Page 58 - BSAM 2017 Q4

and Mitsuo Matsuda. Mr. Romano has been teaching and styling trees at New England Bonsai Gardens for the past 10 years. His passion is Shohin Bonsai, and specialize in Japanese Black Pines and American Larch. Currently John runs the Kaikou School of Bonsai at New England Bonsai Gardens and writes a column for International Bonsai Magazine. I asked him how important is the US National Shohin Exhibition for shohin bonsai and what were his impressions of the event? “I was very excited when I heard last winter that Louise Leister was trying to organize this event and recruited Bill Valavanis to help organize it. Shohin bonsai has been my passion for more than 20 years and I was hoping that sometime a national event could be organized. Because America (North, South, Central, Puerto Rico, etc.) is such a large geographic area, I did not know when something like this could be organized. Tey did more than a great job! It was a very important event because it showed that there is great passion for shohin bonsai here and there are many people growing very good shohin trees and creating wonderful displays... I can only expect it to get better each year.”“Te setting was quite beautiful—a very unusual place that had great architecture. I think it helped make the displays seem like in an art museum which is how we want bonsai to be. I would like to see the event advertised more to non-bonsai people in the future—maybe ofer a class for new people—but there is time for that. Te vendors were great and the classes and material was also quite good. I hope to see more people there in the future!”He went on to recall a favorite memory of the US National Shohin Exhibition, “Tere was more than one. First, of course, was seeing all the great trees and displays. It was much better than I thought it would be for the frst event like this. Second, was seeing old and new bonsai friends. Bonsai is about the trees but it is also about the people and the trees bring us together. Tirdly, and I mean this, I enjoyed sitting with you and our other Spanish friends at dinner and sharing some time together! It was fun. Tank you.”Te three-day event proved to be very joyful in a friendly environment. Tere was no better way to end this wonderful event than having a good time with bonsai, friends and a little bit of wine. Juniperus sp. - Troy Schmidt