Tony, NZBA Vice President
Tony joined the Christchurch Bonsai Society around 1976 or ’77 and has taught the beginners’ class since the early 1990’s, served as President and Vice President of the society and chair of the organising committees for the 2009, and 2015 national conventions and the 50th anniversary mini- convention in 2018. He regularly demonstrates at the Christchurch club, at local garden clubs and shows and is on the list of national demonstrators.
A university graduate in Agricultural Science, Tony is largely self-taught in bonsai but has learned a lot from workshops with Ben Oki, Tony Bebb, Craig Cousins, John Hanby, Nobuyuki Kajiwara, Salvatore Liporace, Lee Wilson, Robert Stevens, Peter Warren and Will Baddeley.
Tony tends to favour deciduous trees but works with a wide range of species and styles, likes group plantings, rock plantings and landscapes, especially with a Chinese influence. He’s keen to develop his skills and knowledge with NZ natives. Whilst he’s happy to do it, he thinks we spend too much time in our clubs working on starter material, usually from nursery stock, and don’t spend enough time developing our better trees. He really enjoys critique sessions, especially when people bring along trees they have been working on for a while.