NABF Newsletter #8
Feature #11
A New Bonsai Collection At The Lee Institute For Japanese Art
By Bob Hilvers
Visalia, California
The Hanford Bonsai Society, one of the country’s oldest bonsai clubs founded in 1955, and The Ruth & Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art at the Clark Center have collaborated to establish California’s newest bonsai collection. The bonsai collection will be housed on the Institute grounds and selected trees from the collection will be on public display to coincide with the schedule of the docent tours of the museum gallery. Members of the Hanford Bonsai Society will care for and docent the collection.
The Ruth & Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art, a non-profit organization, was opened to the public in 1996 in order to exhibit one of the most important collections of Japanese art in the western world. The museum boasts major holdings of hanging scrolls, folding screens, woodblock prints, ceramics and sculptures, with the earliest piece dating from the 900’s and the latest piece having been created last year. Recently, 95 rare and valuable pieces returned from a five-city tour in Japan. The Institute offers four exhibitions a year, as well as lectures and special educational programs. The Institute also sponsors a resident scholar program wherein selected interns may work toward their graduate degrees by studying the art while in residence at the Institute.
The exterior of the Ruth & Sherman Lee Institute’s museum gallery
Nestled unobtrusively in a sprawling walnut orchard 6 miles (10 km) south of the historic and picturesque agri-community of Hanford in the heart of California’s San Joaquin valley, The Ruth & Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art hosts thousands of visitors annually from all over the world. From serious scholars to sophisticated art connoisseurs to the local college student to the simply interested visitor, all find delight and fascination with the visual power and aesthetic beauty of the works of art on display.
Docent tour of bonsai exhibit led by Bob Hilvers during the 2004 Spring Exhibition.
The mission of The Ruth & Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art; to collect, preserve, study, exhibit and educate the public about works of fine art, with the focus on the arts of Japan, will be furthered by offering patrons and visitors the opportunity to view the art of bonsai. Among several unique aspects to the bonsai collection at the Institute will be a section of the collection dedicated as Legacy Trees. These will be bonsai that are specimen examples of the art as practiced by noted bonsai artists. The object of establishing the Legacy portion of the collection is to provide a venue to preserve these priceless examples of the art lest we lose them forever when artists succumb to the inevitable and friends or family have not the ability or desire to care for the trees. The institute will provide a place where these trees will be maintained and exhibited in the original aesthetic condition created by the artist. In this way, a living history of the art may be preserved and studied.
The bonsai exhibit among the California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica), the state flower of California.
For information regarding the bonsai collection and bonsai related programs at the Institute please call (559) 909-1051 or e-mail at bonsaigui@comcast.net.
Location: The Ruth & Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art
at the Clark Center
15770 Tenth Avenue, Hanford, California
Tel: (559) 582-4915
Website: www.shermanleeinstitute.org
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