GOLDEN STATE BONSAI FEDERATION
A non-profit 501(c) (3) educational organization
Educational Seminar Instructors
Jonas Dupuich
Jonas began his bonsai journey over twenty years ago and has studied with Boon MManakitivipar for 20 years. During that time, he became a founding member of Bay Island Bonsai, started Bonsai Tonight and has an active blog where he posts
weekly articles, interviews and how to videos. Jonas is co-founder of the Pacific Bonsai Expo and prides himself on bonsai display and styling techniques.
Jonas will conduct two educational seminars. The first seminar will focus on educating attendees on Understanding Bonsai Design. His second educational seminar, Bonsai Evaluation / Exhibit Critique, will start in the Cabrillo Wine Room and is open to all attendees. Following his PowerPoint presentation, those pre-registered to attend the exhibit critique portion of his presentation will move the Isabella Room
Aaron Hughes
Aaron began his professional plant career 10 years ago at the National Arboretum's Bonsai and Penjing Museum in Washington D.C. He then went on to complete a five-year Bonsai apprenticeship under 4th generation master Junichiro Tanaka, of Aichi-en Bonsai Nursery in Nagoya, Japan. After receiving certification from the Nippon Bonsai Association in 2022, Aaron returned to the states where he has served as Horticulture Curator for the Asian Gardens at the Huntington Botanical Gardens. He holds a BFA in sculpture from The Tyler School of Art at Temple University, and is originally from Arlington, Virginia. He currently resides in Monrovia, California with his wife Katrina, and has a particular interest in shohin size conifer bonsai.
Aaron’s education seminar Introduction and Initial Styling of Collected California Juniper will not only be informative but practical.
Tom Fincel
You are so excited, you just purchased a beautiful Japanese black pine in a big nursery container. It has a great big trunk with movement and thick bark. The following spring you take it out of its nursery container, saw off the bottom half, and put it in a ceramic bonsai pot. You’ve teased out the sides of the remaining root mass to make room for a little bonsai soil. You are very proud of your new tree in its new pot! But sadly, what you have just done sets your prize tree back several years. You have just cut off the strongest part of your pine tree, and now you have less than half the roots in your ceramic pot in nursery soil, and you still have no idea what the root structure is inside that mass. During Tom's seminar you will learn a repotting technique he uses called ‘Top Down’. Participants will learn how to keep that tree growing strong, how to correct root defects, and eventually pot up your healthy tree in a bonsai pot with the roots in 100% bonsai soil. It is sure to get your great new tree to the show table years earlier than the old way. Lots of photos will show this technique in detail. Come join us!
John Kim
John’s interest in bonsai began in 2010 when he started researching “little trees in
pots” on the Internet. By 2011 he was spending time visiting nurseries and purchasing a variety of junipers and deciduous trees to practice on using internet articles and YouTube videos as a guide. In 2017 John joined Baikoen, seeking hands-on techniques and tree care training. It was while he was listening to a bonsai podcast with Ryan Neil and the owner of Joshua Roth, Ken Carlson, that he heard Joshua Roth might be for sale to the right buyer. Over the next eighteen months John visited Ken many times and in January 2023, John and his wife, Michelle, became the proud owners of Joshua Roth Bonsai Tool Company.
John’s seminar will present information on Joshua Roth tool overview and care.
Peter Tea
Peter has actively studied and practiced the art of bonsai for over 20 years. He apprenticed with Mr. Junichiro Tanaka at Aichien Bonsai Garden in Nagoya, Japan in 2011. He was released from a 5-year apprenticeship after only 2 years and with Mr. Tanaka’s blessing returned to the U.S. He started his own business in Auburn, CA. and now creates, manages bonsai collections and provide instruction to individuals and groups. Peter is well respected throughout the U.S. as an instructor and artist. Many of Peter’s clients’ trees have won awards at the Pacific Bonsai Expo with the Peter Tea’s guidance and expertise.
Peter’s educational seminar will focus on Structural Development of Deciduous Bonsai and will be highly informative.