Arthur Joura Receives Outstanding Service Award
For the past 18 of his 20 years at the Arboretum, Bonsai Curator Arthur Joura has developed the bonsai program to be one of The North Carolina Arboretum’s most stunning collections. Through his vision and creation, Arthur has combined the art of bonsai with a Southern Appalachian interpretation to produce this unique and aesthetic display. Arthur recently won the peer-nominated Outstanding Service Award from the University of North Carolina. Arthur’s colleagues point to his limitless creativity, excellence of workmanship, candorand artistry as just a few examples of recognition for this award. Summed up best by a nominator for this achievement, “Arthur exemplifies the passion and dedication we hold high toward building the place, the connection of people to plants, and the renowned bonsai collection. His personal dedication to the curation and development of the collection cannot be measured.”
Arthur & Company
By Paula Robbins
Long-time staff member and Bonsai Exhibition Garden Curator Arthur Joura is this year’s recipient of the Arboretum’s Outstanding Service Award.
In 1992, about a year after Arthur Joura’s arrival on staff as a nursery worker, Mr. and Mrs. George Staples of Butner, N.C., offered a significant collection of bonsai specimens to the Arboretum. Executive Director George Briggs accepted the gift after consulting with volunteer Dr. John Creech (former director of the U. S. National Arboretum and member of TNCA Board of Directors since 1986). Briggs also recruited Arthur to learn about and manage the collection because of his extensive education and talent in art, as well as his growing interest in horticulture.
One of Arthur’s first assignments was to attend the 1993 Second World Bonsai Convention in Orlando, Florida. With the encouragement and assistance of Dr. Creech, Arthur trained for one week at the National Arboretum’s Bonsai and Penjing Museum, over a month of study experience with the Nippon Bonsai Association, and some time in New York State as the last student of Yuji Yoshimura, a seminal figure in Western bonsai design.
In the years that have followed, Arthur has built the collection and program into one of the best in the U.S. through acquisition of gift specimens as well as through crafting his own specimens. The Bonsai Exhibition Garden, funded entirely by private donations, opened to the public in October 2005, the culmination of a three-year design process in which Arthur was intimately involved. This October will mark the 15th year of the Carolina Bonsai Expo at the Arboretum, a creation of Arthur that now attracts participants and visitors from many states.
The longest-serving bonsai volunteer is Virginia Turner who has worked for Arthur for 800 hours a year since the first Bonsai Exposition 15 years ago. She is a detail-oriented person who can sit and work with a single plant for hours. Another skilled assistant, volunteer Andy Fowler, retired in 2006 after driving from Burnsville faithfully once a week for 10 years to assist Arthur.
Presently, David Roberts, a paid employee, works as a summer waterer and also helps with other tasks. Jerry King helps by building display materials, such as the box for “Appalachian Cove,” although he doesn’t work directly with plants. Sally Blackwell also assists from time to time, and John Fletcher and Doreen Redden serve as docents in the Bonsai Exhibition Garden on Saturday mornings.
Virginia Turner says that assisting Arthur has been a “rare opportunity” because he is so talented. Like many other Arboretum volunteers, she notes that “every time you leave, they never forget to say thank-you.”