China Revisited

CC ALIFORNIAALIFORNIA A A ISEKIISEKI K K AIAI Volume 34, Issue 8 August 2016

The stone of the month is stones from any place other than here and chances are, many of you will bring a stone from China. Let me tell you about our trip there. Twelve Aiseki Kai members flew to China in 2007 for a two week expedition. Collecting stones was our primary purpose and sightseeing was secondary. We had our own bus, a driver and Guannie, our wonderful guide. Typically, the guide’s role is to lead you to historical or important sights however, we learned quickly that Guannie also planned to take us to variety stores and outlets- silk, jewelry, art and even furniture. On day one, in Guilin, we went sightseeing and shopping but by day two, Guannie got the message. We just wanted to look for stones. After leaving Guilin, we noticed as we were driving along the Sanjiang River, that the far bank was loaded with stones. Within a mile we saw a bridge crossing the river and told the driver to stop. The only obstacle was that it was a suspension bridge made of wood slats and cable, 200 yards long and 100 feet above the water. Although it swayed with each step, eventually all 12 of us gained the courage to cross. We searched for about two hours and every-one found a keeper. Nina found a figure stone (at right), and I found a “mountain”. Three days later, on the Red River I found a third stone that at the time was a dull uniform yellow color with an interesting shape. It has been “watered” (yo seki) for many years now and has matured. (See newsletter, March 2016.) Almost every house along that river had stones for sale in their yards but none suitable as viewing stones. We traveled to a Lingbi neighborhood and visited many more stone stores. We were invited to visit a small village were Lingbi stones were for sale. What we saw were Lingbi stones being manufactured, something I don’t think we were supposed to see. There’s a lot of that going on...

~Larry Ragle

August Program Britain is littered with the remains of past lives, civilization's, and cultures, many of which remain a source of mystery and conjecture. We may never know the exact reasons why these Standing Stones and Stone Circles were erected or understand the people and their belief systems that led them to complete these massive structures. (Who doesn’t love a good mystery?) Wanda Matjas will share her photos from the Orkney Islands, Scotland and Avebury, England. We hope that you will join her on an adventure to explore these Standing Stone Giants, and Magical Stone Circles at our August 24th meeting.

Stone of the Month Phil Chang suggested “foreign stones” which we assume means a viewing stone that comes from anywhere other than the U.S.A. This gorgeous malachite from the D R Congo, Africa, was a gift from Ralph Johnson. Lucky us! It is 7”w x 6”h x 3.5”d (Happy Birthday, Ralph!)

ALERT: There are 5 Wednesdays in August. Of course, you know we meet on the 4th Wednesday. This is just a reminder. Please join us on the 24th.

You will have missed the fun if you show up on 31st.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: We welcomed a new face, Peter Wolak, a recent transplant from the Bay Area. We talked about the timing of our annual exhibit. We will wait to decide after we hear which days The Huntington will be closed (Jan 1 or 2).

The 1 inch wide inner m

argins are designed for use with a 3 hole punch.

VOLUME 34, ISSUE 8 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI

Nina asked for a volunteer to plan the next collecting trip to either the river or the desert in a few months. Richard Aguirre said he would contact Marty Hagbery and make all the arrangements. Stone of the Month: A suiban display of a stone with a cool feeling, e.g., water related. Measurements are in inches, w x h x d

PAGE 2

July Meeting Notes

Nina Ragle 9 x 1.25 x 6

Phil Chang 14 x 7 x 8

Janet Shimizu 3 x 2 x 1

Al Nelson 4 x 4 x 2

Joseph Gaytan 3.5 x 5.5 x 3

Jim Greaves 11 x 2.5 x 7.5

VOLUME 34, ISSUE 8 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI

PAGE 3

Paul Harris 5 x 3 x 4

Larry Ragle 5.5 x 3 x 4.5

Linda Gill 5 x 5 x 3

Buzz Barry 5 x 3.25 x 1.5

Joseph Gaytan 11 x 9 x 4.5

Jim Greaves 8.5 x 3 x 6.5

We are always happy to have suggestions for the stone of the month and it is particularly nice when we have full participation. This is a wonderful opportunity to share, ask questions, learn and sometimes laugh. Jim Greaves showed a stone from Korea and included the Korean practice of using diluted milk in the stone’s cavity to emphasize its water holding capacity (see below).

We should begin our exploration of tabletop displays with an attempt to clarify what is actually being referred to by ‘tabletop display’. Commonly, the term references more structured, more elaborate presentations of a bonsai and suiseki together or as the primary focus with other complementary elements in which all are arranged horizontally on a table or shelf. Over the last decade or so such displays have become frequently referred to as seki kazari (arranged display) in the West, a term that is somewhat misleading because in Japan it refers to a broader range of both informal and formal displays even encompassing toko kazari, the use of a tokonoma. [As noted in the past, the presence of ‘seki’ adds to our confusion because in this case it does not mean stone, but ‘location’ or ‘position’. Ben Nanjo’s use of the term hira-kazari for flat horizontal Japanese-style arrangements would seem to be more accurate for our specific usage (Unkon Fu, p. 36). The English term ‘Tabletop Display’ is neither very elegant nor usefully descriptive since all our displays are on the top of the larger exhibition tables; hopefully someone will eventually coin a better term.] Before finally moving on to discuss tabletop or hira-kazari displays within the context of the three AVSRC ‘thematic’ exhibits, we must diverge once again and use this issue to quickly review the one type of such display not employed: those including live plants. This is ironic in that what we often consider a more formal display of viewing stones originated with their use as complements to tabletop display of bonsai. Within the United States, awareness and subsequent interest in suiseki developed from within the bonsai community; as bonsai enthusiasts began exploring more formal arrangements for public exhibits they looked to Japan where they saw complementary plants, small objects (okimono) and suiseki being used to accompany bonsai. The Japanese terms applied to small plantings can be confusing because the terms differ with usage. When a planting is used to complement a bonsai or suiseki it is called a shitakusa however, if the same planting is shown independently or intended as the primary focus in place of a bonsai it is called a kusamono, (kusa: grass; mono: object), the latter being a term often commonly, but not quite correctly applied to complementary plants in the West. Unfortunately, the

PAGE 4 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI VOLUME 34, ISSUE 8 AUGUST 2016

PAGE 4 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI VOLUME 34, ISSUE 8

Ask GuyJim Dear Readers, Beyond the stone – considerations for presenting viewing stones within a thematic concept Part II: Single stone tabletop displays incorporating plants.

most commonly used English term ‘accent plants’ is also a misnomer as such plants do not serve the definition of an accent, that refers to something to help sharpen or add emphasis; rather, when used correctly our purpose is to complement and add meaning to the overall presentation. Regardless, the first public exposure to suiseki in North America came through their use as complements to bonsai. Despite subsequent ensuing arguments regarding the appropriateness of combining bonsai and suiseki in more formal display, – including the view that stones other than a water pool, hut, boat or occasional figure should never be displayed with bonsai, i.e., that trees and stones representing their landscape settings are somehow redundant – many readers would still consider these tabletop displays to be the most common and, short of a full tokonoma arrangement, the most elegant level of display. The principles for the common hira-kazari tabletop display of bonsai including complementary plants, objects and/or suiseki have been dealt with extensively in the ubiquitous bonsai literature and do not warrant repeating here. While we will touch on some aspects that relate more specifically to stone display, if you are not already familiar with bonsai display, please take the time to peruse a few of the myriad of publications to explore the basic principles, e.g., two-point and three-point display, triangulation, implied directional flow (katte), avoidance of repetition and selection of harmonious elements. [The Art of Stone Appreciation, (Covelo & Yoshimura, 1984) provides some information; The Art of Suiseki (Benz, 2000) provides increased detail; Bonsai, Kusamono, Suiseki – A Practical Guide for Organizing Displays with Plants and Stones (Benz, 2002) provides extensive discussion, especially informative regarding accent plants/grasses. Also please refer back to GuyJim, February 2009 newsletter (on line), where I discussed the use of trees and stones.] Although such information has existed for decades, historically, most suiseki club displays have consisted of individual stones, including any supporting furnishings, lined up in rows in what I refer to as a ‘postage stamp’ presentation. This approach adequately serves its one primary function: the desire to showcase

CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI PAGE 5 VOLUME 34, ISSUE 8

a collector or club’s stones. Last month we explored ways by which some thematic overtones might be introduced to these single-stone displays. While adding a tenkei to the display of an individual stone requires no more table space than would be required for the stone itself, a ‘tabletop’ display implies a larger, more isolated, more formal presentation – one that literally covers more of the top of a table. When creating our stone-focused displays, the first consideration is whether the complement will be a plant or object (okimomo) or less often, both in a three-point arrangement. Where our focus is to be on the viewing stone the introduction of bonsai or complementary plant is not as easy as when a bonsai is the featured element and one can draw upon a long established formula. In the latter case, because the arrangements are in fact so formulaic, one often observes that plants and suiseki/viewing stones are often treated as a very secondary element, simply serving as incidental decorative fillers. Regardless, there is no question that in most cases where bonsai and stones are shown together a confusion of primary focus will result unless one visually dominates the other. Commonly the bonsai will dominate simply because of its physical size or visual flamboyancy, e.g., a flowering azalea or bougainvillea. While there may be a place within a viewing stone exhibit for the cautious adoption of a few such bonsai-dominant displays, whether to illustrate historical usage of stones or simply add ‘atmosphere’, generally we need to adapt the formulaic use of bonsai and other plants to better complement our stones. Having eliminated all but a few larger bonsai from our viewing stone exhibition, we can now explore other ‘living’ options. Shohin and mame bonsai, miniature grasses and plantings, cactus and succulents all remain available to add a seasonal reference or reinforce the environmental setting of the stone. Recall within our shows the use of wind-swept junipers and pine to complement coastal rocks and mountain crags, a deciduous tree with a snow-covered mountain, or a small desert accent. Such associative usage is comparable to that found in good bonsai displays, although I believe we need be more attentive to compatible color, tone and textures because of the closer proximity in size and spacing of our elements. While the basic seasonal and environmental considerations carry over from bonsai display the physical fundamentals may not because at some point the plant of choice – whether bonsai or grass or succulent – may become irreducible, remaining physically larger, usually taller, than the viewing stone. Almost constantly we face recurring problems caused

by similarities in the visual size and mass of our complementary plants and stones. Ideally the physical size of any plant chosen should be ‘proportionate’ to the stone. ‘Proportionate’ in quotes because I do not mean to imply that a strictly proportional relationship is required, but rather a reasonable visual balance. Our lowest plantings, because they are inherently very compact and dense, may still compete with the visual mass of a stone. In practice, even the smallest grasses and shohin still have a tendency to tower over our landscape stones, yet when the stone is raised on a tablestand (shoku) plant and stone often end up being at the same height, becoming potentially competitive and visually boring. Fortunately, such problems can some-times be at least somewhat ameliorated. The easiest is to keep the plant low and use a relatively high shoku.

If no higher stand is available, consider placing your shoku with its stone upon a platform box (ADM: Auxiliary Display Module) thus raising the stone to a higher, dominant position; also an extremely useful solution when you need to raise a suiban. This unorthodox solution is quick and effective and the presence of the ADM is seldom distracting as long as its color approximates that of the tablecloth. Fortunately, such problems can sometimes be at least somewhat ameliorated. One approach is to place the stone and its stand (shoku) on a platform box (ADM) thus raising the stone to a higher, dominant position. This unorthodox solution is quick and effective and the presence of the ADM is seldom distracting as long as its color approximates that of the tablecloth. Another line of approach is to forgo the usual, relatively-even side-by-side placement: if your tree is larger than the stone try placing the tree towards the front of the table and your stone further to the back to create an integrated view/perspective, i.e., a relatively larger tree may then serve to help establish a distant mountain. This latter approach works better with relatively thin-trunked evergreens or bare deciduous trees that have less visual mass. Wind-swept trees may serve as framing devices – even when the trees themselves are displayed on traditional high stands they often retain the sense of a promontory or cliff setting. In the above examples,

Although the grass and stone may be too close in size, the high table clearly establishes the stone as the principal element

VOLUME 34, ISSUE 8 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI PAGE 6

forgoing the common wide, horizontal spacing between bonsai and accent and instead placing them in tighter proximity may establish a unified vignette; conversely, leaving a greater distance might imply a beach or plain – experiment!

The traditional matching of plants to stones primarily serves to suggest season or reinforce the physical environment of the stone. Rarely the environmental aspect may reflect a larger cultural tone, as with the use of an olive bonsai with my Acropolis stone to reflect classical Greece (below). Though even more difficult, one might conceive of literary or cultural connections, e.g., a cherry tree with a figure stone suggesting George Washington ... a bit of reach, but you get the idea!

Taking a broader view, it might be worth noting that rather than thinking in terms of individual displays wherein plants and stones are directly related, we might consider entire public exhibits where two complementary ‘art’ forms are integrated within a shared space. The most obvious example is a natural mix of bonsai and viewing stones wherein the two are not combined into single tabletop displays, but mounted separately on tables of their own. (For years, Nina Ragle has mounted one such display within each Annual California Bonsai Society Exhibit.) In 2015 the Korean American Suseok Society hosted a secondary exhibit of artistic orchid plantings. Other possibilities

would be the presentation of desert stones with cactus and succulents paralleling the 2012 Steel and Stone – Forms from the Desert exhibit (in which the ‘plants’ were actually stainless steel sculptures) or in conjunction with ikebana or a chrysanthemum show. Finally, remember that plants may be integrated into stone exhibits in a more general way. Beyond their use as components in prepared tabletop displays, the California Aiseki Kai Annual Exhibit has always included bonsai and plants as purely decorative accent plants (here using that term more accurately). These disassociated succulents, grasses, kusamono and shohin bonsai provide a visual spark of life and add color creating an inviting ambience. Our use of plants has been rather arbitrary, sometimes formulaic and undeniably decorative – however, also undeniably, the presence of plants has been effective in creating a more visually varied and pleasing presentation for the public. Importantly, the general public’s familiarity with the larger bonsai serves to draw visitors into our exhibitions even if they are not familiar with stone appreciation. Once they enter the exhibit space a few may remain focused on the bonsai or succulents, but the greater percentage discover and become attentive to the stones.

... Next month we will turn our attention to complements that don’t have to be watered!

GuyJim The views expressed in this column are personal, perhaps irreverent, irrelevant or just plain wrong and do not reflect the consensual view of California Aiseki Kai. Send your viewing stone questions (or comments) for GuyJim to jimgreaves@roadrunner.com or 1018 Pacific Street, Unit D, Santa Monica, CA 90405 or call (310) 452-3680

This small succulent is the only plant used within the AVSRC exhibit at the GSBF exhibit in Riverside. It serves as a true ‘accent’ plant in that it adds color, but it is also employed as an integral part of the composition, providing compositional balance and serving as a visual period, a ‘stop’ at the end of the display table.

This 2004 presentation might be improved by lowering the olive to a jiita and raising the Acropolis stone on a higher shoku; however, such a large stand would likely compete with the stone so my preference would be to place the shoku and stone or the suiban upon an ADM.

While the elements in this early display are arranged in line, one may still see the advantage of the thin trunk and a suggestion of scenic perspective.

The presentation's broad focus was the experience and concept of time that emerges in different kinds of work where stone interacts with wood or trees, including suiseki, a rock garden, and contemporary artists Andy Goldsworthy and Giuseppe Penone. A contrast was drawn between a timeless, aesthetic experience sought in suiseki, and a palpable sense of time's passage provoked in contemporary ecological or Land Art. While suiseki culminates in a viewer's contemplation of an elusive 'deep' or geological time proper to nature, works by Goldsworthy and Penone confront the viewer with pieces that unsettle assumptions about the relationship between art and nature. In their work, time functions as a constitutive component rather than an abstract domain. The presentation began by reviewing Ben Nanjo’s definition of Suiseki in Ukon Fu, illustrated by examples from the 2011 Aiseki Kai exhibition at the Huntington Library and Gardens. According to Nanjo, “Suiseki is a single small natural stone which expresses the natural beauty of a landscape scene for indoor appreciation” ; “The word suiseki,” Nanjo adds, implies "‘the beauty of nature.’" Suiseki take on a timeless quality; an essence of nature is distilled in a stone; stones embody a deep time of geology, untraceable events. Nanjo opposes this temporality to quotidian time: in contemplating suiseki, “we feel pleasure and calm in loving nature. We dispel the stress of a busy day, and we enjoy each day.” In Nanjo's view, wood used to mount the stone should merge seamlessly with it: “Daiza should be plain and be in harmony with a stone so that together they appear as one unified object.” Stone and wood do not interact dynamically; wood plays a passive role here. Thus, he concludes, “Daiza are to suiseki as frame and mounting are to paintings.” Suiseki, then, encompasses viewing stones that embody an abstract, aesthetic "beauty of nature" and an act of viewing stones that sees the stone through the lens of a historical tradition and a typology or classification system. The natural object becomes art through the discerning eye of collecting and presenting for view, and the display of the stone in a daiza or suiban. Evoking the title of the well-known book The Art of Japanese Stone Appreciation, we might conclude that stone becomes "art" through the cultured knowledge of the collector/viewer—appreciation is

VOLUME 34, ISSUE 8 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI

itself an art or the art that turns nature into a timeless aesthetic domain. The presentation then provided a direct contrast to suiseki by turning to a display in Paul Harris's rock garden, whimsically called "The Petriverse of Pierre Jardin." In 2010, sandstones resembling wood in color and texture were placed in the crux of forking branches in the large pine tree that overhangs the garden. Other stones were added in the ensuing years, and different ways of drawing the viewer's eye to the interaction between rocks and wood were explored, including stacking stones on stumps adjacent to the tree and creating lines of stones leading along the ground to the line going up the tree. Viewers of the garden frequently stopped to look at the stones in the tree, and had a range of responses, including amusement, uncertainty as to the purpose, surprise, and concern (will this hurt the tree?). The display evolved both physically and in terms of its perceived meaning: initially, the tree provided a passive, static support for showing stones; the rocks and wood eventually became equal elements in a growing installation; and finally, the significance of the display changed completely when the tree's effects on the stones were observed.

PAGE 7

July Program Notes

Stones and Trees: Making Time Palpable by Paul Harris

PAGE 8 VOLUME 34, ISSUE 8 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI

Paul wrote the following entry in an issue of his garden newsletter, called The Slow Times: STONE NOTES— The rocks placed in the pine tree three years ago cannot be removed anymore. Caught between gravity’s downward pull and the tree’s upward growth, they are now firmly in the tree’s grasp. The branches have curved around the stones, showing that wood with water coursing through it is pliant—a tree is living flesh, not solid stuff! Pierre Jardin named this installation “Rock Climbers,” and he attests that tracking its evolution has allowed him to see and even feel the tree’s growth. Cool fact: the largest sandstone (top middle) is starting to crack! Does this mean trees are stronger than stone? The contrast between suiseki and "Rock Climbers" is clear: the wood is not a static holder of stone but a living, growing element in an evolving work that also erodes and cracks stones. The work is defined now by its internal history, a duration created by the interaction among tree, stone, growth and gravity. The work lets the viewer encounter living time of trees and stones in a palpable manner; usually tree’s history is seen when cut down (dendrochronology).

The presentation then turned to contemporary Land Art in Scotland; Paul referenced work by Andy Goldsworthy, Charles Jencks (including The Garden of Cosmic Speculation, designed with Jencks's late wife Maggie Keswick, and The Multiverse), and Ian Hamilton Finlay (Little Sparta). He then showed photos from a visit to Jupiter Artland, a land art museum created by Robert and Nicky Wilson, focusing on Andy Goldsworthy's Stone Coppice, in which the artists suspended large dark stone boulders in groups of slender tree trunks. Goldsworthy observes that, "A coppiced wood is one in which the trees are cropped, throwing up new growth and becoming

multi-stemmed, which gives the wood a strong feeling of linear verticality. This vertical movement increases the sense that the stones are being pulled out of the ground and pushed upwards. Each stone has been placed in a tree with limbs able to receive it." Goldsworthy emphasizes the way in which the art work emerges as a dynamic event defined by the interaction of stone, trees, and the artist: "Stone Coppice is a living, growing changing sculpture in which people and wood play equally important roles. The relationship between stone and tree will become stronger both physically and visually through time as the trunks grow around the stones. Ultimately the work will be an expression of the strength and power of trees and their impact on stone." Here, then, we have a work that creates a duration defined by tension: the tension between stones and trees becomes a tension stemming from uncertainty about how the work will evolve: will trees eventually break? When? What will ensue after that? The final artist discussed was Giuseppe Penone, whose work troubles the relation between art and nature, while probing the role of time in both human construction and natural processes. Penone created a series of pieces called To Be the River, in which he carves a boulder to match exactly a boulder found in a river, thereby reenacting in his sculpting the geologic time of the stone's formation. In a different series entitled It will continue to grow except at that point, Penone inserted bronze casts of his hand in a cut in trees, which were photographed periodically to record the work's evolution over the years. In works called Ideas of Stone, Penone mounts granite rocks lodged in the branches of a bronze casting of trees. Here, art and nature interact in provocative ways:

VOLUME 34, ISSUE 8 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI PAGE 9

While the works are often mistaken for a real tree found in nature, the tree is man-made, whereas the rocks that create an uncanny effect and that serve as the cue to the work’s status as a piece of art are the most natural part of the entire sculpture.

The presentation concluded with Paul using the persona of Pierre Jardin to recount his encounter with a work by Penone in a short reflection called "Petrified by Penone in Paris."

June in Paris: a time to visit greening gardens filled with teeming trees and lush shrubs. Pierre Jardin is here, looking to learn from his French ancestors. Walking in the Jardin des Tuileries one fine afternoon, Jardin wandered off into the side gardens known as le Grande Couvert, where works by contemporary artists (Roy Lichtenstein, Magdelena Abakanowicz, Daniel Deleuze) sprang into view, making dramatic entrances in the classically designed landscape. But the most anomalous sight proved to be a large, uprooted tree trunk lying prone, suspended off the ground by short stubs of branches sticking out, that seemed somehow to have been ignored or overlooked by the ubiquitous gardeners. How could a 50-foot long rotting timber, a bleak blight of a sight, a dour note of doom, be permitted to persist in this verdant place? Then, when he went to marvel at the tangle of roots left suspended perpendicular to the ground, Pierre Jardin received another shock: a sign marked it as another contemporary sculpture, L’Arbre de Voyelles by Giuseppe Penone (1999). But since it looked exactly like a fallen tree, and there was no support or stand on which the work was displayed, Jardin wondered whether he was looking at nature or art, a tree or a sculpture. Rereading the sign, he realized that Penone had cast the trunk in bronze. The molded material arrested decay in a restful repose, preserving it a frozen pose. This wasn’t a decaying tree but an arboreal fossil, something simultaneously newly born and oddly archaic, a mass around which a strange sort of anomaly in spacetime coalesced. Jardin found himself stupefied and petrified, his cerebral hemispheres regressing to the lithosphere, mute thought mingling with brute material. Pondering Penone's enigmatic title set Pierre Jardin wondering about the tree all over again. The "vowels" referenced turned out to be five oak trees planted among the trunk's broken branches, creating a seasonal swing and growth process in direct dialogue with the work's insistent inertia. Penone collaborated with Tuileries landscape designed Pascal Cribier in

situating the tree parallel to the Seine, opening a different dialogue of forking structures between branching tree and the river and its tributaries. The Seine in turn affects the perception of the sculpture, serving as a reminder that the work was created as a molten metallic flow molding itself to the receptive surfaces of the tree. Taking a turn in the Tuileries, looking for more Art amid manicured Nature, Pierre Jardin had been barking up the wrong tree. Penone's rust-proof rustic sculpture, his bronze bucolic petrified poem, broke down distinctions and busted Pierre Jardin's brain. L'Arbre des Voyelles left him lingering, laughing loudly, and meekly weeping.... The feeling only deepened on revisiting the site in the dead of winter.

We have a friend who has seen our annual show. She looked about on a Ventura Beach recently and came home with this stone! She said it is about 4.5” x 3.5”

Beginner’s Luck

PAGE 10 VOLUME 34, ISSUE 8 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI

[ED NOTE: This email came from Nancy Bell, Bill and Lois Hutchinson’s daughter.] “Mother & Dad asked that I forward this picture. The picture is of what is left of their suiseki collection from the Aiseki Kai club. At Friendship Village (FV), there is a cabinet that residents are encouraged to display their hobbies. Mother and Dad decided to do their suiseki collection. The employee that schedules the cabinet stated that he had never seen such an interesting hobby. In Pennsylvania no one has ever heard of suiseki. Mother and Dad have had numerous comments on how special the suiseki collection is, i.e. they are the talk of FV. Of course, they love the opportunity to share conversations about suiseki as it helps fill the void from missing their friends at Aiseki Kai.” [ED NOTE: We miss you two, too!]

Bill and Lois Hutchinson Checking In

August Contributors: Paul Harris, Jim Greaves, Larry Ragle. Mailing: Flash Partch Editor: Nina Ragle

Contact People

PAGE 11 CALIFORNIA AISEKI KAI VOLUME 34, ISSUE 8

Newsletter Committee

We hope you will participate. Please send any submissions to ragle@cox.net no more than 10 days following our monthly meeting. Thank you!

California Aiseki Kai meets on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 7:30 pm at the Nakaoka Community Center located at 1670 W. 162nd St, Gardena, CA. Second floor. We do not meet in Nov-Dec.

Freeman Wang 626-524-5021 Suiseki-Viewing Stone Sale

stores.ebay.com/thestoneking

Programs: Larry Ragle 949.497.5626 crimescene@cox.net Treasury/Membership: Nina Ragle 949.497.5626 ragle@cox.net Annual Exhibit: Jim Greaves 310.452.3680 jimgreaves@roadrunner.com Exhibit Set Up: Marge Blasingame 626.579.0420 margeblasingame@att.net Refreshments: Janet Shimizu 310.822.6012 janet.shimizu46@gmail.com Beverages: Phil Hogan 626.256.4609 pkhinkalif@gmail.com Historian: Ray Yeager 760.365.7897 ryeager890@aol.com Webmail: Chris Cochrane 804.918.4636 sashaichris@gmail.com

A collecting trip to one of the most productive rivers in Washington state will be the destination for viewing stone collectors as the kickoff event of 2016 Pacific Northwest Bonsai Club Association’s convention in Olympia, Washington. The convention, which runs from October 14-16, will be preceded by the stone collecting trip to the Skokomish River on Thursday October 13. There will be no charge for the trip which will be limited to 20 people, but participants must be registered full attendees at the PNBCA convention. The collecting trip will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Red Lion Olympia Hotel. The trip is being organized by the Viewing Stone Study Group which is part of the Puget Sound Bonsai Association, the host club for the convention. Master daiza carver and stone collector Patrick Metiva will direct the outing to the Skokomish River which is less than a one hour drive from Olympia. Participants will carpool to the collecting area. The Skokomish is a favorite collecting stream in the Northwest because of a wide variety of material and the multi-colored stones that are washed down from the Olympic Mountains. Heavy rains earlier this year have uncovered ample new material that sharp-eyed collectors can treasure.

Individuals wishing to go on the collecting trip should contact Ed Kuehn at eddkuehn@aol.com to book a space. More information on the convention that will feature bonsai masters Daisaku Nomoto of Japan, Suthin Sukosolvisit and Boon Manakitivipart can be found at http://www.psba.us/pnbca-2016/. Participants should consider bringing waders or knee-high waterproof boots in case there are heavy rains in early to mid-October that can quickly raise water levels in the river. Backpacks and a pry bar or walking sticks are also advised.

A Stone Collecting Trip

~ Joel Schwarz

Joel on a previous tanseki with backpack, pick and waders.

Stone Sales Ken McLeod 209-605-9386 or 209 586-2881

suisekistones.com

Ragle P.O. Box 4975 Laguna Beach CA 92652

Coming Events

Leaves no stone unturned

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED

aisekikai.com

Thank you to Linda Gill, Janet Shimizu, Marge Blasingame, BJ Ledyard, Joseph Gaytan, Richard Aguirre and the Ragles for the July snack break! Phil Chang and Jesse Krong are up for August. C’mon people. Contribute to this social part of the meeting.

NANPU KAI Annual Nisei Week Bonsai Exhibit, August 20-21, JACCC, 244 South San Pedro St., LA. 10-5 both days

Refreshments

REDWOOD EMPIRE BONSAI SOCIETY 33rd Annual show, August 20-21, Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Bldg, 1351 Maple Ave., Santa Rosa. Demos both days at 1:00 by Kathy Shaner. Sat 10-5, Sun 10-4. Sales, raffle, silent auction. More info: Bob Shimon at 707.884.4126 or shimon@mcn.org

GSBF CONVENTION 39 “Bonsai Convergence: Gather at the Rivers” Oct. 27–30, Double Tree Hotel, 2001 Point West Way, Sacramento. Demos, seminars, critiques, workshops, excursions, raffle, vendors and much more. More information available at: gsbfconvention.org

KOFU BONSAI KAI “The Bonsai Tradition: Cultural Arts of Japan” at the Bowers Museum, Sept 28 – Oct 2, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana. 10-4. More info: kofukai.org

5th U.S. NATIONAL BONSAI EXHIBITION Invitational Suiseki Exhibit, Sept 10-11, Rochester NY. Inaugural presentation of the Ron Maggio Associates Award, in memory of Arthur Skolnik, for the finest suiseki. More info: usnationalbonsai.com

Always check Golden Statements Magazine Calendar section for additional coming events