Is Portland The Epienter Of A Cool New American Bonsai Movement?
b"When most Americans think of bonsai \\u2014 the craft of pruning and shaping small trees \\u2014 they probably think of an ancient gardening craft practiced by lovers of Japanese culture.
Ryan Neil thinks it\\u2019s anything but.
With a story ripped from the movie \\u201cThe Karate Kid,\\u201d he founded Bonsai Mirai, a leading international school in the hills outside Portland, and he\\u2019s partnered with cutting-edge architects and designers in an effort to make bonsai cool for a new generation.
From Sept. 25\\u201327, they\\u2019re staging an ambitious exhibition of bonsai from around the country at the Portland Art Museum called the Artisan's Cup with design help from Skylab Architecture. Their goal: to elevate bonsai into a contemporary art form worthy of, well, museums."