Page 3 - BSAM 2016 Q2

President’s Message
My rst task as BCI President was to open three BCI Coop- eration Centers in Guangzhou, Guiyang and Liuzhou, in China, in January. ese are the rst of many planned for
China and hopefully other countries in the future. e BCI China Cooperation Centers are being established throughout China, to promote BCI China, recruit members and promote bonsai and BCI to the Chinese public. I found it very humbling to be representing BCI in promoting bonsai to the Chinese people. Later this year we will open more Cooperation Centers in China. See page 61 for pho- tos and more details on this wonderful program that will expand the BCI family.
I have just returned from the BCI Convention in Manila, Philip- pines and the BCI Annual General Meeting. e bonsai and stone display was held in Ayala Triangle Gardens, a private park in Makati City, Manila. Setting up had to be conducted a er business hours so the Philippine group had to work between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am. Lindsay and I accompanied them on the rst set up night. We arrived around 10 pm and shortly a er, the lighting in the garden was turned o ! e Philippine team of workers, laboured for three nights setting up the display in near darkness! e results were great as were the demonstrations, presentations and hospitality. You will see photos and reports in this edition.
e BCI board had a very productive meeting. We agreed to set up a fund speci cally for payment of good quality techniques and how- to articles for the BCI Magazine. ese articles will also be available in PDF format for members and clubs via the BCI website, member area. is will be implemented in the near future. BCI will fund the program initially but will rely on donations and fundraising.
BCI editor Joe Grande is exploring the concept of collaborating with a Guest Editor to create thematic issues of Bonsai & Stone Ap- preciation magazine. e Guest Editor will contribute the leading article and work with the BCI team to support and expand on the theme of the feature article with additional content. For example, in Australia, where yamadori, trees from the wild, are scarce to non- existent because of conservation laws, we are very keen on what the Japanese call the Tanuki bonsai style. BCI member Dan Robinson coined the phrase “Phoenix Gra ” to describe the process of physi- cally attaching a young, supple tree to ancient and gnarly deadwood. e combined e ect can be quite striking and natural if done right. A magazine edition on the subject of the Tanuki style would allow us to learn more about this controversial style.
What subjects are you and your club interested in and do you have any recommendations for people to serve as Guest Editors?
Joe is also working on some Videos to help members and clubs navigate the website and instructions on how to use some of the website features such as the Events Calendar or the online BCI maga- zine. Watch for e-mail notices when these are available to members.
Bonnie Moore, our IT expert, is continuing the process of safe- guarding our website with security improvements and better naviga- tion. She has implemented new e-mail so ware that will improve our communications with our members. BCI mass e-mails to members are now certi ed, which means e-mail servers everywhere will trust e-mails from info@bonsai-bci.com and will not put them into your Spam or Junk folder. To receive updates and notices by e-mail, please be sure BCI has your e-mail address. You can log in and edit this on your pro le page, or you can contact Larry Stephan at the BCI O ce for assistance.
We, at BCI, are striving to improve our members services. Education is the buzz word for 2016.
Forty articles by Lew Buller have recently been added to the BCI resource area of the website. ese come under the heading of Lew’s Lessons. Lew is a long-time supporter of BCI and we appreciate his hard work and support. You will nd lots of other valuable informa- tion in the resource area of the BCI Website including articles on Judging Bonsai by Kath and Malcolm Hughes. If you have not visited the website recently please check out the new content.
We have Conventions now planned for November 2017 in Taiwan, information is this issue. In September 2018, the Convention is in Mulhouse, France. Mulhouse is shaping up to be a unique event and one of the highlights will be a display of Gudrun and Willi Benz’s Viewing Stone Collection. We are then back to China in September, 2019. e 2019 event will be a two-part convention starting in a mountainous area near Guiyang, Guizhou province, then ying to Alashan in Inner Mongolia for a stone exhibition. e local gov- ernments are sponsoring the events so we expect costs to be very reasonable.
BCI tours are very popular and we are looking at conducting more tours in conjunction with major bonsai events around the world. ese will be customized especially for BCI members, visiting bonsai and stone exhibitions, collections and sightseeing.
Three new Board Members have joined the BCI team: Chen Chang, a BCI life member and Chair of the BCI China Group; Sujata Bhat, valued supporter and contributor from India; and Les Dowdell from Canada. Les is not actually new to the BCI Board, he served on the board for 2000-2014, took a two-year break and is now back.
We, at BCI, are striving to improve our member services. Education is the buzz word for 2016. If you have something to contribute to help with us with this objective, either for the website or magazine, please send to Joe Grande BCI Editor editor@bonsai- bci.com or contact me direct, president@bonsai-bci.com.
Cheers from Down Under, Glenis Bebb
April/May/June 2016 | BCI | 1