Page 71 - BSAM 2016 Q3

Dreams of Perfect Trees; Jim Smith’s Bonsai Legacy By Tom Kehoe and Belinda Kehoe, USA
e beginning was sometime in the early 1950s. James J. Smith, a mason, was paging through the back of one of his wife’s magazines, perhaps Good House- keeping. He could never remember. A small ad struck his eye: Learn the Secrets of the Ancient Art of Bonsai. For reasons he could never explain, even to himself, he decided to send in his $10—an exorbitant sum in those days. What he got was a packet of seeds and a lit- tle booklet. e seeds never became bonsai, but a life- long obsession had taken root—one that would grow and branch out like the vast banyan trees he loved.
James “Jim” Smith, who may have been America’s greatest living bonsai master, died peacefully in his sleep at Consulate Health Care facility in Vero Beach on June 29, 2016.
He leaves behind a legacy of a life devoted to teaching the art of growing miniature trees in pots. Although he was hardly a household name in the United States, Smith’s reputation extended around the world—to communities of artists in lands as far ung as India and Indonesia.
“Having traveled to all the continents judging, teaching or demonstrating at bonsai events, I've wit- nessed the global proportions of Jim Smith's in u- ence,” said Rob Kempinski of Melbourne, Florida, a former president of Bonsai Clubs International, an in- ternational association with many bonsai artists. “De- spite his international impact, he remained grounded in his humble approach, focusing on creating great bonsai art.”
Kempinski said that he has seen trees styled by Smith in Germany, Canada, South America, India, Japan, China and many more countries. “His pass- ing leaves us sorry, but the sadness is tempered by the joy we had in knowing him, learning from him and
sharing his bonsai art. But in a way, his kind spirit lives on in the trees he shaped.”
When David DeGroot helped found the Pacific Rim Collection (now the Paci c Bonsai Museum) in Washington state, Jim Smith was one of the artists they sought out for a tree.
“Jim Smith was an outstanding bonsai artist who was creating international quality bonsai when most of the rest of us in the bonsai community were experiment- ing with gallon-size nursery plants,” said DeGroot, the curator emeritus of the Paci c Bonsai Museum. “His encyclopedic knowledge of tropical plants and his vast hands-on experience in growing and developing them were unequalled in the U.S. His artistry lives on at the Paci c Bonsai Museum, Heathcote Botanical Gardens, and many other public and private collections. His hu- manity lives on in our hearts.”
Today, there are bonsai societies in every state in the union, and virtually every country in the world, but when Smith began, few Americans had ever seen —or heard of—bonsai. Although he was largely self- taught, he studied with some of the greatest masters in America, including Yuji Yoshimura, John Naka and Tosh Saburamura.
Most of his personal collection—valued at upwards of $500,000—is now on display as the James J. Smith Bonsai Gallery at Heathcote Botanical Garden in Ft. Pierce, Florida. It is the largest public collection of tropical bonsai in the United States.
His work has been featured in numerous books and collections around the world, including the Smithson- ian’s National Arboretum. He was a world-recognized expert on the use of cus and other tropical species for bonsai, and a founder of both the Treasure Coast Bonsai Society and Bonsai Society of Brevard.
Top left; Smith’s huge F. Salicifolia banyan was the logo tree for the 2008 Florida state bonsai convention. The convention was dedicated to Smith’s contributions to bonsai.
Top right; This enormous Portulacaria Afra stand four feet tall. It’s the logo tree for the James J. Smith Bonsai Gallery, and greet visitors as they enter.
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