Natives, a new exhibit at the Pacific Bonsai Museum, celebrates North American trees and their native habitats. Peggy Thompson photo.
A new exhibit at the Pacific Bonsai Museum makes a direct link between bonsai trees and their wild habitats. The Natives exhibit displays each tree in front of a portrait of its native domain. Each display also includes other plants from the same environment. The show opened on April 8 and will run until October 8 at the museum in Federal Way.
Bonsai trees are collected from the wild to be cultivated as works of art. Natives connects these artistic trees with original paintings of American landscapes by contemporary artist Iuna Tinta. The result helps us more fully appreciate each tree and its origin.
Local photographer Peggy Thompson posted several photos from the exhibit on her northwestphotos blog. The photos illustrate how the exhibit connects one form of art with another.
The exhibit features trees from the Pacific Bonsai Museum. It also includes bonsai trees from artists Scott Elser, Michael Hagedorn, Randy Knight, Ryan Neil, & Dan Robinson. All of these bonsai artists champion the use of native trees as bonsai.
Each display includes accent plantings by kusamono artist Young Choe and bonsai potter Vicki Chamberlain. Native plants from the featured habitats fill each container. The containers themselves are made from minerals collected from the same region.
These elements combine to create a holistic representation of a precise location. Natives celebrates the diversity of North American trees and the unique terrains that shape them and us.
