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2012 Design Award - Enter TODAY!

The American Bonsai Society in fellowship and remembrance of our American Grand Master is pleased to announce that the 2012 John Y. Naka award program is now open and accepting entries from across the North American continent. The program is open to both professional and hobbyist artists competing separately using either Native American plant material or plant material grown entirely in North America.  Entering your tree is as easy as pressing the entry button below or downloading the E-mail information packet ...

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Rocky Mountain Bonsai & Suiseki

The Rocky Mountain Bonsai Society is honored to host Visions of the American West the American Bonsai Society (http://www.absbonsai.org/) (ABS) Bonsai Clubs International (http://www.bonsai-bci.com/) (BCI) Convention June 21-24, 2012! Visions of the American West is bringing in top talent from all over the world to the beautiful Rocky Mountains and the Mile High City, Denver Colorado. The Denver Marriott Tech Center is opening their doors of hospitality to be our host site! You won’t want...

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Advertising

ABS has 18 ad spaces available on the website that rotate randomly on each page, in groups of four. The sponsorship rate is $60 a year for an ad banner. The open spaces will be on a first come first serve basis. When a space becomes available it will read "vacant". If no space is available please send your business name and you'll be added to the waiting list for the next available vacancy. Pay with PayPal! ...

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Bonsai Journal

Members receive 4 issues of the journal each year!

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Bonsai Club Directory

Find a bonsai club near you or in neighboring cities!

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Journal Advertising

Interested in advertising in the
ABS Journal?

How Can You Help ABS?

As described in detail in the About ABS page, the American Bonsai Society, founded in 1967, is the pioneering national bonsai organization. We are a non-profit corporation, and all of our Officers and Directors are unpaid volunteers. We publish a fine Bonsai Journal, maintain this website, produce some unique educational publications, run an online forum for members, run a Correspondence Course and a variety of other services for our members and for the bonsai community. In order to continue to accomplish our mission and goals we ask for your assistance.

Here are some of the ways you can assist ABS:

Join Us. By joining ABS and becoming a participant in our activities you can learn, teach, meet fellow enthusiasts and further your enjoyment of this wonderful hobby. Click here to join online.

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New Talent Bonsai Competition

The Joshua Roth New Talent Bonsai Competition Supported by ABS

The Joshua Roth New Talent Bonsai Competition is an annual competition to recognize and promote new bonsai talent in North America. First prize is an exclusive course of instruction with an approved bonsai teacher. The first stage of the competition is a judging of photographs of previously designed trees by the entrant. The second stage will be the actual production of a bonsai during the "Visions of the American West" Bonsai Convention and Learning Seminar in Denver, Colorado at the Denver Marriott Tech Center, June 21-24, 2012.  The American Bonsai Society, Bonsai Clubs International and the Rocky Mountain Bonsai Society are sponsoring the event.

Eligibility requirements

Any person who lives in North America, including Puerto Rico, is eligible.  He or she must have been involved with the art of bonsai for less than ten (10) years.  Any past winner or runner-up is ineligible to enter.  Participation in the second stage is limited to two (2) competitions.

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ABS Mentor Program

The American Bonsai Society is proud to offer a mentor monitored correspondence course for all who wish to learn the art of bonsai. This course was written by bonsai artists Tom Zane and is offered through the ABS Book Service. Each bonsai student has the opportunity to learn the art of bonsai at his or her own pace in the comfort of his or her home.

No previous bonsai experience necessary.

Bonsai enthusiasts! There's something new in the wind, something uniquely that you can recommend to your friends: ABS's basic bonsai correspondence course. The course, written by Tom Zane, is the first of its kind in North American.

The American Bonsai Society realizes that a hands-on course of study with a recognized bonsai teacher is a preferred way to learn bonsai. But many of us do not live near a well-known teacher or nursery.

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John Naka Award

The American Bonsai Society invites you to submit your bonsai for one of our annual awards given in honor of John Y. Naka. These awards will be given to North American bonsai artists and hobbyists who exhibit the spirit of artistic design taught by Master Naka using North American  native material or material grown entirely in North America as exhibited by one of his or her bonsai.

Requirements:

The entrant

  1. Any bonsai artist or hobbyist who is a resident of North America is eligible.
  2. Applicants must be a current member of ABS. you may join at the same time you are submitting your digital images
  3. The entrant may be a hobbyist or professional. Two levels of each award will be given so that hobbyists are not competing against professionals.
  4. May not win a given division more than once.

 

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May My Bonsai Live On

By Thomas L. Zane

The life of a bonsai in Japan often is perpetuated by being cared for by successive generations, by nurserymen or others. In the West we do not have the luxury of reliable generations to care for our trees when we no longer can. Bonsai should be preserved for the whole of their natural lives in order that future generations will be able to enjoy and to appreciate them in just the same way that we are able to enjoy and marvel at the great and ancient bonsai of Japan.

The American Bonsai Society's contingency program to cater for bonsai in need is called "Bonsai for the 21st Century and Beyond" and is designed to be executed on a member society or individual member basis.

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