Huntington Highlight: Celebrating the Art of Bonsai

On Saturday and Sunday, hosted the 54th annual bonsai show of the California Bonsai Society. Miniature trees of diverse varieties and styles were displayed throughout Friends Hall and in a side courtyard, giving visitors a great opportunity to experience the many facets of this ancient, revered art form. Many Society members were on hand to answer questions and share their knowledge with visitors.

Bonsai trees have always had a special fascination for me. I love the way that their small scale draws attention to the complexity and beauty of a tree's form. Bonsai seems to me to encourage a shift in perspective, so that I see the world—and my place in it—from a different point of view. Similar to the Japanese art of suiseki, or , there is an invitation to imagine yourself as part of the scene in front of you.

“You look at it, you think that you are in nature,” said Ken Teh, a Society Member from Arcadia. “It’s very relaxing.”

Teh’s tree was a Chinese elm that he had inherited from his teacher, the late Melba Tucker—a well-known name in bonsai and suiseki circles. Tucker started the tree from one that she found growing in a sidewalk. Teh has been working with it for 25 years. In other words, bonsai is a long-term relationship.

The California Bonsai Society was founded in 1950 by legendary bonsai teacher John Naka, who passed away in 2004. Ben Oki, a leading bonsai master and the curator of The Huntington’s bonsai collection, studied under Naka. In fact, more than half the trees in The Huntington show belonged to students of Naka, according to Teh.

If you’re wondering what kinds of trees can be used for bonsai, the answer, judging from the specimens in the show, is: pretty much anything you like. California juniper is popular, but I saw many others—olive, fig, oak, Chinese elm, maple, even an orange tree. Over many years, these trees are carefully pruned to promote growth while wire is used to train trunks and branches into the desired shape.

One of my favorites was a flowering manzanita at the front of the hall. Manzanita, Society member John Van de Wouw told me, is difficult to use for bonsai because it doesn’t usually transplant well. It was a treat to see its graceful form and delicate pink buds among the rugged pines and junipers.

Van de Wouw had a black pine on display that he’s been working with for eight years. His own fascination with bonsai started at a young age, as it blended his enjoyment of gardening with Japanese culture. “[G]rowing up in Southern California, there’s such a rich Japanese heritage,” he said. He began doing bonsai in the ‘80s, and was accepted into the Society in the early ‘00s.

As enchanting as bonsai is, the painstaking process of rendering nature in miniature is not for everyone. “It takes a long time and you have to have patience,” said Van de Wouw, who told me that Ben Oki has said you have to work on a black pine for at least 50 years.

Also present at the show was Larry Ragle, who founded suiseki club California Asekei Kai, and his wife Nina. I met the Ragles in December during the ; turns out that Ragle is also the current president of the California Bonsai Society.

Nina showed me Larry’s display of sho-hin bonsai trees (sho-hin are the smallest bonsai). I marveled at the tiny details, the exquisite turns of trunks and leaves, and it occurred to me that there is just as much art in what is not seen—the patience, the discipline and the commitment that are necessary to help the tree develop into the artist’s vision for it.

“Some people don’t understand … there’s no way that this can come instantly,” Ken Teh said to me with a smile. In a day and age when speed and efficiency always seems to be of the utmost essence, the art of bonsai reminds us that there is all the time in the world to grow.