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Viewing Stone Gallery

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Post  Katsumoto Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:09 pm

Hello fellow enthusiasts,

I've put my small stone collection on a web page....
Viewing Stone Gallery link

Hope you enjoy the stones.

Joe
Katsumoto
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Post  lennard Sat Feb 22, 2014 10:13 am

Very interesting and beautiful stones!

I must get of from my bum and start making display structures for mine!

Thanks for posting.

Lennard
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Post  Chris Cochrane Mon Feb 24, 2014 6:37 pm

Hi Joe...  You introduced many bonsai and budding suiseki enthusiasts to Chinese scholar rock aesthetics on the internet in the mid-1990s-- before the popular "Worlds Within Worlds" exhibition & catalog drew many more enthusiasts.  You were the first to collect Chinese-style stones in the UK and to share appreciation of Chinese scholar rock-style internationally on the VSL ("Viewing Stone (mail) List"), which grew from and returned to the Internet Bonsai Club (as the Stone Forum).  You & Kemin Hu were my earliest & most treasured teachers on Chinese scholar's rocks.

There are great threads among your posts from the earliest IBC archives--https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.arts.bonsai/Joe$20Davies|sort:date

Your earliest IBC post was in July 1996. You invited IBCers to join the British Suiseki Society (coordinated by you & Dave Sampson)) the following month.  When Craig Hunt developed a URL list for reaching "Suiseki, Chinese Scholar Rock & Viewing Stone" web sites, he noted your Suiseki FAQ. Soon, Craig offered to administer a separate Viewing Stone mail List (VSL, linked HERE) which developed mostly from IBC's bonsai mail list ranks. The VSL re-melded to IBC (~ 2001) as its Stone ("Suiseki, Viewing Stones & Scholars Rock") Forum.  Again, your posts were engaging & informed.

You have contributed deeply to IBC stone forums.  Hope your posts continue... :-)


Last edited by Chris Cochrane on Mon May 30, 2016 1:07 am; edited 1 time in total
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Post  Katsumoto Mon Feb 24, 2014 9:01 pm

Many thanks Chris for that very encouraging and welcoming post. Boy, 1996, seems so long ago now. I am somewhat surprised that my old old ramblings from the original bulletin boards are still floating around in the internet archives! I really wish Dave and I could have kept the British Suiseki Society going, but in those early days it was very hard, as we created each issue of our little newsletter magazine - I would spend days printing them one at a time on an early colour printer, and the costs of ink and printing meant we heavily subsidised its production. We felt it was worth the efforts and costs, but there came a point where it all became too much of a burden.

My enthusiasm for stone appreciation (as we often called it then) is re-awakening. Though I am not sure I ever lost it, more a case of not being actively engaged, or maybe just dormant. But I am here now, or could say, back again. I hope to enjoy corresponding with you and other enthusiasts in the future, and I am very interested to know where the subject is now, and what treasures have been uncovered.

Thanks again,
Joe
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Post  Chris Cochrane Tue Feb 25, 2014 2:38 pm

You might be surprised, Joe, that I cannot recall anyone being as creative as you in matching individual stones to well-crafted stands that both honored traditions of Japan (suiseki) & China (scholars' rocks) while having enough difference to be distinctive. Your choice of woods which sometimes replicated textures and patterns of stones just-enough to highlight the stone fascinates me, still. A few Italians are similarly creative, but yours were first &, arguably, the most engaging.

I have a few editions of British Suiseki Society newsletters, but the photos were best that you shared over the net. Lynn Boyd taught me a lot about art using your stone mountings as illustrations of creative work-- I wish I could pull that correspondence.

You encouraged me to collect Chinese scholars' rock-style stones in my region when the East Coast bonsai community (including still very prominent stone enthusiasts) failed to see beyond their suiseki-style. My collection is strongly flavored by the competing choices. Ultimately, I found the the culture of Japanese literati with Chinese taste (essentially, sencha tea enthusiasts) satisfied looking in both directions historically. Their views on display largely informs both intimate & public display of stones and bonsai in Japan. You, Dave, Wil (in Japan), Brian Harkins, Jeff Cline, Kemin Hu, Pat Graham & Japanese enthusiasts of classical tradition encourage me to learn more. Mr. Sudo taught me to turn from the objects-themselves toward feeling when studying intimate display. I wish I could return to his study at Chikufuen (no longer an option)... but I can return to study through friends. A few of the best teachers are passing or have passed away in Japan. Strangely (to me), the scholarly community is less-attuned than high-end antique vendors to the incredible delights we can appreciate through viewing stones with memorable history as well as those with little history.

For me, it is an honor and treasure to have a memorable stone collected and mounted by you. Conversations with you & others with Dan Barton ignited my enthusiasm before going to Italy in 1997. My bonsai & suiseki "brother" Marco Favero arranged a stone adventure that was a highlight of my life. Marco introduced me to Luciana, and Luciana has opened me to appreciation that is unique & (in her case) exceedingly virtuous as (though?) she covers her expression with deep humility. In Italy, I often thought of you and of Dan, who were as smitten as I.

It is good to have you sharing this stone-lover's world. I'm glad to reconnect through correspondence separate from occasional updates when seeing Dave Sampson. Dave is an extraordinary fellow. As stones seem to come to those who can appreciate them, it is a just universe where you & Dave are neighbors.

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