Well, the long awaited Penjing Conference has come and gone, and let me tell you: it was absolutely TOPS!!!
Many kudo's go to the organisers in general, but Leigh Taafe, Curator of the National bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia, especially deserves the delegates' compliments for a faultlessly run event. I only did a day of demo's and discussion plus a morning of Master Workshops, but even so it was a lot to take in. The demos went by threes on stage, and when one tree was finished it was replaced by new stock. The stage was quite large, with a panel seated on the left side and the demonstrators working on the right. They were backed up by a state of the arts TV in the background showing enlargements of the penjing work going on. There was no stopping for morning tea and lunch, in the back of the room tables were set up with food and drink, plentiful and very tasty, so delegates just helped themselves when it suited them. Chris di Nola of the Illawarra Bonsai Society was MC and also did the auction at the end of the day, he was great! Congrats if you read this, Chris. The panel onstage included Leigh Taafe, one of the Chinese penjing masters, and Robert Stevens as translator, with a lady translator doing some of the talks - sorry, forgot her name.Herewith some pics for starters.
Lisa
