MAURO STEMBURGERS BONSAI DREAM SCHOOL
I recently had the pleasure of being in the first class to graduate from the Mauro Stemburger Bonsai Dream program here in the States. What a wonderful learning experience! This was the first time Mauro offered the program in the United States, and I was very excited to see it was happening at the Hidden Gardens bonsai nursery in the Chicago suburb of Willowbrook.
The program was a three–year commitment consisting of two intensive three-day sessions each year. It started with some of the basics, such as proper wiring, branch placement, and soil. Each session is built on what you learned in the previous sessions.
During the sessions, you are expected to bring some material that has some potential and use your newly acquired techniques to style it. For each session, I brought three trees to work on and get Mauro’s professional advice and guidance during styling. As the classes progressed, Mauro revealed more and more about how to style your trees properly and aesthetically. I’ve been styling bonsai for thirty-plus years, and getting the inside view of how a professional like Mauro approaches a tree and applies advanced techniques was a real eye-opener. My class created some wonderful trees during the time spent in the class, as the pictures show. By the end of the last session, you were more or less on your own to come up with a styled tree and get his input and his future vision of the tree.
My skill level minimally tripled by the end of the class! If you’re looking to take your bonsai experience to the next level, I enthusiastically recommend this program. Having a true master like Mauro on one was a great experience. The second class has just finished, and the next round of students has already filled up for spring. I think this will be a very popular and ongoing program.
If you have any interest or want to inquire about openings, feel free to contact Jeff Schulz at the Hidden Gardens in Willowbrook, Illinois.
Larry Magee
Website : https://www.thehiddengardens.net
