Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Aussie Natives and Bonsai as Art with Hugh Grant - Bonsai Time Podcast Ep 14

In today's interview, we had the honor of hosting Hugh Grant from Australia who came on to share his story and thoughts on the evolution of bonsai in Australia and around the world. Hugh explained how his background as an art student led him to study at Bonsai Mirai and shapes how he thinks about modern bonsai displays. Hugh also taught Ryan and Kevin about the diversity of Australian ecosystems and the native trees and yamadori there which make for decent bonsai once you learn their quirks! Hope you enjoy and get as much out of this talk as we did.

See the interview in the Youtube video below, or find us on your favorite podcast app. Also, scroll below to find the show notes for this episode including pictures of Hugh's work with Australian native bonsai that we were discussing in the interview. Bonsai On!

Hugh's website

Hugh's Instagram

Show Notes:

In the order that they were discussed in the show:

Lilly Pilly / Syzygium smithii, an Australian native shrub/tree.

Modern Displays

Hugh's Bonsai Interiors / "Trees.Made" display.

An example from Hugh's "Bonsai Interiors" Show.

Hugh's Banksia and Port Jackson Fig bonsai were featured in a zen garden for an Australian fashion show.

A brutalist tokonoma display by Matan Rosen featured in Ofer Grunwald's exhibit. Ofer has other striking and unique displays on his website here.

The Pacific Bonsai Museum's tree from the 2022 Pacific Bonsai Expo. We discussed this tree some in our episode with Michael as well. The tree with stand and glass bubble is now on public display at the PBM for their new "Avant Garden" exhibit in Federal Way, WA along with some other striking novel bonsai displays!

Other pictures from trees at the PBE can be seen in our show notes for Michael Hagedorn here.