Viewing Stone's of North America: An Emerging Perspective-- the annual PVSG exhibit

shared by Avery Anapol at the National Bonsai Foundation...

Did you think bonsai was all about trees? Think again! Come visit the special exhibit at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in Washington, DC.  Viewing Stones of North America: An Emerging Perspective will be on display until March 29. Fridays-Mondays only from 10am - 4pm.

Members from the Potomac Viewing Stone Group, a regional organization dedicated to stone appreciation, present an exhibit of stones collected in North America. The stones featured in the exhibit, including five from the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum’s collection, were published in the 2014 book Viewing Stones of North America, A Contemporary Perspective by Thomas S. Elias, a PVSG member, and former director of the U.S. National Arboretum.


The exhibition was set-up a week before its opening and overhead lighting had yet to be carefully directed.  Hopefully, I (&/or other visitors) can add photos of the complete exhibition.

So sad that I missed this exhibition. Are there any pictures of the stones posted here or somewhere else?

I will be in DC this Sep/Oct. Is there any place to visit except the NBPM, if one is into suiseki? A collector or a seller?

Hi Keifer...

I apologize or not getting the stones & overall display online here.  I photogrphed them all at setup and, again at takedown, but my original photos were dark enough to require adjusting.  I am not a fan of adjusting so many photos as a set, and haven't had the fortitude to adjust each.  I've yet to explore the before-takedown set of photos-- perhaps they will pass posting.  A health setback left me underproductive for much of the past year & continues.

All of the stones in the exhibition are in Tom Elias's text Viewing Stones of North America-- a Contemporary Perspective.  The book has been well-received by Amazon reviewers.  I includes a wonderful stone by IBCer Joseph Gayton (a.k.a., "stonener"), who has been absent since his back injury in January 2014.  Hope Joseph has fully recovered.

Glenn Reusch presents an illustrated article (p. 8 forward) on the exhibition in the latest (May 2015) edition of California Aiseki Kai (CAK) newsletter (LINkED HERE).  Glenn's article illustrates sections of the overall Potomac Viewing Stone Group display as well as photos of particular stones. 

This edition of the CAK newsletter also includes Jim Greaves's enticing article on whether to water desert stones & Edd Kuehn's article on an exhibit at the Pacific Rim Bonsai Museum by the stone study group of Puget Sound Bonsai Association.

If you can make it to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in the autumn season, please give me a reminder.  I will try to meet you or find another stone friend to meet you that has access to more of the stone collection than might be exhibited.  It is also the most likely time for local & regional enthusiasts to go collecting as rivers are at their lowest.  Perhaps, you'll have room in your schedule to join us.

Thanks, Chris, for the link to the beautiful newsletter. Tom's book is already on my list, I am looking forward to it.
And: All the best for your health!!! We all need your advice here! :-)
Cheers, Stefan

Hi Keifer... I forgot to add an invitation to consider stone friends in Potomac Viewing Stone Group as friends to visiting enthusiasts.  I was editing that addition to the previous post when you posted (see my previous post)... :-)  Hope to see you, here!

Thanks so much! Do you have meetings in the DC area?

Potomac Viewing Stone Group meets six times a year at the Administration Building of the U.S. National Arboretum; this building is adjacent to National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in Washington D.C.  Visitors are always welcome & encouraged.   

Most meetings are scheduled on Sunday afternoon from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m..  That timing allows far-flung members to get into & out of D.C. traffic as well as any. Dates for each meeting are distributed about three weeks in advance because room availability is fluid.

Over most of PVSG's brief history (founded 1999), the Museum has invited PVSG to mount an annual exhibit; recently, a six week exhibit in mid-February thruough March has allowed Bonsai Museum staff and volunteers to focus on bonsai maintenance in critical weeks leading up to spring.  The Museum also supported the mounting of an exhibit "Stones of the Potomac Region" in 1997 which hastened formation of PVSG. 

Several previous exhibits have been illustrated on IBC threads (hotlinked in underlined bold type):

    -  2009   -    https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t41-pvsg-exhibit-walk-thru


    -  2010.a-    https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t2346-asian-tradition-in-stone-appreciation-an-exhibit-in-washington-dc-usa 

       2010.b-    https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t2392-american-stone-appreciation-a-pvsg-exhibit-in-washington-dc


   -   2011   -    https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t8499-potomac-viewing-stone-group-exhibit-magic-from-earth-water-nbpm-11-19-12-18   -

Excellent, thanks! :-) If you would post the dates for fall 2015 here as well, I would love coming if possible.