The 13th Noelanders Trophy was held on January 21 and 22. It was really successful.
The renovated old mining building in Heusden-Zolder was almost too small for all the visitors. More than 2500 bonsai friends visited the extraordinary exhibition. Extraordinary in several ways.
Thanks to a growing organisation, Bonsai Association Belgium was able to welcome over one hundred excellent bonsai. They all can be proud of having ‘made’ this show. Bonsai society lives by the effort of these people who bring their trees to exhibitions, close or further away, and not leaving them in their backyard only for themselves.
Lively were the discussions and remarks between these enthusiasts about the trees in the exhibition. But discussions and remarks were only there to learn from each other, and to go home with a good picture in your head of the discussed trees.
Seldom were so many different species of trees shown together. What to say about a magnificent Salix babylonica, a great Acer sieboldianum, a very natural Erica arborea and Pistacia lentiscus.
Almost all styles were present in their most refined form. Everyone remembers two distinct kengai trees, and the very nice ikadabuki and yose-ue.
Lots of kifu sized bonsai were presented. Some were presented alone, others as a whole presentation just taken away from a tokoname. Some trees and accents were real jewels in their kind.
The jury had indeed a hard time in choosing the winner and the nominees. The winning tree – a Juniperus chinensis of Luis Vallejo, originally styled by Kimura himself – and more than a dozen of trees were nearly of the same level. The refinement of ramification that is so typical of quality deciduous trees could now be appreciated in several conifers.
Each afternoon the demonstrations of Bill, Ryan, Vaclav, Jorge and Mauro were attended by a lot of people. The trees they could work on were of very high quality. We have seen a nice new way of presenting a demonstration by Jorge Campos. He had prepared a digital presentation about the original work that had been done on his tree. So the audience was able to see the next step in the creation of his bonsai.
Around the exhibition were more than thirty commercial bonsai stands. The place in between was completely occupied by visitors on Saturday afternoon. If you needed anything for you hobby, it was there! Keep this in mind for next year. Traders of all over Europe presented pre-bonsai, pots, tables and all tools and materials that one can think of.
The organisation was honoured by the presence of the presidents of EBA and BCI Mr. Robert Kempinsky and Mr. Reg Bolton.
We, the BAB, expect to present the book “Noelanders Trophy XIII”, printed by Bonsai Focus, in spring 2013. In this edition one can find high quality pictures of all the trees at this exhibition.
Because of all the positive feedback, Bonsai Association Belgium has already set the date for the next Noelanders Trophy : January 19 -20, 2013, same place.
Save the date, and tell your friends!
Wonderful pictures and inspiring trees! Especially appreciated by those of who couldn’t go.
This show is top notch. I am very much looking forward to seeing this in person someday.
Thanks,
Rob