A visit to the ABS learning Seminars, show, and New Talent Competition

The Fredrick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park (www.meijergardens.org) in Grand Rapids, Michigan is a wonderful place full of beautifully designed gardens, an art and event center, and – interspersed within these beautiful landscapes – the incredible sculpture collection of the late Fredrick Meijer, founder of Meijer stores.

I had the pleasure of visiting the Gardens for the American Bonsai Society’s (ABS - www.americanbonsaisociety.org) Learning Seminars May 9-11 to attend some workshops, see the All-Michigan Bonsai Show, compete in the New Talent Competition, and visit the large vendor area.

This was a spectacular show with around 60 bonsai on display (see the slideshow here) along with scrolls, companion plants (see the companion plant slideshow), and suiseki.  I was a guest of the ABS, having won their competition for a new logo design, and this was the first time I had been to a large show outside of the tri-state region.  If you haven’t been to one, I highly recommend it since you view all kinds of bonsai displays and see the creativity of the people showing their trees.  It was definitely a place to get some ideas and spark your own creativity to improve your collection.

The New Talent Competition was quite interesting and was set up much like the one the BSGC hosts annually in the fall.  Each contestant had to have been practicing bonsai for less than 10 years and had to submit an application along with photographs of trees that they had styled on their own.  Of the submissions, eight were selected for the competition and I was lucky enough to have been chosen (unless, of course, there were only 8 applicants.)

The shimpaku juniper trees were handed out via a random drawing, and while it was initially stated that there would be extra trees you could switch to if you didn’t like your tree, there were none, so I was stuck with what I got.  I’m pretty sure mine was the worst of the bunch, having no branches on one side, a corkscrew section that made a reverse angle bend after coming straight up out of the pot, a base that was narrower than the inverse taper after the corkscrew, and another reverse angle bend that then went perfectly straight with no branches for about six inches!  Aside from that, there was almost no internal growth with all of the foliage being out toward the ends of the branches.  What to do?

Anyway, there was nothing to be done but accept the challenge and try something completely unnatural – turn the whole thing sideways and pretend like the lower trunk didn’t exist.  This wasn’t going to be a winner by any means, but it was a competition, and you only have one shot.

In the end I didn’t win or place, but I had a great time, met some interesting people that are relatively new to bonsai, got top marks for my wiring technique (thanks to Jennifer price for her wiring advice!), and created an interesting (and maybe a bit too avant-garde) bonsai that people were talking about for the rest of the show.  Check out the slideshow.

If you’re not a member of the ABS, I highly recommend it.  It’s only $45/year if you go with the 3-year plan and you get discounts on ABS events, a monthly newsletter, and a quarterly magazine in the mail.  American Bonsai Society