BONSAI TOMODACHI - GSBF Clark Bonsai Collection
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Clark Bonsai Collection February-April, 2021
LOOK WHAT’S BEEN BLOOMING IN THE TOKONOMA
In February the Ume, the earliest bloomers, put on a show in pink and then crimson versions. In late
February and March, the blossoms of the purple leaf plum and then the wisteria have attracted the
admiration of our visitors. The most common question in awed tones, “Is that real?”
BONSAI TOMODACHI
THE CLARK BONSAI COLLECTION NEWSLETTER
CURATOR’S MESSAGE UPCOMING EVENTS:
Greetings to all, CBCS Three R Exhibition
Where should I begin, so much has happened April 10-July 17
and is happening since our last Newsletter. In gsbfclarkbonsaicollection.org See Page 4
January we were just beginning to formulate
plans on how to successfully emerge from the Todd Schlafer, Professional Bonsai
effects of the Covid-19 safety restrictions, take Consultant, CBCS Work Days May 1-2
stock of our position and identify solutions.
Some of that held promise for a brighter Public Gardens Day and Shinzen’s 40th
future…some offered us the stark realization of Anniversary on May 8
more difficulties ahead. See shinzenjapanesegarden.org for more
So…let me dish a bit on what we’ve been up information.
to and what’s in store in the next couple of
months. At the end of January, we engaged in a Fresno Bonsai Society
three-day intensive work session with Todd Exhibition & Sale
Schlafer during which over a dozen important
bonsai were definitively upgraded. We are looking to Todd to take a Home and Garden Show May 21-23
greater role in management of the Collection assets (bonsai) so that fresnobonsaisociety.com/
I may concentrate on other issues. We’ve posted additional videos
on our Website. We’ve launched our QR Code feature to selected Gardens for Peace/International Day of
bonsai on display allowing visitors to access enhanced information Peace September 21, 2021
about the bonsai using their cell phones. The floor covering of our najga.org/g4p
little “tea house”/Tokonoma that cost us 98 cents a square foot
when we originally installed it, had survived the disassembly of the Golden State Bonsai Federation
building and then reinstallation, finally gave up the ghost and has Rendezvous at Santa Nella October 2-3
been replaced, which required that we first demolish and rebuild See gsbfbonsai.org for more information
the rotten subfloor. We have completed a re-build/upgrade of our
greenhouse. We have accessioned three new bonsai into the Plein-Air Event Oct. 23-24
Collection: a Pygmy Cypress, a large Chi-chi’ (also known as ‘Tschi-
Tschi') Ginkgo and a crimson flowering apricot (known as Ume and Details to come on the Shinzen website
plum blossom in Japan) that has the most delightfully spicy and Facebook page
fragrance when it is blooming.
Continued on page 2 1
Clark Bonsai Collection February-April, 2021
Curator’s Message Continued from page 1 THE CURATORIAL TEAM AT WORK ON
IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS
Each weekend sets new attendance records and
through the heroic efforts of our few remaining stalwart
Docents doing “double-duty and no canteen” we have
managed to keep the gates open and accommodate the ever-
increasing visitor experience. Our little “sales” cart is
selling out faster than we can stock it, which provides us
with steady income. Something we have never had before.
By the time you read this we will have relocated over half of
the Collection (about 75 bonsai) to safe storage so that tree
pruning work over the reserve area can proceed. While the
benches for those trees were empty, we redesigned and
improved their layout to be more functional. In April the
Four Seasons Exhibition was rotated out and the Restoration-
Resurrection-Renewal Exhibition opened April 10. (See page
4) On May 1-2 Todd Schlafer will be back to continue his When our floor replacement plans were delayed by the
transition into a more involved presence with the Curatorial discovery of severe subfloor and joist water damage,
Team. The focus of this next visit will be foliage Darren Thomas pitched in and replaced all of the
management of our many Junipers. damaged joists and subfloor allowing for the new floor to
In my last message I issued a call to action for the be installed. Thanks also go to John Wright who took
CBCS to build a new future. We are in fact, working charge of acquiring the flooring materials and arranging
diligently toward that end. We have employed an interim for the floor installation.
Volunteer Coordinator in preparation for anticipated funding
to support a permanent part time position to recruit, train,
and retain volunteers who are essential to all aspects of the
Collection. We have identified new sources of funding and In the last newsletter
are actively pursuing them. We have initiated outreach to
you saw pictures of
community-based support groups that will help us achieve
our goals, and we are inviting you, our stakeholders to join Darren Thomas, David
the effort. Visit us now that things are becoming safer and Soho, Bob Wright and
less restrictive. Think about joining our volunteer operations John Wright working on
and share the joy of learning about bonsai with visitors. the new and greatly
Become a donor and support our continuing efforts to improved bonsai green
achieve financial stability. Our future is becoming brighter. house. Here you can
We invite you to share in the experience of walking through see Dave and Darren
the gardens of the Shinzen and among the bonsai. Together proudly standing in front
we are sustaining and enhancing a place of beauty and of the completed project.
harmony for all to enjoy.
John Wright (right) with
one of the teams of
Mormon missionaries
who volunteered two
mornings to help move
bonsai and benches out
of the path of the
workmen pruning back
the big pines over-
shading the bonsai.
Ying Wang has taken on
Pat Smith carefully
the task of maintaining and The Clark Bonsai Collection in Shinzen has hired a part
cleaning the re-
beautifying the bonsai time (20 hours per week) Interim (3-5 months) Volunteer
installed shoji
garden exhibit area, Coordinator to recruit, train and manage host/docents
doors.
including fine aesthetic for the bonsai garden. You will meet Lorena Porqueras,
pruning of the pines and in our next newsletter.
maples.
2
Clark Bonsai Collection February-April, 2021
BONSAI OF THE MONTH:
The picture above (note the difference in “front” and
trunk orientation) was featured in GSBF’s Golden
CBCS 082 LEGACY COLLECTION Statements Magazine in 1997, the year before the
bonsai won the Ben Oki International Design Award in
Original Artist: Sherwin Amimoto (1947-2006) was a 1998. Mr. Oki studied bonsai under renowned bonsai
senior aerospace project engineer and avid bonsai artist master John Naka and became his right hand man, and
who was a student of John Naka and had a particular internationally known in his own right for his rugged,
interest in California Junipers. His article on collecting the freeform style and fine detail work. He was also the
species was reprinted by the South Coast Bonsai founding curator of the bonsai collection at the
Association: http://310scba.blogspot.com/2007/02/ca- Huntington. The International Ben Oki Design Award for
junipers-sherwin-amimoto.html excellence in bonsai design quality was established and
sponsored by Bonsai Clubs International and the
Common Name: California Juniper American Bonsai Society.
Botanical Name: Juniperus Californica
Date Acquired by the CBCS: 10/30/08 This is the most
recent picture of
Age: Estimated to be 300+ years the Amimoto
bonsai after
Evergreen being
transplanted into
Style: Sharimiki/Driftwood This style portrays a tree with a its new hand
significant part of its trunk bare of bark. In nature, trees in made pot,
the sharimki style are created by disease, physical chosen for its
damage to the trunk, weathering, and/or age. At least one unique glaze and
strip of live bark connects the foliage and living branches rustic styling.
to the root system to transport water and nutrients. The
bare trunk areas give a strong impression of age
regardless of the the tree’s conformation, so driftwood
bonsai often fall outside of the conventional styles in shape You can support the Clark Bonsai Collection
and foliage. This bonsai is especially notable for its and its many world class bonsai such as this
elaborate, elegant deadwood contours and tenuous one currently on exhibit in the bonsai garden
connection to the earth. by becoming a sponsor. Please visit
Donor: Linda Amimoto www.gsbfclarkbonsaicollection.org/adopt-a-
tree.html to find out about the benefits of
Sponsor: Linda Jacobsen becoming a bonsai sponsor.
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Clark Bonsai Collection February-April, 2021
Restoration — Resurrection — Renewal
A Bonsai Exhibition
by Bob Hilvers
The theme of the next Clark Bonsai Collection Yet there is more to understand about how bonsai
Exhibition, to run from April 10 to July 17, is come to be and that starts with a plant. Among the
Restoration – Resurrection – Renewal. Featured in many sources for plant material used in the creation
this newest exhibition are bonsai that have been of bonsai: nursery stock from seed or cutting and
restored to their original aesthetic concept after the ubiquitous Yamadori, native plants harvested
languishing in obscurity; bonsai that have been from the wild. There is another source that is rarely
resurrected from near oblivion due to neglect by discussed: many bonsai are created, or perhaps more
previous owners or ravaged by time, insects and accurately re-created, from other bonsai. They are
mother nature; and bonsai that have been given a recycled.
new lease on life as renewed examples of the art.
Longtime supporters of the Clark Bonsai Collection
and new visitors alike will find delight and
fascination with this exhibition as many of the bonsai Olive Bonsai
have never been displayed before. from
Traditional to
Contemporary
While the Clark Bonsai Collection functions as a
museum and original works of art are respected and
maintained as the artist envisioned, many times, we
Stages of Renewal in a Monterey Pine receive donations of bonsai that have been
neglected so that their original aesthetic value has
been lost and they must be restored. Some are
Many people are curious about how a bonsai gets to degraded so badly that their aesthetic value is
be a bonsai, wondering - where do bonsai come destroyed. In rare cases, like the mythical phoenix,
from? Are they conjured out of thin air by Zen it is possible to resurrect these bonsai and give them
mystics? Do they grow from “bonsai seeds” into the new life. Often, we receive bonsai that are
engaging forms of miniature trees we so enjoy? Or, mediocre in design and have no special provenance
seemingly even more amazing to many of our to preserve, yet hold the potential to become fine
visitors, are these beautiful and mesmerizing images examples of the bonsai art. These are renewed by
of trees intentionally created by the hand of an restyling them into more exciting and contemporary
artist the same way as other art is? The latter, of designs.
course, is how bonsai come to be and is no less
intriguing than the other explanations of how bonsai
are created. Each bonsai has a story to tell, and the
California
storyteller is the artist who created it.
Juniper
taken from
static to
dynamic
We invite you to visit the Three R Exhibition.
Discover for yourself how to interpret the stories of
bonsai and the artists who created them and their
journeys of restoration, resurrection and renewal.
Pear Resurrected from near death to bearing fruit
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Clark Bonsai Collection February-April, 2021
THE IRON MEN AND WOMEN OF THE CBCS:
A Tribute to Our Volunteers
As we look back over the past year of Covid-19 As Treasurer, Sally comes to the garden every Sunday to
closures, restrictions and adaptations and begin to look pick up the weekend income and not only maintains the
forward to increasing stages of reopening and an eventual financial records, but serves as cashier for events. Linda
return to something approaching normalcy, we wish to Jacobsen is also a Collection Committee member, the
acknowledge all of the volunteers who continued to work Volunteer and Education Coordinator, Administrative
through the threat of Covid, strict safety protocols, Assistant, handling correspondence and bonsai record
uncomfortable masks, the cold of winter and the heat, smoke keeping, and the newsletter editor. Linda is the CBC’s only
and ash of summer to maintain the health and beauty of the five gold star docent, volunteering nearly every weekend,
bonsai and the garden. Once we reopened in September, our sometimes both days, over the past five years.
docents who enjoy greeting and informing our visitors about Due to Covid, we have been working with a
the fascinating art of bonsai, found themselves welcoming diminished number of docents because a number of our
hundreds each shift, and for the first time having to also set volunteers were at high risk for Covid or had family
up displays and act as sales reps for our pop up gift shop. members who were. Since September, a stalwart few,
Our volunteers have always been the life’s blood of the along with the others previously mentioned, have greeted
operation, but this has been more true this year than any record-breaking numbers of visitors and taken in an equally
other. Truly, as Bob Hilvers has referred to them, our impressive amount of income from bonsai garden sales:
volunteers are “the iron men and women of the CBCS.” In Dwayne Berrett, David Brown, Tessa Cavalletto, Patricia
our newsletter over the past year, you have seen many Hoffman, Kelly Long, Pat Smith, Judy Statler, Kathe
pictures of our volunteers at work, but we wish to give praise Weltchek, and Ron Yamabe. Post vaccination, some
once more to all of those who kept us going through a docents have returned to volunteering this April: Jodie
uniquely difficult time. Asher, Alex Jenkins and Charlene Wylie. As a further sign
First and foremost is the Curatorial team: primarily of the changing situation, we have welcomed four new
responsible for maintaining the bonsai, they come most every volunteers you will be meeting in future newsletters:
Wednesday and Friday. often pitching in on other important Lorena Porqueras, Carolyn Nolan, Judith Swick and Rais
jobs, such as helping to maintain the landscaping, making Vohra.
structural repairs and even construction. They also do some During the summer when we turned our attention to
of the maintenance of the display area when that is needed. grooming and reviving the bonsai garden landscaping prior
Since the opening of the pop up gift shop which has filled our to our anticipated reopening, Judy Shehadey, Shinzen
coffers even fuller than the events we used to have pre- Landscape Committee member, and docents Shannon
Covid, the team has worked every week to create the bonsai Escobedo and Alex Jenkins came to work in the heat
that will be sold over the weekend. Many also serve on the pruning, weeding and raking.
Collection Committee responsible for the decision making There are volunteers who have applied their artistic
and administration of the operation. Kudos go to: Dwayne talent to helping the CBCS, J Schirmacher has served as
Berrett, Jack Green, Mike Saul, Pat Smith, David Soho, our webmaster and photographer/videographer. While we
Darren Thomas, Ying Wang, Bob Wright , and John Wright. were closed, we tried to develop virtual means of reaching
Bob Hilvers, our fearless leader, was co-founder of the out to our constituents and other interested parties. J has
Collection and has served as curator for twenty years dating been working with Bob Hilvers to create videos for the
back to the creation of the Collection at the Clark Center. CBCS You tube channel and audio and video files for the
With the invaluable help of the curatorial team and our visiting QR codes we added to the bonsai garden when we
bonsai masters, he has taken the first modest 100 bonsai and reopened. Karen Tsuruda has become something of an
developed it into a world class collection of 140. Bob is an artist-in-residence helping our sales bottom line by doing all
excellent bonsai artist in his own right and an engaging of the line drawings for the CBCS Coloring Book, and
teacher and story teller. He serves on the GSBF and Shinzen creating hand crafted and hand painted greeting cards.
Boards and works tirelessly to insure the sustainability of all She also created a number of small bonsai-inspired
three organizations. He has even become the star of our You creations with tiny origami cranes for leaves. Thanks also
Tube channel videos. go to photographer Rich Berrett who contributed his
As you can see, almost all of our volunteers turn their beautiful garden scene cards to our artistic card display.
hands to many different jobs. This is especially true of the As you can see, the Clark Bonsai Collection
following multi-taskers: In addition to being a docent for both Volunteer Family is an impressive team. Even this rather
Shinzen and the CBCS, Sally Ramage is a vital member of lengthy account does not fully capture the degree and
the Collection Committee who also serves on the Strategic quality of their many contributions.
Planning Committee dedicated to the long term sustainability
of the CBCS.and its partnership with Shinzen.
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