Carolina Expo 2007

cubbie

hi all.......
was wondering if anyone went to the Carolina Expo last year? pictures? i know the Asheville area, and the arboretum (had a bear encounter there!) and know that October in Asheville would be incredible itself, with all the fall colors and great weather. (Central FL green all year......)

anyway, there still isn't any info on the website about the program for Saturday night with Brussels Martin..... how to register, how much, what it is about, etc. Has anyone been to a demo by him

do know that the hotels jack up their prices during the fall, already looked at booking a room, yikes! would appreciate a recommendation if this would be a good place to swing by........

Advertisement

cray13

I posted quite a few images here.

Also, here is a link to a thread here on BT

cubbie

thanks for that....... looks like a great show. looking forward to it, unless work gets in the way.

still would like some info about the programs, but guess i'll have to be patient until the arboretum posts the schedule in more detail.

thanks again for all the pictures!!!

Dale Cochoy

It looks like I will be vending there this year.
I'm looking forward to it.
Dale

__________________
________________________________
If you want to be Different....
You have to DO something Different!
__________________________________________

Some people NEVER take the time to do a job right the first time....
but, they always seem to make the time to do it over again...
____________________________________________
Dale Cochoy
Wild Things Bonsai Studio
Yakimono no Kokoro Bonsai Pottery
Hartville, Ohio

cray13

I apologize in advance for the quality of these images. I tried to avoid using my flash and without a tripod/monopod I had trouble holding the camera still enough to allow for the slower shutter speed that was necessary. The images are a little dark in some cases and a little blurry in others. Click on each image for a much larger version.

I will update the images this evening so that each image has a caption with species and club affiliation for each tree. There should be an image for every entry in the expo. (85 I think) as well as images of the vendor area.

The images for the 2007 expo can be viewed HERE

Enjoy. As always, these images can not replace seeing these trees in person. The expo was inspirational and was very well attended. Overflow parking was necessary on Saturday to accomodate the crowd.

If anyone knows the results please post them. I had to leave early Sunday afternoon and did not hear the people's choice or club winner.

John Dixon

The choices made by Brussel were:

Hinoki Club (Roanoke, Va.) - Best Display

Img 2796.jpg (your photo) - Best in Show

This same bonsai won People's Choice and Peer's Choice, as well.

Curator's Award for Display went to the SC Club that built the four-place tokonoma.

__________________
John Dixon

Si vis pacem parabellum

Stay off the trails of others, that's where the booby-traps are.

John Dixon

Is it me, or are people not discussing this very much?

I thought the quality was the best ever. Politics, same as always, but the most important thing was the show.

I'd like to see some opinions on it.

__________________
John Dixon

Si vis pacem parabellum

Stay off the trails of others, that's where the booby-traps are.

jjeter

I will weight in John. This was my first visit to the Expo and I found the displays very good. I was impressed with the quality and variety of the trees. I was also very impressed with the Aboretium's Bonsai exhibit area, again with impressive trees.

I would have liked to see more vendors, but with the Abouetium's limited indoor space, I don't know how may more could be fit in. I would also like to see more workshops.

Overall, it was a great experience and I will be back.

__________________
Jeff

Student of Bonsai

bwaynef

It was nice meeting you, formally, John. Your club put on a very well-thought display. I really appreciated the thought and preparation, even before we discussed the fact that y'all tried specifically NOT to clutter your display with too many trees.

I think that there were some really good trees and I was particularly taken by the tree that won Best Tree. I was using a fixed-length lens for pictures and the size of this one made it interesting to get it all in the frame front-on (without people in the picture even.)

I wasn't really taken by the overall quality of the show though. Just as your club made an effort to reduce clutter, others ...didn't. I thought there were a lot less REALLY impressive trees as well. The ones that were there were exquisite but there seemed to be fewer of them. The converse is true as well, in that there seemed to be a lot more trees that I could easily take a pass on.

Since I'm not involved in a club that was displaying I have no opinion of the politics involved.

The arboretum's collection was simply stellar. This was the first year I'd seen some of the trees on display and the ones I'd seen before had only improved. No slight intended for the clubs that exhibited, but the arboretum's collection is reason enough to attend the expo.

I was pleased with the vendor's area. It was a drastic improvement from years past at least in space and layout. This year I wasn't in the market for material, but I did see some excellent stock for sale. I'm used to seeing it a little less expensive at the show, but I don't usually attend early-midday on Saturday either. I guess I needed to wait til Sunday afternoon for the deals though theres always less selection then.

I regret not taking the opportunity to speak with Dale Cochoy, but he seemed to be covered up with customers every time I found myself in his direction. Hopefully that meant good things for him. The quality of his pots is immediately evident seeing them in person/in hand.


I don't mean to give the impression that I didn't enjoy the show, or was somehow letdown. The bar has been set really high and in my opinion was a little out of reach overall this year. I enjoyed seeing all these trees and was reassured that bonsai folks are the best there are.

ps. I also learned a lot of things about my camera, and most importantly, that when viewing bonsai it helps not to be looking through the lens of a camera. Next year I'll take a tour of the trees FIRST, /THEN/ worry about getting pictures.

__________________
----------------------------------
© 2004 - present bwaynef