The Curator’s Journal by Bonsai Curator Arthur Joura offers the ultimate insider’s view of bonsai at The North Carolina Arboretum. Regular entries chronicle growing an art and growing an enterprise. Some journal entries will be long and others more brief; some will be mostly words and others mostly pictures; some will be close-up studies of detail and others will step back to take in the wider scene.
The path will not be linear, but all the entries will be steps on a journey. You’re invited to come along.
Preview the latest entries and resources offered below. With Joura as a knowledgeable guide, you can forgo the map and travel in time to meet remarkable trees, each with stories and life lessons worth sharing.
REcent Journal Entries
Three Asian species — Japanese maple (Acer palmatum), trident maple (Acer buergerianum) and Amur maple (Acer ginnala) — are all considered excellent for bonsai use. Why not red maple, which is abundantly available in Western North Carolina? The answers I heard from bonsai people I asked were so emphatically negative I became leery of even asking.
The experience is suggestive, not limited by any need for what the viewer is looking at to be literally "old." The plants are shaped to look like they are old, to mimic the effects of age, done in a way convincing enough that the illusion prompts a response similar to what people would experience if they were in the presence of full-sized old trees of great character. Bonsai art, like all other art, works on our minds at the crossroads of memory and imagination.
The incredible character of these naturally miniaturized specimens lies somewhere at the heart of the bonsai impulse. Nature has always produced such trees in environmental extremes all over the world. Humans have always found something in the nature of these trees that speaks to us, compelling us to a more philosophic state of mind. They inspire us.
Recommended viewing
From a simple seed grows a mighty tree — and a great new video by Ben Kirkland, content creator of the popular YouTube channel Appalachian Bonsai. He documents Arthur Joura in the 2019 styling demonstration that was the making of The American Elm.
Life, death, rebirth. Bonsai curator Arthur Joura undertakes an unusual and challenging redesign of an old juniper bonsai from the Arboretum's collection. The work was recorded live and edited by Visiting Artist Ben Kirkland, creator of the YouTube channel Appalachian Bonsai.
In Creating a Tray Landscape, Arboretum Bonsai Curator Arthur Joura creates a new planting featuring a lone weathered hornbeam and woody shrubs assembled with sculptural rocks on a natural stone slab. It makes for a scene evocative of the craggy Southern Appalachian highlands.
An iconic tray landscape — The River of Dreams — is de-constructed and its individual elements are reassembled to create a new composition, which is then replanted into a new and larger American-made container.
Events & Classes
2024
Although it has its roots in ancient Asian traditions, the living art of bonsai now enjoys enthusiasts throughout much of the world. Taught by Rebecca Ayres, who assists the curator with the Arboretum’s collection, this class covers basic concepts and hands-on skill building for novices to begin growing and shaping their own miniature trees.
MAY 11-12, 2024
The return of the bonsai and landscapes to the display shelves in the garden each spring is always cause for celebration! The date is chosen in recognition of World Bonsai Day, a worldwide celebration honoring the art of bonsai as an expression of peace and harmony in nature. Members of the Blue Ridge Bonsai Society will be on hand to demonstrate techniques and answer questions.
TUESDAY, MAY 21, 5:30 - 7 PM
Join this after-hours tour of the garden with Bonsai Curator Arthur Joura for a personal and informative overview of the art of bonsai and the Arboretum's own creative approach to it. Foliage is at its freshest at this time of year, and flowers will likely be blooming in the garden landscape and on select bonsai.
FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1 - 5 PM
Join Ethnobiologist Marc Williams on a plant walk around the Arboretum gardens and forest during the start of the most challenging time to botanize during the year. Once the flowers, fruits and leaves are mostly gone, we learn to distinguish more subtle clues to determine the identification of many plants.
A SMALL Sampling OF Bonsai IN THE Arboretum’s COLLECTION
Captions may not be supported when viewing on a mobile device. Find a list of the bonsai currently on display here.
The little red maple trees in the tray landscapes grew and presented a set of options with the multitude of parts they produced. In shaping them I relied entirely on the cut-and-grow method, using no training wire. With a pair of scissors I went about imagining life stories for the landscape trees, making choices as to what parts were lost and what path the canopy branches followed in their unending quest for sunlight.