The Bonsai Blog of Will Heath

Another great weekend at the Michigan All State Show. This year I had the pleasure of instructing a Working With Conifers Workshop, a Wiring Demonstration, and participated in another Three-of-a-Kind demo. Vance Wood and myself also were vendors again at this years show.

This great show was held at the Fredrick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids Michigan. Vance Wood and Eric Newton, two bonsaists from Michigan, also were invited to participate in the Three-of-a-Kind demo. I enjoyed the experience very much and had the opportunity to meet with many of the friends I have made in bonsai over the years. Julian Adams was present as a vendor and instructor and I was pleased to be able to share some thoughts with him.

Being a member of the advisory committee for the All State Show, I was very impressed with the changes made this year. Some of the ideas came directly from the Four Seasons Show I chaired last year and I considered that to be the highest compliment I could receive. The team did a great job this year and I am certain that next years show will be even better.

Below are some pictures from the Three-of-a-Kind demo. For those of you not familiar with this type of demo, all three participants start with the same stock, well as near to the same as can be, and then they all style it according to what they personally see in the tree.

The Shimpaku Juniper I had to work with for the Three-of-a-Kind Demo, shown before styling

Vance Wood’s Stock before styling

Eric Newton’s Stock before styling

I examine the progress during styling

Studying the possiblities presented by the raw stock

Eric Newton digs in with a design already in mind

Eric Newton continues styling while Vance Wood stands behind him

Vance Wood adds jin to his creation

Eric Newton removing some unwanted branches

Vance Wood continues styling

Having the microphone, I pause often to explain concepts of styling to the audience

Eric Newton continues styling

The results of my first styling on the raw stock

The results of Vance Wood’s first styling on the raw stock

The results of Eric Newton’s first styling on the raw stock

Below are some other random pictures from the show.

Vance Wood and myself were vendors once again this year and these are a just a couple happy customers. They are holding a couple mame jades they purchased.

Julian Adams was present and was also a vendor as well as an instructor for workshops at the show

Julian Adams and Vance Wood

Julian Adams and myself

Mollie Hollar and myself

I had the honor of being invited back to the Michigan All State Show in 2007. This time I had the pleasure of instructing a Literati Workshop, a Mame workshop, and participating in another Three-of-a-Kind demo. I also gave a demostration on applying moss to a bonsai in order to improve the overall visual effect of the presentation.

This great show was held at the Fredrick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids Michigan. Vance Wood and John Stevens, two other Four Seasons Bonsai Club members, also were invited to participate in the Three-of-a-Kind demo. I enjoyed the experience very much and had the opportunity to meet with many of the friends I have made in bonsai.

Below are some pictures from the Three-of-a-Kind demo. For those of you not familiar with this type of demo, all three participants start with the same stock, well as near to the same as can be, and then they all style it according to what they personally see in the tree.

The stock I was given to work with, shown before styling began.

The stock Vance Wood was given to work with, shown before styling began.

The stock John Stevens was given to work with, shown before styling began.

During the Three-of-a-Kind demostration I search for the tree within.

During the Three-of-a-Kind demostration a few pictures were snapped from behind us.

The area we gave the demostration in was very large and was lit by the skylights 30 feet above.

During the Three-of-a-Kind demostration.

The result of my efforts, a semi-cascade style.

Vance Wood’s finished bonsai.

John Steven’s finished bonsai.

My finished bonsai again, that’s Vance Wood in the background looking like he is wondering what the hell I did.

Below are some pictures from the Literati Workshop. This workshop was aimed toward the beginner and was meant to impart an understanding of the style and the history behind it. The participants all received copies of my article A Brief Exploration of the Literati style ( http://www.artofbonsai.org/feature_articles/literati.php ) and other handouts to take home with them. Using young Scots Pine trees, we then explored the many possibilities of Literati design, in which the participants were allowed to form the trees using only their own personal imagination.

Some of the participants.

I had the honor of being invited to participate in a Three-of-a-kind demo at the Michigan All State Show in 2006. This great show was held at the Fredrick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids Michigan. Vance Wood and John Stevens, two other Four Seasons Bonsai Club members, also were invited to participate. I enjoyed the experience very much and had the opportunity to meet with Jack Douthitt and Jack Wikle. What a fantastic educational experience!

For those of you not familiar with this type of demo, all three participants start with the same stock, well as near to the same as can be, and then they all style it according to what they personally see in the tree.

Below are some pictures from the demo.

The stock before we started. From left to right: My selection, Vance Wood’s, and John Steven’s.

The stock after we completed our design. From left to right: My design, Vance Wood’s, and John Steven’s.

During the demo. From left to right: Me, Vance Wood, and John Steven.

My completed bonsai.

Vance Wood’s completed bonsai.

John Steven’s completed bonsai.

Jack Douthitt, Will Heath, and Jack Wikle at the 2006 All State Show.

Eric Newton, Vance Wood, and Will Heath at the 2006 All State Show.

I had the honor of being invited to the Toledo Aikido Dojo to do a workshop with Ficus Retusa.

Recently it was suggested to the students of this Dojo that they take up other hobbies besides Aikido, in keeping with the ancient warrior tradition in which other subjects were studied to “round out” the warrior. Fortunately, a couple of the students had taken workshops of mine at the Michigan All State Show and they contacted me to ask if I would interested in coming to their Dojo to teach.

The hospitality and kindness of Sensei Jay and his students did not go unnoticed and was greatly appreciated. Their actions and manner spoke more of the essence of Aikido than any other subject matter on the martial art ever could. My only regret was that the time went so quickly, there was so much more to share, I certainly hope I passed along enough to spark the interest in these new students of bonsai so that they will continue with the art.

As the majority of the students were absolute beginners, having no experience what-so-ever with bonsai, I chose to use Ficus Retusa for this workshop. Ficus Retusa is a excellent tropical tree that it well suited to bonsai. It responds very well to bonsai techniques, grows fast, does well inside over the winter with little, if any, leaf loss. The material I acquired was excellent, great trunk girth and movement, as well as plenty of branching to work with.

The 20 participants in this workshop pruned, wired, and re-potted their choice of tree and produced some excellent starter bonsai while learning about the history of bonsai and the reasoning behind the techniques we used. I was pleasantly surprised at the open-mindedness of the students and the remarkable results obtained by them.

Below are some pictures of what turned out to be a very fun workshop with some fantastic people. Clicking on the smaller pictures will allow a full size copy to be seen.

Giving the introduction

During the introduction to the workshop

During the introduction to the workshop

Sensei Jay

Student selecting stock

Student selecting stock

Student selecting stock

Student selecting stock

Student selecting stock

Hands on workshop

Hands on workshop

Teaching by example

Finding the tree within

Hands on workshop

Giving advice while encouraging personal artistic thought

Sensei Jay on the far right studies his selected tree