Bonsai enthusiasts from all over Mexico will congregate in Chapala later this month to attend the 10th annual national convention of the Federacion Mexicana de Bonsai, headquartered at the Centro Cultural Gonzalez Gallo.
Registration for participants will take place at the former railway station venue Wednesday, May 16, 4 to 8 p.m., followed by a series of seminars and other program activities slated to run daily through Sunday, May 20.
According to Club Bonsai de Chapala President Alfonso Mendoza Gonzalez, planning for the event has been under way since last year. Chapala was selected over other locations in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon and Leon, Guanajuato, considering its appeal as a tourist destination and close proximity to the Guadalajara airport.
The convention program revolves around practical workshops on traditional and innovative bonsai cultivation techniques conducted by an international panel of bonsai masters, including Italians Salvatore Liporace and Luigi Maggioni, Xec Fernandez from Spain and eight colleagues hailing from Argentina, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Mexico.
Mendoza’s own expertise is familiar to lakeside residents who have seen his bonsai displays at Chapala’s triannual ECA craft fairs.
Special guided visits geared for students groups from local schools are being scheduled with the aim of sparking interest in the ancient Japanese art form among future generations.
Oriental art form
By definition, a bonsai is a miniature tree cultivated following gardening methods that limit its size and train growth into an aesthetically pleasing shape. Small containers – along with pruning, root reduction, wiring, clamping, potting, defoliation and grafting techniques – are employed to produce dwarfs trees and plants that mimic the form of mature, full-size specimens.
The practice emerged in Japan during the sixth century. Its spread to the western world following World War II.
Rare bonsai plantings nurtured for more than 500 years have survived to the present. Perhaps the grandfather of them all is a five-needle pine (Pinus pentaphylla var. negishi) known as Sandai-Shogun-No Matsu, kept today in the Tokyo Imperial Palace collection. Recognized as one of Japan’s national treasures, it has enjoyed an extraordinary life span believed to go back as far as 1610.
Influenced by Zen Buddhism and oriental aesthetics, bonsai as an art form aims to please the viewer for its contemplative value and likewise the grower for the satisfaction engendered by endeavor and ingenuity. The ideal display allows the viewer to see one or more specimens in such a way as to showcase their best features and simulate full-size trees as observed from a distance.
For information on enrollment in the bonsai workshops and other program details, contact Mendoza by cell phone at 331-526-2924, or visit the Centro Cultural Gonzalez Gallo, Avenida Gonzalez Gallo-La Cristiania 1500, open daily Tuesday through Saturday, telephone 765-74-24, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..