New England Bonsai Gardens Spring Bonsai Festival May 9th and 10th

[october]

HA HAH AH HAH HAAAAAAAAAAA

I can se it now.......The Italian artists get back to Italy and they ask.....How was America? They reply...Ok, but I was attacked by this really large, beefy looking carnivorous frog...

 

[Dav4]

Well, I have already been and come back (the folks were supposed to watch the kids but couldn't, leading to a much abbreviated visit). I met Mario Komsta, and we discussed junipers and shari at some length, and I was able to watch him give a private tutorial to someone else for a bit...very talented. Of course, I came away with several great trees from the sales table...a nice chuhin sized Korean hornbeam informal in need of a re-pot, as well as two shohin satsuki azeleas with huge potential (eat your heart out, Rob). John Romano, the resident teacher at NEBG, was nice enough to point them out after I overlooked them, and then helped me re-pot them. I wish I could have stayed all day, but such is life. Thanks again, John, and good luck with your surgery later this month.

Dave

 

[HotAction]

Rob, don't you know your sposed da put da beer can next to da man-eating frog, Can't tell how ginormous he is.

-Dave

 

[TimD]

There WAS a can.......he ate it.

Oh man! Dave Dave Dave. I tell ya they sell some pretty good chain at the local hardware store. Just chain em up with a couple boxes of cereal next to em and they will be fine for hours.

Well I just got back and I tell ya I was starving the whole way down. Practically ran straight for the food table when I got there and I don't think I've ever been so disapointed in my entire life. ...All the bagels were gone. Not a single one left. I almost walked out right there but John convinced me to stay.

I took a buncha pics and I'll post those tomorrow. Breathtaking. Mario is amazing. Simply amazing.

 

[Dav4]

There WAS a can.......he ate it.

Oh man! Dave Dave Dave. I tell ya they sell some pretty good chain at the local hardware store. Just chain em up with a couple boxes of cereal next to em and they will be fine for hours.

Well I just got back and I tell ya I was starving the whole way down. Practically ran straight for the food table when I got there and I don't think I've ever been so disapointed in my entire life. ...All the bagels were gone. Not a single one left. I almost walked out right there but John convinced me to stay.

I took a buncha pics and I'll post those tomorrow. Breathtaking. Mario is amazing. Simply amazing.

Look, they are growing kids and I needed to keep them occupied...the food table seemed like a better idea then your hardware chain/cereal scenario(which is illegal in Mass....not sure about Maine). Besides, I spent enough money to buy a few more bags of bagels, trust me.

Dave

 

[TimD]

Mario Comstah's visit to New England Bonsia Gardens was truly inspiring. I think the entire group left yesterday with plans to vigorously attack their trees at home.

It started with a detailed instruction on the proper way to display Shohin Bonsai. John Romano was kind enough to supply some really great trees for the displays.

Here is Mario and some of the trees used.

 

[TimD]

Some more of the really fine trees.
I may have spent alittle to much time browsing the 40% off bench and just barely caught a couple pics before these little gems were being tucked away for their trip home.

 

[TimD]

After the discussion on Displaying Shohin we went up to Hitoshi's house to watch a slide show on growing and styling.

We we simply blown away with the pictures Mario shared with us. The transformations were incredible. I spent the entire time turning to Rob and he to me saying how the heck did he (Mario) get that out of what he started with.

We all try to learn the skill of seeing the tree within the tree. Imagining different styles we could use for a certain tree. Ways in which we can pull the full potential out but Mario just blew us away. He was kind enough to go back and forth and still we couldn't see the final tree out of the before pic.
Amazing.
Luckily he also had some pics of trees that were beautifully styled but yes we could clearly see the tree within . I think several of us would have gone home and trashed our trees if not for this lol.

I think Mario is planning a few articles for some of the Bonsai magazines so hopefully we can see some quality shots since mine are far from professional. I did manage a few pics that came out okay during the slide show.

 

[TimD]

A few more trees.

 

[TimD]

A couple random trees. I spent so much time just admiring the slide show I missed so many great pics.

 

[october]

Hello Tim,

Having also seen the slide show that Mario presented..The pics do not even scratch the surface of the talent of this artist...I will say that I have been in bonsai for almost 10 years and I was absolutely floored by his work. I believe that Mario is probably one of the best bonsai artists in the world right now...Having started training with Kimura then another Master, whose name I cannot recall, he has become a master in his own right. You cannot dispute this fact since he has already exhibited a tree in the kokufu-ten and he is only 33 years old...

Rob

 

[october]

p.s.....lol.....regarding the frog. I do not have something that would show the size for this frog... However, here is a pic of the other male that I have with a tape measure near him. They are both around the same size though..Also, they both have more growing to do..

Rob

 

[TimD]

I say we chain him to the food table next show =-). There were a couple little meaty moving things hanging out there from what I gathered.

The 2nd Master he studied and spent more time with was Nobuichi Urushibata. 2003 - 2008.