Museum Curators: Warren Hill

Warren Hill at his one-man show at East Tennessee State University in the late 1990s. Trees (from left to right): American Hornbeam, Bald Cypress and Ginkgo Biloba, also known as Chi Chi Ginkgo

Not many people can recall experiencing a specific, life-altering moment. But Warren Hill attests that his personal and professional paths completely changed after he walked into a bonsai exhibition hosted by the California Bonsai Society (CBS) in 1960. 

For this final edition of Museum Curators, we spoke with Hill, who presided over the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum from 1996 to 2001. Though he didn’t practice bonsai growing up or in school, Hill always had a deep interest in Japanese culture and said he was immediately hooked on the art of bonsai after walking into the CBS show.

“I had no idea what I was looking at, but I knew it was magnificent,” he said of the exhibition.

But Hill’s adoration for bonsai didn’t come totally out of the blue. In college, he majored in engineering and horticulture, his affinity for which stems from his Scandinavian parents. His father was Finnish and his mother was Swedish and held a passion and talent for gardening. Hill was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which shares a cold climate with Scandinavian countries known for their appreciation of the arts, including horticulture. 

“Horticulture is in my background and my heritage,” Hill said. 

Left: One of Warren Hill’s Satsuki Azalea in Informal upright-bunjin, propagated by cutting

Right: One of his trident maples in the yose-ue style, propagated by seed

He was working in the engineering industry when he stumbled upon the CBS exhibition that piqued his interest in bonsai. Hill immediately started collecting business cards from professionals present at the event and got to know bonsai masters like John Naka through a mutual love for nature and Japanese art.

“There are many similarities between the cultures of Scandinavia and Japan,” Hill said. “Every place you go in Japan it’s all about the art. In the simplest house you’ll find it’s almost a shrine to the art, which is kind of the way the Scandinavians feel.”

He began to read everything about bonsai he could get his hands on and studied with Naka and other masters like Saburo Kato and Frank Nagata. In 1974, Hill started to teach and give bonsai lectures, demonstrations and workshops for local and international practitioners and groups. 

Left: Hill critiquing a black pine of Jack Fried, a former president of the Midwest Bonsai Society. Right: Hill helping a student at a bonsai workshop work on their Shimpaku Juniper. Hill traveled around the world to style trees at student workshops. 

After one class on trident maples, Hill was invited to tour around East Tennessee by a friend of his who needed someone to practice bonsai with. Hill was sold on the area and moved from California to Tennessee to work on trees and, coincidentally, meet his future wife.

Shortly after, he received a letter from the U.S. National Arboretum that the Museum curator position was open and they wanted him to apply. He sent in his application, interviewed, and secured the job as the Museum’s second-ever curator. 

“It was an honor to even be asked to be interviewed for the job,” Hill said. “It was a rich position, and I really enjoyed it.”

He said the nicest part of the position was meeting and working with the collection of Museum volunteers to take care of the Museum’s masterpiece bonsai.

“All those nice people who helped out all loved the art as I did,” Hill said. “You meet so many talented people like them and masters like Kato and Naka who were all special and of exceptional quality. When you know the background of people like them and know how gifted they are, you’re kind of in awe when you’re around them.”

California State Convention – Hill is holding a workshop for students in Anaheim, California. They are working with olive trees. 

After Hill retired from the curatorship, he and his wife moved back to Tennessee. He opened Tree-Haven, a bonsai school that taught students from all over the world, and he fell in love with teaching again.

“I like watching the students’ eyes light up when you tell them the answer to a question,” he said. 

For his years of excellent teaching, the Golden State Bonsai Federation awarded Hill the Circle of Sensei Award in 2013. Other distinguished recipients of the award include Ben Oki, John Naka and Harry Hirao. 

Hill remembers sharing with bonsai students that, to be a successful bonsai practitioner, you have to hold a deep love and passion for nature – that will guide you in the right direction. 

Warren used his own drawings of different bonsai styles to show students an idea of what the style looks like. This is Chokkan, which has a formal upright trunk. The majestic appearance represents a large, tall tree standing in the mountains or on a vast low-land plain. Usually the tree's outline is in a pyramidal form.

Museum Curators: Michael James

The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum couldn’t house the finest bonsai in the world without a dedicated, talented and knowledgeable leader. In our next installment of Museum Curators, we’re helping you get to know our current curator, Michael James, who is all of those things and more.

Horticulture was a natural career path for James, whose family owned and operated a small produce business out of Maryland called Blueberry Hill. His first bonsai encounter occurred around 1996 when he was in college – a silver maple forest planting at a community fair The beauty and intricacy of the small grouping of trees astonished him.

 James studied art at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he delved into the art and practice of bonsai in his free time. He then decided to pursue a plant science degree at the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“I realized that the most important thing is to learn the science behind it and the ‘why’ and ‘how’ plant cultivation can be done,” James said. “Whether it be higher yields or better tasting fruits or beautiful foliage, it can be done with knowing the physiology and plant sciences.”

Instead of waiting for a job opening or to be recruited, he reached out to the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum for a volunteer position in the summer of 2001. James initially saw his time at the Museum as a place to learn bonsai with the best trees and instructors in the world, but he never thought he would procure a full-time job. He eventually became a permanent employee in 2002, after helping the Museum host that year’s World Bonsai Friendship Federation convention.

James planting blueberries with his late mother around 1981

In 2005, James returned to his family’s produce farm in Maryland, where he remained for the next decade. But he eventually found his way back to the Museum in 2014, working as the assistant curator to former Curator and NBF Co-President Jack Sustic. James was finally appointed curator in June 2018. 

The allure of bonsai and a curatorship

James’ favorite part of growing bonsai is watching the trees thrive and change over the years. Bonsai is such a lengthy process that Museum staff constantly make decisions that will be seen 15 or 25 years later, but James said watching the results of previous years of work is very rewarding.

 “We’re coaxing these trees to their future forms over a very long timeframe, and even though it’s subtle and very slow, you see those forms taking shape,” he said.

 James said some of the most exciting times at the Museum have been when he worked on trees with international bonsai master John Naka. Naka would share his vision for the styling and future appearance of his famous tree planting Goshin or exchange laughs with staff and other bonsai artists.

 “He was always making a joke, like pinching at a spruce with chopsticks and pretending to eat it, or other corny little things,” James said.

 To James, bonsai has always been an important facet to horticulture and agriculture production. He said cultures that produce their own food, like the United States, pave the way for more luxury and time for the arts, including bonsai.  

 “Bonsai turns science into a form of art that is relatable and a balance between both culture and science,” he said. “Some plants produce fruit and could technically be eaten, but these are living things that often speak to the soul, rather than feeding the belly.”

James working on Goshin as a museum volunteer under the direction of John Naka, 2001

 James said he tries to approach the styling of each tree with an unbiased mind, channeling the influence of the bonsai’s creator to maintain the integrity of its design.

 “When working on Goshin, I have to be thinking about what Naka would do to that tree,” he said. “The trees are in a different state than years ago, more developed and refined, but their creators would still utilize the same principles and individual characteristics they applied from the start.”

Most of James’ bonsai education has been through the Museum, but he has traveled around China and Southeast Asia to study the styles and inspiration for bonsai and penjing. James added that the diverse collection within the Museum – which holds bonsai from China, Japan and throughout North America – allows him to study the nuances of different plant species, from training techniques to growing specifications.

 “The Museum is a hub – all these incredibly educated bonsai artists pass through here when traveling to work on trees and explain their ideas of styling and bonsai culture,” he said. “In the branches and trunks, you can see what creators saw in them and what they were intending on in their form that translates out the branches as the trees continue.”

James is one of a few essential workers keeping the trees thriving while the Museum is closed to the public. Leave him a comment below to share your appreciation for his hard work and great leadership! 

Museum Curators: Jack Sustic

Jack Sustic at NBF’s annual reception in 2018.

“It’s almost as if my life path was leading, from the very beginning, to become curator.”

— Jack Sustic

Sustic has just retired from his two-year stint as National Bonsai Foundation co-president and 19 years as a board member, leaving an extensive and inspiring legacy at the Museum – including 12 cumulative years as Museum curator. Therefore, it’s only fitting we pay homage to him in our next Museum Curators spotlight. 

His “path” to bonsai curator began indirectly during his youth. Sustic had heard references to bonsai in films like Karate Kid, but he first saw a real bonsai in the mid-1980s when he was serving in Korea as a U.S. Army soldier before college. He said the bonsai immediately captivated him, and upon returning to the U.S. at Fort McClellan, Alabama, Sustic joined the Alabama Bonsai Society.

The club jumpstarted his love for bonsai and plants in general, and Sustic soon graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in horticulture. He scored his first plant care job at the Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Garden in South Carolina, during which he applied for the U.S. National Arboretum’s internship at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum.

In 1996, Sustic served as the Museum intern for six months under Curators Bob Drechsler and Warren Hill. He returned to South Carolina after his internship wrapped up but was soon chosen for the Assistant Curator position, taking over as curator after Hill retired. Sustic served as curator from 2001 to 2005 and returned in 2008 to preside over the Museum for another eight years. 

“It was such an honor to be part of that collection, but with that honor comes responsibility,” Sustic said. 

Sustic and volunteer Dr. Joe Gutierrez repotting the Yamaki pine.

Accomplishments as Curator and Co-President

Sustic helped to establish many perennial programs and relationships at the Museum and NBF. He pioneered the formation of NBF’s National Bonsai Hall of Fame, which currently includes three members: John Naka, Yuji Yoshimura and Bill Valavanis.

“It was something I thought the Museum and the U.S. bonsai community needed in order to honor and recognize these bonsai masters’ valuable contributions to the art,” he said. 

Sustic is credited with planting the seeds to grow the Museum’s Sister Museum relationship with the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum after he visited their site in Saitama, Japan. Sustic also formed the Consortium of Public Bonsai Curators as a way for bonsai artists and leaders to share information about how they share, cultivate and protect their bonsai collections. 

“The consortium serves to help each other and each public collection. I’m very proud of that,” he said. 

From left to right: Former Curators Jim Hughes, Bob Drechsler, Jack Sustic and current Curator Michael James.

Sustic’s Bonsai Inspirations

Sustic met an array of friends and teachers throughout his nearly 20 years at the Museum. 

“Being curator has allowed me to get to know, work with and befriend people around the world who have been part of the Museum,” Sustic said. “The kindness that all these people share is wonderful.”

Among that company is Felix Laughlin, appointed as NBF’s third president as Sustic began his internship in 1996. Sustic eventually joined Laughlin as co-president from 2018 to 2020. 

“I was really lucky to have one NBF president the entire time I was at the Museum and really lucky it was Felix,” Sustic said. “He is such a wonderful guy, and we worked really well together.”

Sustic learned the art of bonsai from many people, but he most prominently drew inspiration and learned from bonsai master John Naka, who visited the Museum every year to work on trees, especially his world-renowned “Goshin.” Sustic also visited Naka in California to work on trees in Naka’s backyard. 

“Looking back now, I wish I had paid more attention,” he said. “It went by too fast, but those were wonderful experiences. I learned a lot from John, so his influence was huge on me.”

Sustic also learned from Harry Hirao and traveled to Saburo Kato’s bonsai nursery in Japan called Mansei En, during which he received one-on-one training from Kato. With their help, he excelled as a leader and friend throughout his years of dedication to the Museum. 

“I distinctly remember telling Bob Drechsler, ‘I don’t know how you can be curator. I could never do it,’” Sustic said. “Fortunately, over time I learned the ropes, and eventually I took it over. I considered it a real honor and privilege to have been the steward of those trees, and I still feel that way.”

Sustic adds the final touches on a trident maple prior to an official state visit by the Japanese Prime Minister in 2012.

Museum Curators: Jim Hughes

Jim Hughes working on a Japanese white pine at the Shanghai Botanical Garden.

For some people, horticulture is in their DNA. This is the case for Jim Hughes, our newly elected National Bonsai Foundation Board Chair and fourth curator, who hails from a lineage of Minnesota farmers. 

In this installation of “Museum Curators,” we chronicle Hughes’ dedication to nature and eventually bonsai, which started with childhood visits to his family farm. 

“I remember getting the dry kernels of corn off of the corn cobs, putting them in clear mason jars filled with dirt and watching the roots grow,” he said. “The whole process of plants taking off and growing, the day-by-day changes really fascinated me, so my whole life I've been interested in growing things.”

But Hughes’ first taste of bonsai didn’t come until about 30 years later – the late 1980s – when he joined the Minnesota Bonsai Society. He took his first training class from Randy Clark, who ran The Bonsai Learning Center. 

Hughes befriended influential members of the bonsai world – like world-class potter Sarah Rayner Alms – and learned from teachers and visiting speakers who attended the monthly bonsai club meetings. 

Four of five Museum Curators, from left to right: Jim Hughes, Robert Drechsler, Michael James and Jack Sustic.

In 1995, he moved to the D.C. area with seven years of bonsai experience, ready to learn more at the U.S. National Arboretum. He quickly became a Museum volunteer under our first curator Robert Drechsler, working with the other Museum’s curators in the ensuing years. 

“It was a really special opportunity to learn from so many different people, all of whom brought their own talents to the art form,” Hughes said. “That exposure greatly benefited me.”

He loves how bonsai is a unique art form that provides a focused and extremely rewarding career that can stretch across decades. 

“Every year you’re dealing with that element of time and age, which makes bonsai so exciting for me,” he said. “You know that five or nine years from now the tree is going to have a different personality because of that age. It’s a really interesting process, and it takes a certain kind of mentality to really be drawn to the complexity of bonsai.”

Hughes with Aaron Packard – an assistant curator Hughes hired to train at the Museum – and Museum Specialist Kathleen Emerson-Dell working on a bonsai they brought to the White House’s Blue Room in 2006 for a visit from the Japanese Prime Minister.

Leading the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum 

Hughes worked as a Museum volunteer for seven years, an assistant curator for three years and presided over the collection as curator for an additional three years, from 2005 to 2008 – gaining enough memories and friendships for a lifetime.

One highlight was his five-week trip studying penjing at the Shanghai Botanical Garden in China – the country he deems “the source of bonsai.” He studied with masters every day and took trips to other historical Chinese sites on the weekends. Hughes also had the pleasure of frequently learning from bonsai master John Naka, who visited D.C. for NBF board meetings. 

One of Hughes’ most thrilling memories was working to repot the imperial pine, an extensive process because of the tree’s immense size and weight. 

“It was incredible to lift the pine up on a hoist, remove it from that huge container, lay under the root ball and break away the dirt to see the roots that have formed over hundreds of years,” he said. “Not many people get to do it, so I was really fortunate.”

Hughes added that he loved the people he met at the Museum, both while volunteering or presiding as curator. He worked extensively with former NBF Executive Director Johann Klodzen (who retired after 19 years in January) on a capital campaign to renovate the Japanese Pavilion.

“That gave me an opportunity to visit and really have a personal conversation with our major donors, which was an educational experience for me and a way to see how important the museum is to so many people,” Hughes said. 

Hughes repotting the Ponderosa pine, one of many repottings he was able to take part in.

Taking the helm of NBF

Hughes maintained that his visions for the Museum as the new NBF chair are heavily predicated on partnerships and increasing engagement with donors and guests.

He aims to broaden support for the Museum within local, regional and national communities and international partners. Hughes is looking forward to collaborating with U.S. National Arboretum staff, supporting the goals of Arboretum Director Dr. Richard Olsen and working closely with Friends of the National Arboretum to raise money for the arboretum grounds. 

He and the NBF Board are investigating fundraising efforts for upcoming Museum projects, like improvements to the pavilions and structures that house collections and exhibits. 

“I’m really excited about the designs that Reed Hilderbrand and Trahan Architects have presented for improvements to the Museum,” Hughes said. “They are just stunning, and I can’t wait to share them with the public.”

Museum Curators: Robert Drechsler

Bob Drechsler, as curator of the bonsai collection, poses in 1987 for a picture in front of the juniper bonsai that inspired the design of the National Bonsai Foundation logo.

Welcome to our special blog series profiling the wonderful curators who have led us since the inception of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum! Our first edition highlights the very first person to oversee the care of the Museum’s collections: Robert Drechsler. 

Drechsler began working at the U.S. National Arboretum in 1959 as a plant technician under Dr. Don Egolf. When Arboretum officials started planning a special celebration for the United States’ bicentennial that involved bonsai, Drechsler took a class at the Potomac Bonsai Association to become familiar with the art. 

He said the Arboretum originally asked someone else to take care of the incoming trees, but the person ended up not wanting the job. A government shutdown at the time meant nobody new could be hired to positions at federal agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which the curator role falls under.

Drechsler was already an Arboretum employee, so Director Dr. John Creech agreed he could serve as the first curator. But just because Drechsler hadn’t previously worked on bonsai didn’t mean he wasn’t prepared to take on his new role. 

“Trimming bonsai is an artistic form, and I had done flower arranging and such as a florist to work my way through college, so I had some idea of the artwork,” he said. “Plus, I had 17 years of work raising, trimming and caring for plants at the Arboretum.” 

Drechsler worked diligently to learn about bonsai, even spending six weeks training in Japan in 1977. He said Ruth Lamanna, a prominent member of the bonsai community, was especially helpful in developing his bonsai education. 

Drechsler helps unpack the newly-arrived crates of Japanese bonsai at the quarantine station in Glenn Dale, MD in April 1975.

Drechsler helped the two ladies care for the bonsai quarantined in Maryland, which used to house the U.S. plant introduction station. He worked on both the Japanese collection – the trees that started the Museum collections – and the trees U.S. President Richard Nixon brought back from his trip to China in the 1970s. 

Bonsai Master John Naka often stopped by to suggest bonsai care tips, like how to preserve deadwood on bonsai and penjing. 

“I took the ladies’ recommendations, and I gained more and more knowledge about the care of the plants, like repotting and soil techniques,” Drechsler said. “It was a learning experience I gained as the curator, rather than being knowledgeable about bonsai before the collection came.”

Former Arboretum Director John Creech speaks at the dedication ceremony for the Japanese Bonsai collection on July 9, 1976. Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State, is seated in the middle/right spot. Drechsler said this was one of the most memorable and impressive moments in his curatorship.

Drechsler said the best part of serving as curator was his ability to transform a group of unassuming plants into well-trimmed bonsai to present to the public. He said the ability and cooperation of volunteers was essential in maintaining excellent and appealing bonsai. 

Drechsler added that he loved to see groups that entered the Museum chatting loudly instantly quiet down in awe after setting their sights on the bonsai and penjing collections.

“Young kids would come in with their teachers, and they were thrilled that these ancient plants were that old,” he said.

Drechsler retired in 1996, after nearly 21 years of service to the Museum as the very first curator. He said he wanted to dedicate his free time entirely to leading the local masonic chapter. 

He occasionally volunteered at the Museum until a 2015 heart operation put him out of commission for volunteering. Drechsler has since focused his time on leading and partaking in the freemasonry fraternity.

LEFT: Drechsler hand-pollinates hibiscus in the Arboretum’s research greenhouse in 1964 when he worked as a research technician. RIGHT: Drechsler trimming a bald-cypress in the Yoshimura workroom in 2007 as a weekly volunteer.

“Bonsai brought the joy of working in an art form and the opportunity to enjoy an activity I’d like to do, but I was also paid for it, so I could make my living and have a retirement,” he said.

NBF honors Drechsler each year by funding the First Curator’s Apprentice program, which the Foundation created in 2011 to celebrate the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum’s 35th anniversary and to pay homage to Drechsler’s legacy as the original curator. Our 2019 apprentice Andy Bello now serves as the Museum’s assistant curator, and our 2020 apprentice is Sophia Osorio. 

“They knew I didn’t like my name on things, that I didn’t want it to be the ‘Robert Drechsler Apprenticeship,’” Drechsler said. “They did it as a nice gesture and a sort of thank you.”

NBF is grateful to Drechsler for taking the helm of the Museum and his incredible support of the bonsai community since. Our next profile will highlight his successor, Warren Hill, who oversaw the collection for the following five years.