MBS

In 2012, Mr. Matson was honored and recognized for his great service to Golden State Bonsai Federation that also recognized his great service to the art of bonsai; someone who had extended their influence beyond the efforts of GSBF to promote the art of bonsai and encourage cooperation and unity of effort to achieve excellence within the entire bonsai community. To impress the significance of this award, we should note only one other person has ever been bestowed this award and that was John Naka. Ted’s service extends to our club. We owe a great deal of our continued growth and success to him. Ted Matson was our first Advanced class instructor for over a decade. All of the novice and intermediate instructors at Milwaukee Bonsai Society have been students of Ted.

Ted Matson began studying bonsai in 1979 in San Francisco, where he learned the basics under John Boyce. He moved to Los Angeles in 1980, where he became involved in a number of clubs and began a serious pursuit of the art, taking classes from leading masters in Southern California, including Ben Suzuki, Shig and Roy Nagatoshi, Melba Tucker, Warren Hill and John Naka. Currently Mr. Matson is the Administrative Curator of the Huntington Bonsai Collection in greater Los Angeles.

Current Currator of The Huntington Library bonsai pavillion his other memberships include Descanso Bonsai Society (a past president), Shohin Bonsai Society (a past president), the California Bonsai Society and Nampu Kai, a group comprised of John Naka’s students. He also is a co-founder of the California Shohin Society (a statewide organization devoted to the study of the smallest category of bonsai). He has served as an elected trustee of the Golden State Bonsai Federation, a statewide organization of clubs, for several years and was the Editor of Golden Statements for three years. (His articles have appeared in various bonsai publications and newspapers.) Currator of The Huntington Library bonsai pavillion

As noted previously, Mr. Matson was our first Advanced class instructor, he continues his teaching with many of the original students as well as new students in study groups. He continues to present and offer workshops for MBS. He was the headliner for our 45th Annual Exhibit in 2015 and we will to have him back for our 50th in 2020.