After a long hiatus, the US again has a juried bonsai pottery competition. After an initial pair of events in 2001 and 2002 and a follow-up in 2015, we now have an updated competition sponsored by the American Bonsai Society and managed by Angelica Ramirez.

Angelica Ramirez

Angelica’s dedication to promoting bonsai potters is unparalleled. Her online database, Discover Potters, features almost 500 bonsai pot makers working in 50 countries. For this year’s bonsai pottery competition, Angelica coordinated over 100 submissions from around the US and a multiple-round judging process that included a mix of professional ceramicists and bonsai practitioners.

The exhibit

Early rounds were held remotely. Artists submitted photos of their work and a prose description of their process to provide context for the judges. The final round of judging took place in person at the exhibit.

Bonsai potter Roy Minarai and I served as the in-person judges. The process was fantastic and one of the highlights of my trip to the National Bonsai Exhibition this year. Before getting started with the judging, Angelica gave Roy and me an hour-long tour of the exhibit providing information about the process by which the containers were made. (The submissions themselves were anonymous.) Roy and I then spent the next hour casually appreciating and inspecting the containers to get a good sense of build quality, design, and usability.

Handling pots can reveal a lot about the build of a container. When there’s a tree planted in a pot, we tend to focus on the suitability of the design for a given tree. On it’s own, one can consider the container’s weight, balance, and construction.

I can’t convey how fun it was to get to handle such well-made ceramic works. It was like visiting a museum where visitors are encouraged to interact with the collection.

Roy and I spent the next hour in silence independently judging the exhibit using a crafty online interface that involved scanning QR codes and using sliders to indicate our scores relating to build quality and artistic merit.

After enjoying the exhibit room on our own for several hours, the awards were distributed, information cards went out, and visitors entered the space. Here are some of the fantastic containers from the exhibition.

Nao Tokutake
Traditional Unglazed – First Place

Mary J. Lai
Traditional Unglazed – Second Place

Doug Trythall
Contemporary Unglazed – First Place

Denise Soultanian
Contemporary Unglazed – Second Place

Thomas Adcock
Contemporary Unglazed – Third Place

Nao Tokutake
Traditional Glazed – First Place

Mary J. Lai
Traditional Glazed – Second Place

Kenneth V. Hanna
Traditional Glazed – Third Place

Yrene C. Vasquez
Traditional Glazed – People’s Choice Award

Kevin Yates
Traditional Glazed

Pitoon Ekarintaragun
Traditional Glazed

Antony Smith
Contemporary Glazed – First Place

Stacy Allen Muse
Contemporary Glazed – Second Place

To learn more about the event and to see photos from every displayed entry, check out the North American Bonsai Pottery Competition website.

News & Updates

[Save the Date]

• The 2027 Pacific Bonsai Expo will be held on February 6-7, 2027, at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, California. We’ll have updates about the event soon so stay tuned!

[Podcast]

• Related to the Expo, I had a chance to talk about the show’s judging system with Ryan Neil and Brandon Roberts. You can check it out on the Asymmetry Podcast.

[Shohin School]

• The 2026 Winter Shohin School will be held on January 31 – February 1 at Lincoln Park’s Harrison Recreation Center in Alameda, California. Registration will open in about a week.
  
  The event features one day of display education (Saturday) led by Daisaku Nomoto, a judge for the Gafu-ten exhibition in Japan, and one day of workshops. This year we’re teaming up with Eric Schrader of Bonsaify to provide hand-picked workshop material, and we’ll have time for bring-your-own-tree sessions too. Vendors will be on hand with trees, stands, and containers for shohin bonsai. More info coming soon!

[Seattle Area Event]

• Visit the 11th annual Winter Bonsai Solstice at the Pacific Bonsai Museum in Federal Way, Washington. The event is one of just two evenings all year when the Museum opens its gates after sunset. December 13 from 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Related, see the Pacific Bonsai Museum’s recent feature on CBS News Sunday Morning.