“Falling into Winter” at the National Arboretum
As past articles have shown, it doesn’t take much to get me to plan a day trip out to the Arboretum, but I’ll admit I don’t often think of going during wintertime. This sounds like it might be something special see, however, if the temperature stays in those deceptive 40s and 50s…
Falling into Winter
American Viewing Stones from the Greaves Collection
On Exhibit through February 25, 2018
This visiting exhibit celebrates the changing of the seasons from early fall to late winter using viewing stones on loan from the Jim & Alice Kikue Greaves Collection at the American Viewing Stone Resource Center of The Huntington Library, Art Collection, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California.
The viewing stones, known in Japanese as “suiseki,” refer to the ancient Japanese art of appreciating natural stones and the values they evoke through their shapes, sizes, colors and patterns formed from wind, water and time. Often these stones mimic natural things such as mountains, snow, sky and more.
The indoor exhibit, funded by The National Bonsai Foundation, will be on display now until February 25th, 2018 at the Exhibits Gallery at The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum (located in the U.S. National Arboretum). It will complement the Bonsai Exhibit: Winter Silhouettes, on display January 6-18, 2018, which boasts the ideal opportunity to observe the artists’ miniaturized version of nature, by observing the deciduous bonsai trees’ “bare bones.”
I generally think of Spring or Fall when planning a visit to the Arboretum, but this does sound like a very unique experience. And at the least, the bonsai are always fascinating, but I’ve never seen them “naked” for winter before! 
