Artist: Zach Adamz with Komorebi Bonsai
Artist Bio:
Zach Adamz has studied bonsai for over a dozen years and is the owner and executive artist at Komorebi Bonsai. He has studied with renown artists across the United States and around the world; in 2019 he apprenticed at the Korea Bonsai Museum in Seoul, South Korea, where he qualified as a bonsai master. Since locating to Oxford, Zach has integrated bonsai into his new home, establishing the Magnolia State Bonsai Club (MSBC) in 2023 and teaching beginner bonsai courses. His aesthetic inspiration from bonsai comes from growing up in the east Tennessee woodlands of Appalachia, and his subject matter highlights native species of the American South. His passion for bonsai is fueled by his love of trees, and he shares that passion with his wife and four children – who always love hunting for moss and looking for bonsai material in the woods.
Zach's CSA Goal:
My art draws from the landscape of the South, quite literally. Growing up outside Chattanooga I spent my youth in the Appalachian Mountains. Hiking among the sun-dappled rocky woodlands and river streams inspired and fueled my passion for bonsai. This is the foundation for Komorebi Bonsai. Komorebi is a Japanese term meaning, “sunlight filtering through forest foliage.”
My goal is that in some way I will be able to play a small part in reconnecting people with the good places of their past through the natural environment. The living art form of bonsai captures a sense of place and draws in the audience with a visceral connection to nature that we crave. Perhaps this is what first drew me to the art form, or to trees in my youth. Now, seeing this excitement in my own children as we snap pictures for inspiration during hikes, collect moss on walks, and climb trees themselves gives a renewed sense of purpose in my pursuit of the art of bonsai. After over a decade of working in tandem with my medium, the grandeur of ancient captured in miniature – that transcendence of time –continues to draw me back to my table, tools, and trees.
The purpose of Komorebi Bonsai is to develop an interactive platform for everyone – from appreciators to creators – to enjoy bonsai. I am drawing on my expertise in bonsai and experience as a professor and lecturer to create an online bonsai learning platform, as well as a techniques video library. This subscription platform will be generated from live demonstrations and workshops to utilize an interactive audience to add an in-person feel to the library content. This online platform, coupled with continued live events, will be a catalyst for developing Komorebi Bonsai as a mainstay in the bonsai world and local community.
My long-term goal is the development of a full-time public bonsai garden in Oxford. Drawing on nature as a witness to history in northern Mississippi, and Oxford specifically, my vision is to integrate and adapt this traditional art form to the local landscape, bringing the bonsai world to Oxford, and displaying the trees of Oxford to the bonsai world.
Zach's Shares:
Tree Raffle: This is a locally collected Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) collected on a dig in 2018 and potted in a locally crafted ceramic pot. Over the past five years this tree has maintained vigorous health and was styled in its current iteration in the spring of 2023.
Each ticket is $15 - only 100 tickets sold! The winner will be selected at the CSA Reception on May 16th from 6-8 pm at the Powerhouse! Winner does not have to be present to win!
Bonsai Tutorial Video Access: The video access share will allow contributors to interact with the Komorebi Bonsai digital library so they can learn or share how to create bonsai. The video library will contain instructional tutorial videos on the technical, horticultural, and artistic aspects to the art of bonsai. Access to the video library through the KoBo website will be available to donors via a special access code. This code will be sent via e-mail to each CSA participant beginning in April 2024. The access code will be available to begin any time, and will be valid for three (3) months after activation.
The shares will cost $35 per share purchased, and can also be purchased on behalf of another as a gift. Each share purchased will receive its own unique access code. Unlimited share access is available to share purchasers; one access code per share will be permitted. Shares can be purchased up to the beginning of June.
Proceeds from these shares will fund further development and creation of the video library content, exploration of bonsai techniques, and adaptability of local native species as bonsai material, as well as a digital bonsai research and art archive.
Follow Zach online!
Website: https://www.kobo-bonsai.com/
Facebook: Komorebi Bonsai Facebook Group
Instagram: @zma_bonsai
About the CSA
Each year the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council challenges creative entrepreneurs to formulate a goal for their business and to use the CSA to achieve or move toward it. Creatives use the CSA to share their story and invite people to support their growth as artists and entrepreneurs.
Similar to Community Supported Agriculture, this program asks early investors to support artists by buying shares that artists will deliver by the end of the program in June. Supporters order shares from January through June, and participants must have their orders completed by the end of June.
When you purchase a share, you are not only receiving a unique item, you are supporting the growth of small businesses in your community. You can follow your arts entrepreneur from the initial idea through the creative process. Connect with the unique stories that define our community!
#GrowingSmallBusinesses #GrowingOxford
