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Another moment of great interest was, on Saturday afternoon, the meeting with Mrs. Silvia Orsi, who agreed to replace the classic conference with a moment of greater synergy with the participants. In fact Silvia commented on the accompaniment objects. The big surprise was not so much her botanic expertise, now well known through her unique book in Italy, "Wild plants - Shitakusa and Kusamono", but her sensitivity in reading the suiseki combining it with the herbaceous essence which is the most appropriate both for the season and the environment suggested by the stone.
In the picture on the left Silvia is proposing a 'game': which plant could replace the pair of deer next to the waterfall stone? Reading the natural environment the answer is simple: bamboo, reeds, moss, they are all essences that blend well with the high humidity around a waterfall, where even the air is filled with tiny particles of water. |
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| Silvia could drag us into worlds where an arid exposed to the winds mountain marries a cobwebby Serpervivum, fighting for survival, or in the harsh heights where vegetable species become rare and rare and only the strongest species, like as a prostrate thyme survive, or in the quiet environment of a large pond in the company of a marsh bird. |
| So we could fully appreciate Silvia’s initial introduction: "Why do we insert an element to match a suiseki or a bonsai? To convey emotion with elements immediately carrying the observer’s imagination to a natural environment. A saxifrage, for example, immediately identifies the mountain environment but sometimes, because of the difficulty of growing these small plants, we exhibit what we have, or what is better." This is true. The encounter with Silvia taught us how important and prominent a conscious selection of our herbs is for a complete display. |
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101 stones in competition, so it is impossible to show them all here. On the official AIAS website you can see the full report of the event and the pictures of all the stones on display. Also this time Italiansuiseki was present with its entire team: In addition to my suiseki also Felice and Lorenzo contributed with their beautiful stones to the quality of the event. It was a perfect opportunity to meet and exchange opinions and plans for the future.
These are the stones that most affected us, sometimes sharing the choices of Judge Mr. Jesus Quintas. I remind that the A.I.A.S. Regulation provides for a subdivision of the stones into 6 categories, so that the awards are given to stones of the same type. The U.B.I. Vice President Mr. Leonardo Pettinari also selected a suiseki to which he assigned the 'UBI President' Award, while the I.B.S. Instructors Mr. Ezio Piovanelli and Mr. Angelo Attinà selected the suiseki winner of the I.B.S. "Plaque " Award.
After so much talk I will leave you to images of stones, but not before thanking those who also this time collaborated with their professional work for the success of my exhibits: Mr. Sergio Biagi for my display tables, Mrs.Shoko Okumura for the paintings, Mr. Henk Fresen for Tenkei, and Mrs. Valentina Marcucci from "Japan Bonsai" for the selection and cultivation of my access plants.
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| Stones out of competition |
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Mr. Jesus Quintas
"Do Not Disturb"
Liguria
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Mr. Jesus Quintas
"Magic carpet"
Liguria
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Mrs. Luciana Queirolo
"The flight"
Liguria |
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| Landscape Stones Category |
| The entered stones were 48. The selection we are showing will give the idea of the high quality of this edition and the consequent difficulty of the judge in having to choose only four. We reward them all. To you the pleasure of drawing up your personal ranking ! |
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| Mrs. Virna Marchi
"The mystery of the mountain"
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| This is the suiseki winner of the A.I.A.S. Trophy 2013, consisting of a cup which is given for a year to the winner whose name is engraved on the pedestal. In addition this stone will represent the A.I.A.S. in the next ESA Congress 2014. |
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| Mr. Felice Colombari
"The pet"
Liguria
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| First Prize in the category 'Landscape stones' ! A prestigious result for Felice with a stone that already obtained a Mention of Merit in the Crespi Suiseki Cup 2010. In the video you can hear the judge’s comments on this suiseki. Its poetic name originates from a certain resemblance to a crocodile face. And it has always been affectionately called 'The Pet'. |
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| Mrs. Daniela Schifano
"The above of the White Tiger"
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| Second Prize in the category ' Landscape Stones ' and 'UBI President' Award for this Setagawaishi, which I do love. A stone that comes from a far away world, from the Seta river in Japan inviting to be caressed, for the soft catlike line and for the silky and light and shade effects surface. |
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| Mr. Lorenzo Sonzini
"Over the hill"
Vietnam
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| An elegant, evocative, rarefied atmosphere for this beautiful doha-ishi of Lorenzo, who always studies carefully the objects of his display from the Japanese table to the pair of deer, two original tenkei. I appreciate the wide open spaces and the right proportions, the beautiful veiled moon, the soft slope ... everything is measured and evocative. |
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| Mr. Claudio Villa
"Lost between clouds and sea"
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| The winner stone according to the most for the elegance of its lines and the beautiful display on a very well proportioned suiban, made ​​of wood. The not perfectly clean surface was the cause of exclusion for the judge. |
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| Mr. Claudio Nuti
"Silence is magit at dusk"
Tuscany
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| A display that deserved a prize and was highly appreciated. Very evocative and well studied in all its elements from the beautiful stone-shaped pool, to the bronze doban, till the low enough table to appreciate the depth of the filled with water cavity. |
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| Mrs. Luciana Queirolo
"If I were wind"
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| A historic Stone of Mrs.Luciana Queirolo, simply exposed as required by this pleasant and extremely evocative suiseki. It leads us, as the poetic name suggests, to being a wind that gently caresses peaks and valleys. In my opinion the large table increases the wide open spaces into which this stone drags us. |
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| Mr. Ninh Huu Hiep
Mizutamari-ishi
Vietnam
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| A new member from the far Vietnam entrusted me with this basalt stone with a deep lake. I tried to display it at the best combining it with a tanzaku with a moon on a stretch of susuki herbs, the September typical graminaceous and a couple of deer. The size of the stone would require more displaying space. The judge found the basin too deep without a way out to the water, a defect which detracts its value. However we award the dense dark material, above all the enthusiasm of the new AIAS member ! |
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| Mrs. Laura Monni
"Aphrodite’s rock"
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| Mrs. Laura Monni, my travelling companion as last year, with the poetic name points out a detail of this stone, the foam lapping against the shores of this island, like a goddess who was born out of the waves. Much attention has been paid to the display elements, from shikishi, a work by the master Mr. Massimo Gobbi, and the accent plant, an essence that seems at ease in an extreme environment like that of a sand dune. |
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| Mr. Felice Colombari
"Ancient paths"
Val D'Aosta
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| A second landscape stone for Felice, who made in record time a difficult daiza for the pleasure of showing his new discovery, directly from the streams of Val d'Aosta. A mighty doha, very dark with green glares which has still to be a bit raised on the left, to have a perfectly flat ... surface according to the judge! |
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| Pattern Stones |
| Only six pattern stones in the category. I remind that for the A. I.A.S. Association pattern stones are natural stones without an appreciable form but with a design that can be ascribed in form and evocative power to the categories of suiseki (landscapes, animals, heavenly objects, weather phenomena, human figures, etc..). |
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| L'Arte del Bonsai Club
"Remember"
Tuscany
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| The judge liked this small stone a lot because of its simplicity and the multiplicity of visions that it offers. A moon, a landscape, maybe the profile of a man watching the night sky ... |
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| Mrs. Daniela Schifano
"Textures of branches, sparks of light"
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| Second Prize in the category 'Pattern Stones', it had already been exhibited in February at "Kokoro-no Ten" of Napoli Bonsai Club where it was classified as the 'Best Suiseki'. On this occasion it seemed to me more suitable to the season to display it in a different way, representing the autumn with small reddish leaves, as if fallen off the bare branches under which the moon peeps. According to the judge, the display can be improved by using a low table. |
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| Mrs. Pilar Guillen
"Liguria"
Spain
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| Also this year Mrs. Pilar offered us one of her stones, from the coast near Valencia. A Spanish stone recalling her the landscapes of Liguria, Third Prize in the category "Pattern Stones". |
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| Mr. Lorenzo Sonzini
"Dawn on Mt Fuji"
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"The mist cleared.
The pale blu Fuji rises above the trees.
The day has born."
Mr. Sui Shoh |
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| I propose this display as a whole, with a calligraphy that Lorenzo selected and translated for us into Italian, English and Spanish. |
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| Bonsai Club Castelli Romani
"With strokes of the wing"
Liguria
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A pattern stone from Giacopiane Lake, the home of the mountains of palombino which for once gave a completely different type. The high Japanese table follows the flight of the little bird that leaves or comes ... who knows.
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| Shelves |
| One of the most difficult categories, Jesus wanted to encourage us to improve. Eight exhibits on which the judge was not sparing with advice and improvements. |
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| Mr. Claudio Nuti
"The scenery of advancing autumn is almost ready"
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| First Prize in the 'Shelves' category : in spite of this, the judge advised to use a lighter table and suggested a completely different view of the stone placed on the second level on the right. However he appreciated the age and quality of both landscapes and the chromatic harmony of the whole. |
Not a hut, in fact, but a wise brooding man...
This interpretation completely changes the possible arrangement of the three stones. |
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| Mr. Sergio Bassi
"Autumn in distant lands"
Liguria - Tuscany
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Second Prize in the 'Shelves' category ... I propose an interesting photo sequence to the careful observer which is more useful than many words: before, during and after !
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| After.... |
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| Mrs. Daniela Schifano
"The autumn Sun touches the heart"
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| An "controversial" display : the most liked it very much. Someone defined it "the most beautiful thing in the show". The judge did not consider it worth a reward in comparison with the others multiples present. According to Jesus the Kikka-seki with its important presence, poorly harmonized with the delicacy of the Toyama-ishi, besides he did not appreciate the presence of bronze deer. |
| "The autumn sun": a chrysanthemum has manifold meanings in Japan. For us it is the flower of the dead. For them it is a symbol of longevity. Due to its resemblance with the solar disk with its rays, it became the emblem of the Emperor who had his investiture by the goddess of Sun Amateratsu. It strongly symbolizes the autumn for its rich flowering to the point that the ninth day of the ninth month is the Day of Chrysanthemum, one of the main holidays in Japan. |
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| Object Stones |
| After the landscape stones the most popular category: twenty-nine stones on display. Not only human figures, but also many good examples of boat and hut stones. |
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| Mr. Antonio Marino
"The wise man"
Campania
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First Prize in the category 'Object Stones': the Judge appreciated the stone and the use of calligraphy which increases the feeling of being in front of a Literati. Nevertheless he less shared snails as a supporting element.
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| Mr. Renzo Rabitti
Without name
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| Third Prize in the category 'Object Stones' ... I could not see it at the beginning, and yet there it was a bird perched on a spur of rock! Even without the hint at the poetic name, Jesus immediately caught and rewarded it, suggesting a better display. The daiza has to be redone, the table should be less worked and the accompanying plant is oversized. |
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| Mr. Carlo Vanni
Funagata-ishi
Tuscany
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A good Italian boat stone which was already awarded at the exhibition of Poppi this year, with a surface suggesting age. The judge suggested to try the other front, as well, which could allow us to appreciate better the very deep hollow of the stone.
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| Mr. Felice Colombari
"The signs of time"
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| An abandoned hut, half destroyed by time and neglect: a stone which impressed a lot for its undisputed originality, too. |
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| Mrs. Laura Monni
"Liotru"
Sicily
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Laura’s tribute to Sicily: Liotru is the elephant symbol of Catania. Also the stone comes from Sicily. With a few strokes this suiseki depicts the essence of the elephant, not only for the trunk, but rather for the evident, tired, heavy step.
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| Not only names ... but faces and smiles |
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