My Jaboticaba was selected some months ago by the organizers (which probably means Bill Valavanis) for exhibition. It was a bit nerve wracking keeping it in tip-top shape, and even improving it, and transporting it 375 miles. But when we got it there for final approval, Mr. Valavanis accepted it immediately and put it in its final position himself. My wife, the tree, and I arrived in Rochester on Thursday evening, June 7th, because all trees had to be in place by Friday, June 8th before 2:00 PM, and we did not want to be late or harried. So, the next morning, around 10:00 AM, we brought the tree to the Exposition Center and, after finally finding the proper entrance, registering, and moving stands and plants in, we could comfortably look around at the trees coming in, the vendors setting up, and the Exhibition taking shape. It became obvious quite soon that the apparent chaos was merely an illlusion. Mr. Valavanis and his assembled crew had everything, and I mean everything, under control. Things were continually changing (including the location of my tree) but in a way that made the situation ever better. Bill Valavanis is a dynamo and knows what he is doing and what everyone else should be doing.
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| My Jaboticaba and companion plant at the 3rd US National Bonsai Exhibition 2012 |
As the trees and landscapes took their places, it became obvious that the quality of the material and art was of an extremely high order. And, after spending the entire next 2 days studying and learning from what I saw, that was nearly completely confirmed. Confirmed with 3 minor, and inexplicable, exceptions. I have never been to a large Japanese or European show, but I have examined, studied rather, literally thousands of pictures of what the bonsai world considers the best of the best. In my not so humble opinion, the quality of the best bonsai at Rochester would not look out of place in the best shows in the world. In fact, I will amend that to include the top third of the 248 trees. (Final stats update: 353 bonsai were entered by 118 exhibitors. Total bonsai on display was 248 by 95 exhibitors.) "Some bonsai were withdrawn after being accepted because of the tree's health." I consider my tree, pictured above, to be at about the 66.7% level of the Exhibition. Two professional bonsaists complimented it; it is unusual for a Jaboticaba to have a nebari like mine has, and the shape and ramification pleased them. You decide if trees better than it would be accepted at any particular show you care to compare it with. Don't use criteria such as "Japanese Classic" or "Naturalistic" or "Italian Modern". Judge it for what it is trying to be. (For example, would you judge an Abstract Jackson Pollock against an Academic like David, or an Impressionist Monet?) I would be happy to have you compare my tree against an Elm below, that won a Certificate of Merit in the 2007 Gingko Show, even though my tree's photo is an amateur shot and of higher resolution (showing the defects more accurately).
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| Field Elm, Certificate of Merit, 2007 Gingko Show |
Actually, there were 3 exhibitors, including myself, from our Greater New Haven Bonsai Society, and fellow member Tony Alario's "Japanese Classic" San Jose Juniper won a very important prize: Best Evergreen. It, and he, damned well deserved it. Not too shabby for a little bonsai backwater. The 3 exceptions were very puzzling. The trees were not only badly designed and executed, they were sick, and had broken branches and diseased leaves. It is incomprehensible that they had been allowed in.
There were several non-judged entries from a Montreal bonsai study group that were nothing short of spectacular. I wish they were full fledged entries. Perhaps they weren't because this was the "National" Exhibition. I won't describe them to you because I can't do them justice in a blog of few words. They were too complex and imaginative. Buy the book and see them. There was a map posted at the entrance with push pins denoting where every tree came from. It was a truly National distribution, although, of course there were centers of concentration. I was told that there were temperature controlled trucks trolling the country and picking up submitted trees. I was also told that Ryan Neal was largely responsible for that, and he was as almost as much in evidence as Bill Valavanis in controlling the flow of the show. Also, as fillers, I suppose, there were some loaners from the National Arboretum. They were 10 foot trees. That is, from 10 feet away, they looked marvelous. They had all the required characteristics by the numbers. But, when examined up close, there was something not quite right about most of them. For instance, the maples were all shells of leaves, the shells perfectly formed umbrellas, but on the ends of very long thin twigs with internodes far apart and no ramification. They haven't been cared for properly. I mean, really cared.
At the very pleasant banquet on Saturday night, a very odd thing happened. Or, maybe it wasn't so odd. Prior to the awards, delegates and judges from various places spoke a few words, some through interpreters, about the show. The Chinese delegate was very effusive in his praise and invited us all to China, among other things he said. Next up, the Japanese delegate, again through an interpreter, spoke only a few words: told us that when he first came to the US, 25 years ago, he was shocked at the "bonsai" he was shown, as they were not bonsai at all, but "plants growing out of trashcans". He then said, having seen the bonsai in this show, that "Americans still had a lot to learn about creating bonsai". Punkt. End of story. Japanese politesse? Were you doing bonsai 25 years ago? I wasn't. He is right though: Americans have a lot to learn about bonsai. And some of the people who do it.
Sunday was spent going over the trees that merited further examination and discussing them with our club members who had made the trip. We also took a short side trip to a bonsai nursery that had only one tree, out of fields of prebonsai, that I would have liked to have. That one was too expensive by half. Disappointing. But, there was still food and drink and companionship to be had before next day's 7 hour drive home.
This was my first and last Exhibition, apart from club events. I have done it and don't need to do it again. I have learned what I needed to learn from events of this sort. Back to work which is not work: creating and caring for trees. I plan to restyle my Jaboticaba somewhat, which will be a tough job, especially since I will be removing lots of branches and branchlets that I worked hard to grow and shape. Initial creation is easy. Continuing the career of a mature tree is difficult, but it is the thought it requires that makes it fun.
