2026 Soil Sale
Our 2026 soil sale is still open for business: https://dirtmerchantsrus.com/
Keep in mind that soil is LOCAL PICK UP ONLY in order to keep our prices down. Pickup dates and times will need to be arranged with Brownlee Currey.
Address:
3482 Oakcliff Road Unit C
Doraville, GA 30340
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Pb5zvNaNEK6VqYxd7
July Club Meeting: The Art of Bonsai Display
Date: Saturday, July 18, 2026
Location:
The Retreat Building
Callanwolde Fine Arts Center
980 Briarcliff Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30306
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ff7V13d61dgQGdPZ8
Join us for our July club meeting, where we will explore Keido, the traditional art of bonsai display. This month’s program will be led by Arjun Sawhney, who will guide us through the principles of creating thoughtful displays to “tell stories with your bonsai”. The presentation will also include a hands‑on session with trees, stands, accent plants, and scrolls to demonstrate how these elements express mood, season, and narrative.
Following the morning session, the club will provide a light lunch.
In the afternoon, we will offer a scroll and calligraphy workshop with a local Japanese calligraphy artist, Yuri Ansari, for a limited number of participants. It will be a unique opportunity to deepen your understanding of traditional Japanese sumi calligraphy, Shodo, “way of writing,” and to create your own calligraphy scroll to display with bonsai trees.
Schedule
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. | Club Meeting and Traditional Art of Bonsai Display with Arjun
12:00 p.m. | Lunch provided by the club
1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. | Scroll and Calligraphy Workshop with Yuri Ansari
Workshop
Please bring ideas and images for your scroll’s calligraphy and blank papers (e.g., newspaper, copy paper) to practice sumi calligraphy with. Yuri will provide a group demonstration and individual guidance on selection of words, style, and calligraphy techniques during the workshop.
Each participant will receive an imported Japanese traditional blank scroll and 3 shikishi inserts, Japanese art boards with high-quality washi paper, elegantly framed with a gold foil border. The club will provide sumi ink, sumi brush and other necessary supplies.
This meeting is open to current Atlanta Bonsai Society members and anyone interested in bonsai. If you’re not yet a member, we encourage you to join before or at the meeting.
August: 2026 Club Auction
The annual ABS auction is graciously hosted by Ahlers & Ogletree Auctions, courtesy of club member Robert Ahlers. The auction will take place on August 15th at this address:
Ahlers & Ogletree
1788 Ellsworth Industrial Boulevard NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
On the day of the auction, check in for items will be from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm at Ahlers & Ogletree. NO ITEMS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER 12:00!!!
Members are encouraged to bring their items at the loading dock as close to 10:00 am as possible, and then return for the 1:00 – 1:30 pm in‑person preview. We are using adhesive labels to be filled out by the seller for item check‑in.
Auction lots will come up for bid in a “first come, first served” order. In other words, the items will be presented in the order in which they were checked in for the auction.
Please assemble and mark your lots prior to the auction.
Please mark your reserves on the auction labels.
The auction will begin at 1:30 pm on the 15th. Bids for each lot will be accepted in‑person only. The auction will last until the last lot is sold and/or as time permits.
Our intention is for the auction to finish by 4:00 pm. Items must be paid for and picked up from Ahlers & Ogletree no later than 5:00 pm on August 15th.
To be eligible to sell at the club auction, a paid membership to the Atlanta Bonsai Society is required. Non‑members are always welcome to purchase during the auction.
Auction commission is 13%, which the club will automatically deduct from all sales.
Sellers are encouraged to consider whether a reserve price is necessary for their lots, and to set reasonable reserves. Starting bids will be at the discretion of the auctioneer. Items which do not reach the reserve will remain unsold (i.e., no adjustment of reserve and no post‑auction sales), so set your reserve price to sell! Past experience tells us that “no reserve” lots bring the same or higher prices than reserve lots.
The minimum lot value for items to be auctioned is $100. This means that a single item or group of items will have a starting bid of $100.
Unsold fees: If an item goes to auction but fails to sell or sells for less than $100.00, the seller pays a $10.00 fee to the Atlanta Bonsai Society, to be deducted from any proceeds paid to the seller by the club.
The club welcomes donated items that will be auctioned off with full value going to the club, with a $10.00 minimum value per donated lot. There is no need to set a reserve price and there is no minimum selling price for donated items. Unsold donated items will remain with the club to be sold at future club functions.
Each seller may submit a maximum of 15 lots.
Payment for items is due at the end of the auction. Payment may be by cash, credit card, debit card, or Zelle. Payment must be made prior to pick‑up of items.
Payment to sellers will be available at the end of the auction after all payments have been collected from buyers. Payment minus commission will be by club check. If you wish to leave prior to the end of the day, please register your PayPal address in advance so we may pay you once the auction has closed.
Pick‑up may take place after the auction is closed and payment is complete, and must take place by 5:00 pm on the same day as the auction. Unsold items must also be collected no later than 5:00 pm on the same day as the auction or else they will be considered to have been donated to the club.
Important Note: All items are purchased in “as‑is” condition and the Atlanta Bonsai Club makes no warranty or representations as to the health, quality, condition, accuracy of information provided, fair value, etc. We trust our sellers to provide quality items and accurate information, but in the end all responsibility rests with the buyer. We encourage potential bidders to reach out to sellers directly with questions before placing bids in order to gather any additional information needed.
September: JapanFest 2026
September 19th and 20st the club will host our annual bonsai exhibition and workshops at Japanfest at the Gas South Convention Center. The festival is open from 10:00am to 6:00pm on Saturday and from 10:00am to 5:00pm on Sunday. Set up for the club events is Friday the 18th at 2:00pm.
More details can be found about the festival here: https://www.japanfest.org
The club will once again feature an exhibition of refined bonsai provided by our members, as well as Kusamono and Suiseki (viewing stones).
For JapanFest attendees, the club will offer “build a bonsai” workshops for up to 50 participants per day and offer to the public a wide variety of bonsai and bonsai‑themed merchandise.
JapanFest is a fun, busy volunteer‑driven event. We could use your help to spread the load as we share bonsai with the public. Got time to volunteer? Be on the lookout for our volunteer sign up, and we can arrange complimentary tickets to the festival!
Bonsai Workshops
We offer novice workshops led by a local bonsai professional and advanced workshops led by various guest artists. Since bonsai have needs based on the calendar, our workshops are seasonal in nature.
Depending on artist demand, we may have more than one workshop session per weekend, so check the events page for times as the monthly meeting approaches. Please remain flexible with whether you can take morning or afternoon workshop. The cost of each workshop session is currently $75 for at least 3 hours, unless we are including tree or other materials, which may be extra. The club will provide wire to use at workshops and meetings; everything else you may need should be brought by workshop participant, including tree and tools.
Recent Guest Artists
- Young Choe
- Shannon Salyer
- Jonas Dupuich
- Rodney Clemons
- Adam Jones
- Kenji Miyata
- Kathy Shaner
- Tyler Sherrod
- Jerome Kellerhals
- Sergio Cuan
- Eli Akins
- Mike Lane
- Julian Adams
Membership
ATLBS Online
