ABS Learning Seminars
Artist Bios
Headline Bonsai Artists
Welcome to the pinnacle of creativity and innovation! As we delve into the heart of the Learning Seminars, we are honored to introduce our headline artists whose ingenious mastery of their craft has illuminated the world of bonsai. With their unparalleled expertise and visionary zeal, they redefine the boundaries of creativity, inviting us all on a journey where imagination knows no limits. Please join us in welcoming these trailblazers whose artistry transcends convention, paving the way for the extraordinary.
Mark Arpag
Mark is a long time member and current President of the Bonsai Society of Upstate New York. He is a co-founder and organizer of the Suiseki Study Group in Upstate New York. Additionally he presents demonstrations and workshops where he freely shares his knowledge and passion forgetting bonsai with others. He also has several study groups & private clients that often coordinate with Club visits. Mark often assists Wm. N. Valavanis teaching and organizing exhibitions. His love of nature leads him to collect trees and stones in New York state which he often combines to create distinctive award winning displays.
Mark has won National Awards for his Eastern White Cedar, Balsam Fir and Larch and has a passion for Native Bonsai and Stones.
Shohin bonsai and bonsai display are of interest to him and he spends a considerable time studying and practicing display and creating shohin bonsai. He has a large and fine quality collection of shohin bonsai as well as larger size trees. Mark has displayed Bonsai at the Artisans Cup, the Pacific Expo and all 8 US National Exhibitions and has 3 entries accepted to 2024 Pacific Expo as well as the Winter Silhouette in North Carolina. He has also enjoyed designing & installing all of the Welcome Gardens that greet visitors from around the world at US National Bonsai Exhibition.
Mark’s bonsai have won awards in 2010 2nd US National Exhibition, the 2011 BCI Award Native Exhibition, the 2014 4th US National Exhibition, the 2018 6th US National Exhibition, the 2019 2nd US National Shohin Exhibition, the 2022 ABS Creative Display Shohin, the 2023 8th US National Exhibition, and the 2024 ABS Michigan Exhibition. His Bonsai have been featured in numerous albums, books and magazines. His articles have been published in the ABS Journal, BCI Journal and INTERNATIONAL Bonsai magazine.
Scott Barboza
Dr. Scott Barboza was introduced to bonsai by a close friend while living in California in 1990. Bonsai neatly married his passion for hiking and the outdoors with his love of gardening and a longtime fascination was born. He took introductory classes through the Sacramento Bonsai Society, but his serious study began in Seattle where he took workshops at Elandan Garden, Mt. Si Bonsai and Weyerhaeuser‘s Pacific Rim Bonsai Exhibit. After moving to Houston in the late 1990s, Scott became a member of the Houston Bonsai Society and began studying with Boonyarat Manakitivipart with whom he has worked for many years. Scott held many positions in Houston, including Vice President. He has lectured extensively, taught numerous classes and workshops, and helped to organize several conventions and exhibitions. He is currently serving as Secretary and Convention Chair for the American Bonsai Society.
Scott’s trees have won numerous awards at local, state, and regional competitions and he has exhibited trees at the Bay Island Bonsai Exhibition in San Francisco and the US National Bonsai Exhibition in Rochester. He is currently building his home and garden in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.
Bjorn Bjorholm
Bjorn L Bjorholm, owner of Eisei-en Kyoto Bonsai Garden, is a bonsai professional and instructor who spent six years as an apprentice under Master Keiichi Fujikawa at Kouka-en bonsai nursery in Osaka, Japan before receiving certification as a bonsai professional by the Nippon Bonsai Association. His tenure as an apprentice at Kouka-en was followed by three years as artist-in-residence at the same location, making him the first foreign-born working bonsai professional in Japan. During his time in Japan, Bjorn’s works have been featured in the Kokufu-ten, Sakufu-ten, and Taikan-ten exhibitions, among many others.
In addition to his work in Japan, Bjorn travels the world, from Europe to Asia to Latin America, teaching bonsai art and providing services to private clients and international organizations. He operates intensive bonsai schools with affiliate nurseries in Spain and the United States, while also working with international bonsai organizations.
Young Choe
Young Choe is a kusamono artist who studied traditional art in her native Korea before moving to the United States and earning her BS in horticulture from the University of Maryland. While volunteering at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum, she brought her artistic talent together with her knowledge of horticulture to create kusamono. As her interest developed, Young traveled to Japan to study the unique art form with the master kusamono artist, Keiko Yamane, a former student of Saburo Kato. She worked for many years with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) including the U.S. National Arboretum. Young is considered a leader in the field and enjoys conducting workshops and lectures nationally as well as internationally.
Mark Comstock
Mark Comstock is the owner of a Nursery in Old Lyme, Connecticut. In 2012, he bought an extensive collection of very old Kingsville Boxwood to grow as high-end nursery plants. He soon realized they represented highly desirable Bonsai specimens. In 2013, he began pre-bonsai instruction under John Kirby. Mark’s nursery propagation skills translated very well to pre-bonsai production. He developed a unique “twice-cut” Black Pine root cutting technique, among others. While he has some personal trees that he will finish, for the most part he grows material that is desirable to those growing Bonsai. He specializes in Japanese Black Pine but also propagates many maples and junipers. Over the span of a decade, Mark has propagated tens of thousands of root cuttings.
Sergio Cuan
Sergio Cuan is a Cuban American visual artist who graduated with a BFA in Art and Design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. He has a passion for painting and horticulture alike, and when he realized early on that bonsai was the ideal synthesis of both, he became fascinated with bonsai as an art form.
Sergio is a largely self-taught bonsai artist leaning on his artistic background to help hone his bonsai skills. Sergio has taken workshops with prominent bonsai masters Bill Valavanis, Mauro Stemberger, and Bjorn Bjorholm to further his education. Although he works on a wide range of species, Sergio has developed a particular interest and passion for the deciduous genre.
In 2014 he built a bonsai garden in northern New Jersey, in a beautiful setting surrounded by rolling hills, lakes, and deciduous forests which continues to influence his work. The garden, inspired primarily by Japanese aesthetics, features a diverse bonsai collection of various sizes and styles. Sergio believes that bonsai as a true art form shares commonalities with painting, drawing, and sculpture. Although the artist is bound by the physical limitations of the plant material itself, bonsai can be effective vehicles for self-expression. But unlike other art forms, bonsai is alive and in a constant state of flux. The bonsai practice is an intimate and continued dialogue between artist and nature. This relationship gives this art form its own unique dimension. Sergio also believes that one must allow the tree to guide us as we strive to capture a nuanced but powerful expression of nature in its most essential form.
Sergio travels throughout the US and abroad leading in-person lectures, demos and workshops as well as offering virtual consultations and a digital bonsai design service. He also conducts several workshops throughout the year from his own studio and garden. Sergio most recently illustrated Michael Hagedorn’s latest and much celebrated book BONSAI HERESY. In 2023 he was chosen by Walter Pall to participate in the annual Master Class held at the Bonsaigarten München in Germany. His bonsai have appeared in many publications including International Bonsai Magazine, Bonsai Focus and Bonsai Bark blog. He has shown at numerous exhibitions and has received several awards including “Finest Deciduous Award” at the 4th US National Bonsai Exhibition in Rochester, NY, and “Best in Show” at the 2016 Winter Sillouhette Expo in Kannapolis, NC.
Jonas Dupuich
Jonas is a Northern California bonsai professional. Jonas began his journey while working at his family’s nursery when he met Boon Manakitivipart. This kicked off more than 20 years of study with Boon during which time Jonas became a founding member of Bay Island Bonsai of Northern California. Jonas has studied with Boon’s Senpai, Japanese professional Daisaku Nomoto, during Daisaku’s visits to the United States. In 2011, Jonas spent two months immersed in the culture of Japanese bonsai, studying with fourth-generation bonsai grower and artist Junichiro Tanaka of Aichien Nursery in Nagoya, Japan. Jonas worked on trees in Tanaka’s collection and participated in exhibitions including Gomangoku, Meifu-ten, Taikan-ten, and Sakufu-ten. Jonas is the owner of Bonsai Tonight and author of a blog by the same name. Created in 2009, the Bonsai Tonight blog features more than 900 free articles on a wide range of topics with new posts published every Tuesday and Friday. Jonas grows bonsai and teaches classes across Northern California.
John Kirby
John Kirby got his first bonsai when he lived in California in 1968. He has studied with Boon Manakitivipart for 20 years, in California as well as in Connecticut. John has traveled to teach Bonsai to clubs in the US and has lead a number of study groups at his home for the past 10 years. John’s trees have been well received in shows on both the east and west coast, with his 2018 Shohin display receiving the award at the National Bonsai Show in Rochester. He works to develop a collaborative approach to developing students’ trees, helping them to develop trees that fit their image for it. After a long academic career, John has transitioned to full time bonsai growing and development.
Boonyarat Manakitivipart
Boon’s artistry has been recognized around the world, and his garden contains magnificent trees in all stages of development. In Japan, as the only non-Japanese entrant in the competition in the Kindai Bonsai Styling Contest, Boon won the Grand Prize. His professional growth started after hosting Akio Kondo as a first-year professional in the US. Through this experience, Boon decided to begin serious study as an apprentice.
In 1995, he traveled to Japan and studied bonsai for his first year as an apprentice with Yasuo Mitsuya. Boon also worked and studied at the family Japanese bonsai nursery Kihachi-En, and was an apprentice to Kihachiro Kamiya, one of Japan’s leading bonsai professionals of the time. Kihachi-En became Boon’s “bonsai home,” and he said of Master Kamiya, “He showed me bonsai standards through his amazing talent and deep personal integrity.” Boon returned to Japan for study repeatedly until his master’s passing in 2004.
Today, Boon continues his dedicated effort to advance the art of bonsai. His passion for teaching led him to establish one of the first bonsai schools in the US at his nursery in Northern California. Students from around the world undergo a “mini-apprenticeship” of intensive work on a range of species and styles, and over the course of three years, students are exposed to virtually every level of bonsai work, culminating in the Bay Island Bonsai show – one of the best exhibitions of fine bonsai in the US.
Angelica Ramirez
Angelica Ramirez is an aspiring bonsai professional with a diverse background as a cellist, Team USA archer, helicopter pilot, painter, and amateur photographer. She currently works as the Seasonal Bonsai Assistant at the Chicago Botanic Garden and also serves as a director of the North American Bonsai Federation.
Since beginning her bonsai journey in 2019, Angelica has made significant strides, including being the 2023 National Bonsai Apprentice at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum while also working for the National Bonsai Foundation, and was the first bonsai intern at the Chicago Botanic Garden in 2022. She is also the founder of Discover Potters and manages the affiliated Facebook group, Discover Potters Community. Passionate about building a career in bonsai, Angelica is dedicated to preserving and growing the art through projects that connect the bonsai community and increase public awareness.
John Romano
My first experience with plants was not with Bonsai but working with my Italian grandfather – helping him plant seeds at 4 years old, later pruning Apple, Pear and Fig trees in the garden. This was my first ‘crossing path’ or ‘unexpected encounter’ ( meaning of ‘kaikou’) with trees. In 1975 I first started to ‘play’ with Bonsai – it was more like creating a morgue for trees! After this first foray in futility, I stumbled upon some good books and finally found New England Bonsai Gardens (then in Natick) and my passion was rooted. At NEBG we had visiting bonsai artists from Japan come to the nursery and I worked with some of them – Kenji Miyata, Matuo Matsuda, Hiromi Tsukada, Jun Imabayashi. Shohin bonsai became my specific passion.
After a few trips to Japan I was able to study for a short period at Taisho en and Mr. Nobuichi Urushibata, shohin master, in 2005. In 2009 I started the Kaikou School of Bonsai at New England Bonsai Gardens, a 2 year introductory program exploring all facets of bonsai. We have had over 200 students since then graduation. From this school the Kaikou Bonsai Study Group formed and is active in MA as well.
I have written the shohin bonsai column ‘A Little Magic with Shohin Bonsai’ for International Bonsai for 15 years and have written articles in Bonsai Today, ABS Journal and BCI Magazine. I have shown bonsai at all but 1 US National Bonsai Exhibitions and also in the first US National Shohin Bonsai Exhibition. I have had trees accepted in two JAL World Bonsai Contests and am a member of and certified shohin bonsai teacher by the All Japan Shohin Bonsai Association.
Shannon Salyer
Shannon has been practicing and studying bonsai for 25 years. During that time, he has studied with several prominent artists such as Warren Hill and Bjorn Bjorholm. Over the years Shannon has become increasingly passionate about Shohin bonsai. Today he owns and operates Kusa Farm, which specializes in the propagation and promotion of material for Shohin bonsai. He has won sever regional and National awards for his Shohin bonsai and display.
Todd Schlafer
Todd’s interest in bonsai began in 2002 which led him to Harold Sasaki, owner of Colorado Bonsai. Todd did everything from pulling weeds to eventually styling trees at the nursery. His obsession with collecting trees formed shortly thereafter, going with local conifer expert Jerry Morris on a collecting trip to Utah. He learned quickly that traditional design principles did not necessarily apply to collected material with sparse foliage and unconventional branches.
In 2012 he began his studies with Ryan Neil to learn how to style and develop this Rocky Mountain area native material. His study with Ryan focused on advanced techniques of setting tree structure, which is the most difficult skill set to achieve in bonsai. From sunup to sundown he pushed himself to master those techniques. This inspired him to pursue bonsai practice full time and he began to instruct professionally as others started to seek him out for his expertise. The Rocky Mountain region has some of the best material in the world which Todd sources for his own collection and nursery.
Now traveling throughout the United States visiting bonsai clubs, Todd has been a featured artist on the Bonsai Mirai live stream and leads instructional workshops and classes both locally and as a guest artist in numerous bonsai clubs in the U.S. His style is collaborative as native collected species do not follow a prescribed formula when styling, “it’s always a work in progress”.
Suthin Sukosolvisit
Suthin’s artistry continues to amaze. Suthin and his wife operate the Royal Bonsai Garden in Stoughton, Massachusetts and he is in high demand nationally for his creativity, his spectacular artistry, and his skill as a patient and talented teacher.
Born in Thailand, Suthin has extensive experience with tropical bonsai. To label him as a tropical bonsai artist, however, would do tremendous disservice to the equally amazing Japanese maple, juniper, azalea, and pine (among many other species) bonsai, both large and small, he has cultivated and designed. Suthin’s creations have won multiple well-deserved national bonsai awards in both Thailand and the United States. He lectures all around the world and at some of the most important bonsai conventions in the United States, sharing new information and techniques whenever he teaches. His bonsai are known for their proportion, refinement and detail, especially his remarkable Shohin designs. Suthin and his wife operate the Royal Bonsai Garden outside of Boston, Massachusetts.
Ed Trout
Ed Trout was raised in Key West, Florida, and has practiced The Art of Bonsai for 53 years. He is a Past President & a Lifetime Member of The Gold Coast Bonsai Society, one of the first clubs established in Florida, and is an Honorary Member of several other Florida and Texas bonsai clubs. He is also a Past President, and Lifetime Member of The Bonsai Societies of Florida, a past Board Member of The American Bonsai Society, a past Board Member of The National Bonsai Foundation at The US National Arboretum, and a past Board Member of Bonsai Clubs International. Ed has contributed many articles to several different publications over the years, including Bonsai Today and Bonsai Focus, and some of his trees were used in the current Sunset Book edition on bonsai. Ed also did a video segment on The Art of Bonsai on “At Gardens Gate”, a gardening program, which was featured on PBS TV.
Ed has traveled the USA, Canada, and The Caribbean to lecture and share with others what he has learned. He has exhibited his trees at many conventions, including the 1993 World Bonsai Convention in Orlando, the 2005 World Bonsai Convention in Washington, DC , and the 2012, 2014, and 2016 National Bonsai Exhibitions in Rochester, NY, and has been invited to display trees every year in The Japanese Pavilion at EPCOT in Orlando, Florida, since 1994. He was honored to be a finalist in the 1994 Ben Oki Award, and to have trees selected in the Top 100 of The World Bonsai Contest in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2005, and 2006. In 2018 he was honored to receive the Bonsai Angel award. Although he specializes in Tropical bonsai material like buttonwood, ficus, bucida, and bougainvillea, his private collection also includes pines, junipers, and several deciduous species that all do well in his Zone 10C environment. He and his bonsai artist wife, Betty Cruz Siskind, now operate B&E Bonsai, specializing in workshops, demonstrations for clubs and organizations, and private workshops.
Hugo Zamora
Hugo studied in Tokyo with Japanese bonsai master Kunio Kobayashi, one of the most respected and well-known bonsai masters in the world. Since completing his apprenticeship in 2015, Hugo has made several return trips to Japan to continue his work at Shunkaen Bonsai Museum. Returning to Tokyo with Mr. Kobayashi on a regular basis has allowed Hugo to continue to build, refine, and expand his skills. Hugo was a demonstrator at several important international bonsai events including the Latin American Bonsai Federation Congress and the 2022 World Bonsai Congress in Australia. Hugo’s travels have allowed him to acquire a broad knowledge of conifers, deciduous, tropical species, deadwood, compositions, and landscapes from the most classic and orthodox to new and creative trends.