February 25 & 26: Workshop and General Meeting with Guest Artist Matt Reel
We are pleased to announce Matt Reel as our guest artist for the February 26th general meeting! Our meeting will take place from 7:00pm to approximately 9:30pm on Monday February 26th at the UW Center for Urban Horticulture. Matt will be presenting a demonstration on repotting techniques. Repotting is a fundamental aspect of bonsai and key to ensuring healthy trees, yet it's very rarely taught or demonstrated. We will rectify this by having Matt repot a tree in front of us and address everything from soil mixtures to pot selection. Matt will also be conducting a hands-on workshop the day prior (Sunday February 25) for a limited number of participants. Please scroll down for details and book your spot ASAP before it sells out!
Many of us will remember Matt as one of our headliners at the last PNBCA convention held in Olympia, WA in the fall of 2016. He began his bonsai journey at just 14 years of age in Portland, Oregon. After finishing high school, Matt moved to Japan to begin a formal apprenticeship with Shinji Suzuki in Obuse, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Mr. Suzuki was the last apprentice of master Motosuke Hamano of Touju-en nursery in Omiya and is now widely regarded as one of the top three of four bonsai artists in the world. He holds more Prime Minister awards than anyone else and is profoundly respected among his fellow professionals. Matt's full-time apprenticeship lasted a staggering eight years, during which he wired and styled many trees for the Kokufu-ten and Taikan-ten, the two most prestigious shows in the world.
Matt returned from Japan in 2014 to begin his professional career and joined the Portland Bonsai Village. His is known for his broad expertise in a wide range of conifers and deciduous trees, as well as his knowledge of bonsai display, especially in a tokonoma setting. Matt’s highly refined styling of trees has gained worldwide attention and made him in very high demand as a presenter and as a caretaker of bonsai collections for serious aficionados. He travels around the country and the world teaching workshops, performing demonstrations, and styling trees for private and public collections. He has been a headliner at Generation Bonsai in Germany and Brussels' Bonsai Rendezvous and will be headlining at Gateway to Bonsai and the MABS Spring Bonsai Festival this year, among others. We are very pleased to have him visit us!
To see some of Matt's work, you can visit his website at: http://www.reelbonsai.com
Or his blog at: https://reelbonsai.wordpress.com
WORKSHOP:
Matt will conduct a workshop for a maximum of eight participants on Sunday February 25th at Bonsai Northwest in Tukwila. This is an excellent opportunity for personalized, hands-on instruction from a master. The workshop will run from 11:30am-3:30pm. Participants are expected to bring a mature, vigorous tree with good potential (bring a second tree in case there is only minimal work to be done on your first choice), bonsai tools and wire. Bonsai Northwest has a wide selection of trees available if you wish to purchase one for the workshop. The cost per participant is $75. Silent observers are welcome at a cost of $15. This is a great opportunity for those new (or not so new) to bonsai to pay a small price to learn by observing. If you elect to participate, please be on time so the workshop is not disrupted. If you are interested in participating, please contact our workshop coordinator, Lynn. Payment by credit card is available, just ask Lynn.