Bonsai Exhibit In WNC Quite Appropriate
A bonsai exhibit at an arboretum in Western North Carolina, where there’s no sizable Japanese community or other apparent connection to Asian culture, appears a bit out of place at first.
But some things seem destined to be. There’s something a bit uncanny about the serendipity that brought together all the elements needed to create a unique garden at the North Carolina Arboretum that melds an ancient Japanese art form into the Appalachian mountain culture and landscape.
And it is a melding. There are no graceful teahouses or bamboo fences in this garden. The pavilion has the solid ruggedness of a mountain cabin. And a number of the bonsai (which literally means “a plant in a tray or a tree in a pot”) were made with plants native to Western North Carolina and designed to evoke the landscapes of the region.
The circumstances that culminated in $1.8 million Bonsai Exhibition Garden began in the early 1990s with the arrival of a young artist who wanted to learn about horticulture. His name was Arthur Joura. Not long after Joura’s arrival, a member of the staff made a phone call to make sure the arboretum’s program for kids was aligned with the state school curriculum and by chance ended up talking to a woman who said her parents were looking for a place to donate their bonsai collection.
The woman was the daughter of George and Cora Staples of Butner. Mrs. Staples was a sophisticated collector of bonsai and the collection was valuable, but arboretum Executive Director George Briggs says he wasn’t quite sure how a bonsai collection would fit into an arboretum devoted to Southern Appalachian flora.
He took the matter up with his board of directors, which at the time happened to include Dr. John L. Creech, a former director of the National Arboretum and by chance, the man responsible for its internationally acclaimed collection of bonsai and penjing. Penjing is the Chinese art of creating miniature landscapes in a container that was the precursor of the Japanese art of bonsai. Dr. Creech conceived the idea for the National Arboretum collection after hearing a lecture by Yuri Yoshimura in 1972. Yoshimura probably did more than any other individual to introduce the non-oriental world to the art of bonsai. Creech and Yoshimura later served as advisors to the National Bonsai Foundation, Inc., a non-profit corporation in Washington, D.C., founded in 1982 on behalf of the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum of the National Arboretum.
With Creech’s background and support, the decision was made to accept the Staples’ gift. Other considerations played a role as well, Briggs says. There seemed to be a natural connection in that there are several plant species that are unique to Japan and parts of Asia and the Southern Appalachians. And bonsai seemed to fit well with the arboretum’s mission of “cultivating connections between people and plants” because they can be grown by gardeners without much space and are intriguing to children.
Briggs chose Joura to take responsibility for the collection and began sending him to bonsai conventions and to study with bonsai masters. One of those masters was Yoshimura.
In 1957, “The Japanese Art of Miniature Trees and Landscapes” by Yuri Yoshimura and Giovanna M. Halford was published in the U.S. and Japan. It was the first really comprehensive and practical work on the subject, according to an article about Yoshimura on the Web site of the Phoenix Bonsai Society. In 2004, the 37th printing was made of the book, which some have referred to as the “Bonsai Bible in English.”
In 1997, when Joura went to study with Yoshimura at his home in upstate New York, Joura took native plants he had grown from seed with him. Yoshimura used the plants to make a bonsai for Joura, who was his last student. That bonsai, now on display at the arboretum, became Yoshimura’s last major piece of work.
Joura says Yoshimura encouraged him to find new ways to connect people with the art of bonsai. One of his own creations is titled “Appalachian Cove.” It is composed of native plants, a red maple, an American hornbeam, a Carolina rhododendron, a St. John’s wort, a rare native spirea with flowers that are not as showy as the Japanese spirea found in many yards, and native mosses and stones. The design evokes the sense of being in a mountain cove, just as a painting or a photograph would.
But, as Joura points out, this piece of art is alive.
“If you paint a landscape,” Joura says, “the painting never changes. These are constantly changing. That’s what makes them so engaging and rewarding and challenging. Because what you’re working with is alive… you develop a relationship with it…. It has an individuality of its own. It grows and you grow by working with it.”
The arboretum’s goal is to honor and respect bonsai’s Japanese roots while also exploring the ways it can be used as an expression of Southern Appalachian sensibilities.
“Art isn’t supposed to stand still,” Joura says.
Just as bonsai had its roots in the Chinese art of penjing, it may be that our Appalachian mountain culture will take the ancient art that the National Arboretum Web site calls “the pinnacle of gardening skill,” in yet another direction.
But some things seem destined to be. There’s something a bit uncanny about the serendipity that brought together all the elements needed to create a unique garden at the North Carolina Arboretum that melds an ancient Japanese art form into the Appalachian mountain culture and landscape.
And it is a melding. There are no graceful teahouses or bamboo fences in this garden. The pavilion has the solid ruggedness of a mountain cabin. And a number of the bonsai (which literally means “a plant in a tray or a tree in a pot”) were made with plants native to Western North Carolina and designed to evoke the landscapes of the region.
The circumstances that culminated in $1.8 million Bonsai Exhibition Garden began in the early 1990s with the arrival of a young artist who wanted to learn about horticulture. His name was Arthur Joura. Not long after Joura’s arrival, a member of the staff made a phone call to make sure the arboretum’s program for kids was aligned with the state school curriculum and by chance ended up talking to a woman who said her parents were looking for a place to donate their bonsai collection.
The woman was the daughter of George and Cora Staples of Butner. Mrs. Staples was a sophisticated collector of bonsai and the collection was valuable, but arboretum Executive Director George Briggs says he wasn’t quite sure how a bonsai collection would fit into an arboretum devoted to Southern Appalachian flora.
He took the matter up with his board of directors, which at the time happened to include Dr. John L. Creech, a former director of the National Arboretum and by chance, the man responsible for its internationally acclaimed collection of bonsai and penjing. Penjing is the Chinese art of creating miniature landscapes in a container that was the precursor of the Japanese art of bonsai. Dr. Creech conceived the idea for the National Arboretum collection after hearing a lecture by Yuri Yoshimura in 1972. Yoshimura probably did more than any other individual to introduce the non-oriental world to the art of bonsai. Creech and Yoshimura later served as advisors to the National Bonsai Foundation, Inc., a non-profit corporation in Washington, D.C., founded in 1982 on behalf of the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum of the National Arboretum.
With Creech’s background and support, the decision was made to accept the Staples’ gift. Other considerations played a role as well, Briggs says. There seemed to be a natural connection in that there are several plant species that are unique to Japan and parts of Asia and the Southern Appalachians. And bonsai seemed to fit well with the arboretum’s mission of “cultivating connections between people and plants” because they can be grown by gardeners without much space and are intriguing to children.
Briggs chose Joura to take responsibility for the collection and began sending him to bonsai conventions and to study with bonsai masters. One of those masters was Yoshimura.
In 1957, “The Japanese Art of Miniature Trees and Landscapes” by Yuri Yoshimura and Giovanna M. Halford was published in the U.S. and Japan. It was the first really comprehensive and practical work on the subject, according to an article about Yoshimura on the Web site of the Phoenix Bonsai Society. In 2004, the 37th printing was made of the book, which some have referred to as the “Bonsai Bible in English.”
In 1997, when Joura went to study with Yoshimura at his home in upstate New York, Joura took native plants he had grown from seed with him. Yoshimura used the plants to make a bonsai for Joura, who was his last student. That bonsai, now on display at the arboretum, became Yoshimura’s last major piece of work.
Joura says Yoshimura encouraged him to find new ways to connect people with the art of bonsai. One of his own creations is titled “Appalachian Cove.” It is composed of native plants, a red maple, an American hornbeam, a Carolina rhododendron, a St. John’s wort, a rare native spirea with flowers that are not as showy as the Japanese spirea found in many yards, and native mosses and stones. The design evokes the sense of being in a mountain cove, just as a painting or a photograph would.
But, as Joura points out, this piece of art is alive.
“If you paint a landscape,” Joura says, “the painting never changes. These are constantly changing. That’s what makes them so engaging and rewarding and challenging. Because what you’re working with is alive… you develop a relationship with it…. It has an individuality of its own. It grows and you grow by working with it.”
The arboretum’s goal is to honor and respect bonsai’s Japanese roots while also exploring the ways it can be used as an expression of Southern Appalachian sensibilities.
“Art isn’t supposed to stand still,” Joura says.
Just as bonsai had its roots in the Chinese art of penjing, it may be that our Appalachian mountain culture will take the ancient art that the National Arboretum Web site calls “the pinnacle of gardening skill,” in yet another direction.
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posted by Davor Novakovic @ Sunday, October 23, 2005
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