Featured Artists Included:
Boon Manakitivipart,
Although it was only a small juniper that started Boon on his journey, that tree would soon have a huge impact on his life and his future when he became fascinated with bonsai. Before long, he joined the Bonsai Society of San Francisco, the club through which he took his first beginner class in the spring of 1989. Anxious to learn as much as possible about bonsai, Boon studied with as many teachers as he could find in California. Boon’s bonsai skills advanced when he hosted bonsai master Akio Kondo, who was Kihachiro Kamiya’s first apprentice. Later, Boon worked and studied at Kihachi-En (a famous bonsai nursery in Japan) and was an apprentice to Kihachiro Kamiya, a great bonsai master with multiple national awards.
In April 2000, Boon won the Grand Prize in the Kindai Bonsai Styling Contest in Japan. He was the only non-Japanese entrant in the contest. He has since won numerous other awards and recognition for his work, both nationally and internationally. Boon returned repeatedly to Japan for prolonged periods of bonsai study until master Kamiya’s passing in January, 2004. Boon founded and became the Sensei (primary teacher) of Bay Island Bonsai, and started his business, Bonsai Boon, in 1998.
Roy Nagatoshi,
Roy was born in the US and raised in Japan where he learned bonsai from his father, Shigeru, who originally started Fuji Bonsai in 1965. Roy went on to receive a BS in Ornamental Horticulture and provided bonsai training until he took over Fuji Bonsai for his father. Roy is the Past President of the California Bonsai Society and has traveled to many countries including South Africa, Brazil, Australia, Mexico, Canada and Japan to further the art of bonsai. He provided the bonsai trees displayed in the popular “Karate Kid” series, Karate Kid III.
Jennifer Price,
Jennifer began her career in bonsai following her retirement from professional ballet, eight years ago. She has been working intensely as an apprentice to Walter Pall from Germany, since 2015 and recently with Jim Doyle from. Pennsylvania. Though currently residing in Chicago, IL, Jennifer teaches workshops and presents demonstrations of bonsai worldwide, including recently in Germany as the first female artist invited to the Generation Bonsai. Jennifer also represented the US at the 2017 4th Zhongguo Feng Penjing Exhibit in Rugao, China.
Jennifer utilizes her experience of ballet within her design of bonsai by mimicking the fluidity of dance through styling of trees. Her objectives when styling trees is to create a story for each tree depicting harmony and balance in nature. She translates beauty of nature with the four seasons into bonsai and Penjing. When asked to describe her bonsai philosophy Ms. Price replied “Bonsai is first and foremost a way for me to express the grace and power of nature with its beauty, its quiet elegance and harshness. Creating a bonsai forms a connection to a living entity, which you cannot truly control, but can listen to and learn from. Through one’s own creativity, the possibilities are almost endless.”
Hosted by: San Antonio Bonsai Society
Date: Thursday, April 28, 2022 thru Sunday, May 1, 2022
Location: Drury Plaza Hotel San Antonio, 823 North Loop 1604 East, San Antonio, TX 78232
Convention Committee:
Kevin Preston, Convention Chairman
Ryan Odegaard, Co-Convention Chairman/Registration
Vicki Auth, Secretary
Donna Dobberfuhl, Exhibit Chairwoman
Ryan Odegaard, Treasurer
Jay Nolen, Raffles Chairman
Vicki Auth, Workshop Chairwoman
David Whitaker, Vendors Chairman
Conrad Gamboa, Co-Food Chairman
Veronica Torres, Co-Food Chairwoman
Chancey Blackburn, Advertising Chairwoman