Page 46 - BSAM 2018 Q1

Top; 3rd winner of the category Landscape Stones, titled “Help me to tackle the climb”, origin: Liguria, Italy, collector: Luciana Queirolo
Top right; 1st winner of the category Stones to Admire, titled “L’urlo del Vento”, origin: unknown, collection Sergio Bassi
Middle left; 1st winner of the category Object Stones: a bird- shaped stone (pelican), origin: Italia, collector: Renzo Perfumo
Bottom left; 3rd winner
of the category Biseki, a Chrysanthemum stone from Japan, titled “I colori profumano l’autunno,” collection Ettore Gardini
Bottom right; 1st winner of the category Biseki/surface pattern stones, titled “La magia della pietra insolita,” origin: Tuscany, Italy, collector: Giuseppe De Vita
44 | BCI | January/February/March 2018
the annual congress. is year’s annual XX° Congres- so Nazionale was hosted by “Bonsai Do Groane” and “Scuola Suiseki Do Groane” and supported by Unione Bonsaisti Italiani (UBI) as well as Collegio Nazionale Istruttori (IBS). It was held on 7 and 8 October 2017 at Palazzo Arese Borromeo in Cesano Maderno (MB), a small town not too far from Milano, in northern Italy.
is year, I was honoured to be invited as a guest, as Giudice Unico or Single Judge, and gave a power point presentation about stone exhibitions in China and Ja- pan in 2015 – 2017, as well as, a critique of stones in exhibit.
In exhibiting their stones, AIAS members are mostly following the Japanese Suiseki practice, just like other
European countries. e display space of 1.80 m wide and 90 cm deep was given to each exhibitor who could decide to exhibit only one big or two smaller suiseki or a shelf. e background was high enough to hang scrolls. As always, landscape scenic stones (mountain stones) predominated (29 of 61 single suiseki as well as 7 multi stand with two or three stones). e name of the owners of the Suiseki were added to the label only a er the judging. Arrangements were enhanced with complimentary items, for example accent plants, art objects and/or scrolls (kakemono). Generally, har- mony between display items and empty space are most