pbsnewsletter

May Meeting

This May Ted Matson returns as our featured artist. Ted's last visit was in May of 2005, so his return is long overdue. Ted is widely respected in the bonsai world as a gifted teacher and artist.
Ted began studying bonsai in 1979 in San Francisco, where he learned the basics under John Boyce. He moved to Los Angeles in 1980, where he became involved in a number of clubs and began a serious pursuit of the art, taking class from leading masters in Southern California, including Ben Suzuki, Shig and Roy Nagatoshi, Melba Tucker, Warren Hill and John Naka.
Ted started offering classes at his home in Pasadena in 1988. An in-demand demonstrator, Ted has conducted numerous programs (as well as workshops) at several bonsai conventions and conferences, and has been appearing more as a headliner/ featured artist for major bonsai events.
Although Ted is a lover of shohin bonsai, his collection includes trees of all sizes, styles and a range of species. They are known for their proportion, refinement and detail. Perhaps most notable of his bonsai is a 7-tree Foemina juniper grove on a granite slab that was selected for photographic display in the 1999 JAL World Bonsai Contest. The tree was featured in an article in the Bonsai Shunju, the official publication of the Nippon Bonsai Association.
Ted says one of his strengths is having a good eye for selecting material. A primary goal in his lectures and demonstrations is to help others improve their own abilities to recognize potential bonsai stock. And, he works to help people understand how to realize that potential through creative design and proper styling techniques. When not doing bonsai, Ted is a freelance writer.

Guest Speaker: Ted Matson -Lecture/Demo
Date: Friday, May 17
Location: Greater Plymouth Community Center
Time: 7 pm

PS - Double your raffle chances - display a bonsai!
Demo material will be raffled.

April Meeting

We had a great turnout for our BYO workshop. Lots of trees of all levels of development, lots of ideas, and lots of assistance with pruning and wiring.

A special guest for the workshop was our "honorary member". Ofer Grunwald, visiting from Israel, where he is curator of the bonsai collection at the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens. He plans on returning in August to contine refining his juniper shown above.

MidAtlantic Festival

Attendance at this year's MidAtlantic Bonsai Festival was near a record high, especially for PBS members. The lecture/demonstrations given by the three featured artists, Minoru Akiyama, Peter Warren, and Ryan Neal, were outstanding, with great styling ideas and lots of useful information.
The bonsai exhibits were both very well done, and special congratulations go to Karen Harkaway who garnered two of the four awards for her juniper. Our other two members who exhibited, Patrick McCole and Allen Slye, while not winning awards, still presented quality trees. Thanks to all three for exhibiting their bonsai - PBS was well represented.
Shoppers kept the vendors busy all weekend because there were lots of great selections of merchandise.
The ikebana display in the lobby was a new addition for this year's Festival, and was very well received.
Both the silent auctions and the live banquet auction went very well, with lots of bidding action.
PBS had a lot of capable help with both auctions, and special thanks go to those people who made things go so smoothly - Mike Wiggington and Patrick McCole as runners and spotters, Linda Brant, Karen Harkaway, and John Berna who did a great job keeping records of the transactions.
No auction can be a success without great auctioneers, and Jim Doyle and Jim Gillespie kept things moving with skill and humor.
Many thanks to all who made the weekend a success!!

President's Notes

PBS was well represented at MidAtlantic this year. I hope that all PBS attendees learned a lot and had a good time. The demos were very informative and the exhibits were great. The professional exhibit (chaired by our own Jim Gillespie) was outstanding. Thank you to all who exhibited bonsai, helped out in the exhibit rooms, and helped at the auction. The two "Jims (Gillespie and Doyle) did a great job with the auctioneering. The auctions, both silent and live, were very successful.
The April 26th BYOB workshop was also well attended. Many members worked on trees with the help of some of more experienced members and there was some nice material being developed. Our honorary member from Israel, Ofer Grunwuld, was present, working on a juniper that he purchased. Several members watched as he prepared the juniper with raffia and did an initial wiring. He will be back in August to attend his sister's wedding and plans on doing further work on the tree at that time. The tree is living at the Brant's until Ofer's return.
As details of Ted's Matson's May visit were worked out, it became clear that PBS would have Ted for the whole day on May 17. At the meeting I took an informal poll as to interest in an afternoon workshop. Enough members signed up to pay for the workshop, so it will be held in the afternoon. Ted will demo at the meeting that evening. He is an experienced bonsai artist and an excellent teacher, so I hope that many of you come out to see him.
Congrats to Karen Harkaway who won two awards at MidAtlantic this year. Her bonsai certainly reflect her dedication and study.

Linda

Future Meetings

June 21 - Robert Mahler -Lecture/Demo
August 18 - Annual Picnic & Auction - Rosade Bonsai Studio

Dues Reminder

It’s that time of the year again! Our membership year ends with the last day of May. If your address label has an 12/13 on it, please send your dues check to our treasurer, David Spirt, as soon as possible, or rejoin at the May meeting. Labels displaying an 13/14 indicate dues are paid for the 2013-14 year. If you receive your newsletter via email, a notice will be sent. Dues remain at $30.00. Please clip the attached form, fill out, and return. The mailing address is:

The Pennsylvania Bonsai Society
Box 801
Spring House, PA 19477

Directions to the Greater Plymouth Community Center

From Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-276)-Take Exit 333 (Norristown - old exit 25). At the end of the ramp, turn left onto Plymouth Road. At the light, turn right onto Germantown Pike West. Continue approximately one (1) mile, through five (5) traffic lights. At the sixth light, turn right onto Jolly Road. The Community Center is on the right at 2910 Jolly Road.
From Blue Route (I-476)-Take exit for Germantown Pike West (Exit 20). Continue on Germantown Pike west for approximately one (1) mile, through six (6) traffic lights. At the seventh light ti right onto Jolly Road. The Community Center is on the right at 2910 Jolly Road.
From Route 202-Follow Route 202 to Germantown Pike. Travel EAST on Germantown Pike, through five (5) traffic lights. At the next traffic light, approximately half a mile, turn left on Jolly Road.