The 3rd National Juried Bonsai Pot Exhibition presenting in the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the US National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. has accepted 7 of my bonsai pots to be in the exhibition and sale. The exhibition will be in conjunction the American Bonsai Society Annual Learning Seminars, the theme is "Capitol Collections: Collecting in the 21st Century". I am honored to have my pots in this premier national show.

Years ago I lived in Miami where I grew all kinds of wonderful plants. I grew lychees, longans, carambolas and many mango trees, lots of pineapples and of course strange succulent plants like pachypodiums and adeniums.

I also was a member of the Miami Bonsai Society. I am now a member of the Atlanta Bonsai Society and my hometown Tennessee Valley Bonsai Society. I have been making plant containers for years and now I am concentrating on bonsai and kusamono containers. I have been firing my wood kiln and also my cone 10 reduction kiln to achieve the desired results in bonsai pottery.

I am mixing my own clay using Lizella, fireclay and ball clay to make a dark clay perfect for bonsai containers, in some batches I add interesting materials like chicken grit and metal filings that melt at 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit marking the pots with inclusions.

I also am growing different types of bonsai trees using conifers like Virginia pines and Parsley hawthorns that I have collected on my property. The privets I have collected on my property are developing into good bonsai trees. I have a greenhouse full of cactus and succulents that I have propagated.

I make a wide range of work in stoneware for use in the home. I am always exploring the application of simple ash glazes to enhance the ever evolving forms of my pottery. My work is available at my studio on Lookout Mountain in Georgia.

Thank You
Mark Issenberg