Page 3 - Demo

President’s Message
Our 2014 convention, Sunrise on Australian Bonsai, in the Gold Coast, Australia will long be remembered as one if the finest conven- tion ever held thanks to the great organizational skills and efforts of Lindsay and BCI Vice President, Glenis Bebb. Over 400 people from many countries around the world converged on the east coast of Australia for three days of fun, wonderful exhibits of trees and stones, extraordinary demonstrations, lectures, and the opportunity for people to meet and interact with others who share an interest in bonsai and stone ap- preciation. It is gratifying to know that these art forms are alive and well down under. Actually, they are thriv- ing as they develop more of their bonsai from locally grown materials and search the far reaches of Austra- lia for new and fascinating stones. Congratulations to everyone in Australia who helped to make this a great event.
During the convention, I had the pleasure to award three BCI Awards of Excellence to three bonsai art- ists and to three stone collectors for their outstanding pieces. Details of these awards are given in the article about our convention. BCI awarded Pauline Muth with the Distinguished Service Award for serving in different capacities on the board, including most re- cently as treasurer, and for her life-long commitment to the promotion of bonsai. Congratulations Pauline!
A major portion of this issue will be devoted to re- porting on the activities of our Gold Coast conven- tion. Perhaps, this will stimulate you to attend our annual meeting next year in Guangzhou, China. Also in this issue, you can learn about bamboo bonsai, a subject that few of us know about or have ever read information on how to make a bonsai from a bam- boo species. BCI is growing literally and figuratively. Beginning with this issue, Bonsai and Stone Appre- ciation magazine will be expanding the number of pages in our quarterly magazine as quality materials become available. The board of directors voted for this improvement as one of the ways we can provide better services to our members.
The cost of traveling long distances to attend our convention has been steadily rising and is now a se- rious obstacle for many of our members who would like to attend. People new to bonsai may be hesitant to invest funds in a major trip not knowing what to ex- pect from our conventions. As a result, the BCI Board of Directors voted unanimously to experiment with regional meetings in addition to our major annual convention in 2016. Two years from now, our conven- tion will be held in September in Vilnius, Lithuania. This is a beautiful older city in the Baltic region of
Over 400 people from many countries around the world converged on the East coast of Australia for three days of fun, wonderful exhibits of trees and stones, extraordinary demonstrations, lectures, and the opportunity for people to meet and interact with others who share an interest in bonsai and stone appreciation.
northwestern Europe. Plans are already underway to make this another fabulous convention. But, we know from prior experience that few people will travel from Asia to attend. Thus, we will have a regional BCI meet- ing early in 2016 in the Philippines in collaboration with the Philippines Bonsai Society. Furthermore, we will have another regional meeting in mid-December in India. Our goal is to greatly expand our outreach program and bring bonsai and stone appreciation to much larger groups of people than we can achieve with just a single once-a-year meeting. This will be an interesting experiment and I hope that the majority of our board members can attend at least one of these meetings.
Each member of the board of directors serve for a two-year term. These terms are staggered so each year some members completed their service to BCI and leave the board, while new members join our board. The members who completed their term and are leaving the board have made significant contributions to BCI and the promotion of bonsai worldwide. I want to thank and acknowledge the efforts of Chiara Padrini, Les Dowdell, Joan Greenway, and Pauline Muth. At the same time, we welcome the addition of Vic Ceballos from the Philippines and Gudrun Benz from Germany to the board of directors.
Finally, we are working to provide our members with better services. Our next major improvement will be a completely revised web site, www.bonsai-bci. com. Watch for this late this year. The new site will be easier to use and contain more useful information.
Tom Elias, President BCI
October/November/December 2014 | BCI | 1