Life’s a birch… and cedar, tamarack and spruce, too Bonsais take over the WAG By: Eva Wasney Posted: 3:52 PM CDT Monday, Jul. 24, 2023

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Dozens of tiny trees will be sprouting throughout the Winnipeg Art Gallery this weekend.

For the first time, local bonsai enthusiasts have been invited to display their creations among the gallery’s collections of contemporary and classical artworks. It’s a collaboration decades in the making for Bonsai Society of Winnipeg president Scott Samson.

“It’s often thought of as a horticultural art, but I’ve always thought of it as a fine art,” says Samson, who has been tending miniature trees for the last 15 years. “We’ve been talking about (getting bonsai into the gallery) since the club started, probably for about 40 years.”

The realization of that long-held goal happened entirely by chance.

Last fall, during the club’s annual public exhibition, WAG director and chief executive officer Stephen Borys stumbled upon the hundreds of bonsai on display at the Norwood Community Centre while out for a walk in the neighbourhood.

“I walked in with my wife and was blown away,” he says. “I think I went back twice — I took my parents — because the actual bonsai pieces were just extraordinary.”

Borys and Samson struck up a conversation and the idea of a gallery show started germinating.

Friday through Sunday, 50 of the society’s top trees will be shown in various spaces within the WAG — in glass cases outside the gift shop, next to Qaumajuq’s visible vault and in the halls housing European and Canadian master artworks. Samson is particularly enthused about the latter placement.

“Generally, when we display bonsai, we use plain backgrounds so you can experience the silhouette of the tree and see the texture of the leaves,” he says. “Whereas the interaction between these trees, which will be lit, and the backdrop of these master paintings, is something I can’t wait to see myself.”

“We’ve been talking about (getting bonsai into the gallery) since the club started, probably for about 40 years.”–Scott Samson, Bonsai Winnipeg

Selecting which trees to show at the WAG was a challenge. The society has more than 100 members, some with hundreds of trees in their personal collections. A jury of four bonsai society members, including Samson, spent the spring travelling door to door, selecting the cream of the crop — a task made more difficult by the timing, since bonsai, like full-sized trees, take time to grow their foliage after a winter of dormancy.

The group of 50 trees from 15 different artists share a running theme.

“What we’re hoping this exhibit will do is showcase representations of the Manitoba landscape,” Samson says.

Viewers will see miniature varieties of native trees — such as tamarack, birch, eastern white cedar and spruce — designed to mimic vistas from the Canadian Shield, boreal forest and other local ecosystems.

While it took little convincing to get the society on board, WAG curatorial staff have had to take special steps to protect the gallery’s existing artwork.

“Bringing in live plants with soil or any kind of foundation like that, there’s always the risk that there could be some sort of airborne or wood-boring insects,” Borys says. “But we can control that, largely, in the way these works are being prepared for the installation.”

Prior to display, the bonsai are being held in a quarantine space, where staff can inspect the trees for pests.

Despite the extra measures, Borys is excited to share the exhibit with the public. Both parties are hopeful the one-off event will lead to a more permanent partnership during the WAG’s biennial Art in Bloom celebration.

“The wow factor is amazing, because these bonsai creations are clearly at the same level as an artwork, yet they’re living and breathing,” Borys says. “When you look at the power of plant life and flowers in terms of well-being, I think all of these things are a good thing for the WAG to offer the community.”

Members of the Bonsai Society of Winnipeg will be on hand throughout the weekend to answer questions and share information about the artform with visitors.

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @evawasney