The East Bay Bonsai Society is excited to announce that the headliner for the club’s 55th Annual October show will be JP Hoareau from France. During the October 8th and 9th show, JP will conduct a free demonstration on a Larch tree on Sunday, October 9th starting at 1:00 pm. This will be his first time as a headliner at a United States bonsai show.

The show hours are 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturday and 11:00 — 4:00 pm on Sunday. The show will feature over 50 tree varieties and ages. The show will be held at the Lakeside Garden Center, located at 666 Bellevue, Oakland, CA. The show will also feature a plant sale and the raffling of the demonstration tree.

Jean-Philippe Hoareau, or “JP” as he in known, was born and currently resides in France. Trained in drawing and artistic design, his love of Bonsai started one day in 2007 when he saw a small Elm tree in a rock pot and its originality and uniqueness drew him to learn more about the art and techniques of bonsai. This interest turned into obsession, and his love for Bonsai and Japanese ascetics became stronger. After visiting Japan and reading about Ryan Neil’s journey from a six year Japanese apprenticeship to moving to Oregon to start his own school and garden, JP decided to apprentice at Ryan’s studio and garden from May 2012 to July 2013. That experience fueled his passion about the living art of bonsai. Videos of JP’s many demonstrations can be seen on Bonsai Focus, Bonsai Empire and Generation Bonsai YouTube channels. JP now has his own studio in France and focuses on smaller bonsai, shohin and mame.

You can view one of his YouTube videos at http://bit.ly/2c3Iknf