette Bonsai Expos.

The North Carolina Research Campus provides a beautiful venue which features marble walls and floors from the same quarry in Italy that Michelangelo used to carve his famous “David.” The building is a unique four story rotunda crowned with a beautiful dome, which is the tallest dome south of Washington, D.C. The marble floor inlay with beautiful geometric forms and tall pillars truly presents an elegant setting for bonsai. The lighting is excellent, perhaps because of the highly polished light colored marble floors. The four story rotunda ads another dimension to this bonsai exhibition, which I have never experienced before, and I’ve seen quite a number of shows around the world.

Louise Leister from Florida has talked me into organizing the US National Shohin Bonsai Exhibition in the same venue as the Winter Silhouette Bonsai Expos. With Louise and Steve Zeisel ’s assistance the US National Shohin Bonsai Exhibition will take place on June 23-25, 2017 in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Kannapolis, North Carolina. Kannapolis is 30 miles north of Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Some of the greatest shohin bonsai artists will share their knowledge and techniques through workshops, demonstrations, displays and a critique. Artists include:

Suthin Sukosolvisit

Kathy Shaner

John Romano

Sean Smith

Michael Lebanik

Mark Arpag

Michael Ryan Bell

William N. Valavanis

Four workshops with excellent plant material will be conducted on Friday while exhibitor and vendors set up their displays. The exhibition and vendor areas will be open all day on Saturday and Sunday. A Welcome Reception will begin the event followed by two programs. Saturday’s schedule includes four lecture demonstrations, a bonsai auction followed by a banquet on the third floor of the rotunda where people can look down at the exhibition. On Sunday morning three of our artists will conduct a critique of the entire shohin bonsai exhibition. An additional four lecture demonstrations will be presented and will conclude with an auction of the demonstration bonsai.

If you have a quality shohin or small bonsai, up to 12” in height, you would like to be considered for display in the exhibition please send me a photo for the selection process by E-Mail to: wnv@internationalbonsai.com

Only a limited number of tables are available in this unique building, so don’t delay. Individual shohin specimens, three point displays as well as shohin bonsai compositions will be displayed for participants and the public. There is no entry fee for displaying your shohin and small bonsai.

All bonsai will be judged and the following awards will be presented on Sunday morning:

Best of Show

Best Evergreen Bonsai

Best Deciduous Bonsai

Best Broadleaf Bonsai

Best Tropical Bonsai

Best Bonsai Companion Combination

Best Tree And Container Combination

Best Shohin Bonsai Composition Display

If you would like to sponsor one of the awards please contact Louise Leister:

mysecretbonsai@me.com