Elsa Boudouri, also known as the Greek Oracle, is a talented bonsai artist and teacher born in Thessaloniki, Greece on March 4th, 1975. Elsa has a deep passion for the Art of Bonsai and is dedicated to its growth and development, along with her love and inspiration for nature, trees, and plants. She was first introduced to bonsai when she was 14 years old. Still, her involvement with the art was postponed due to her studies in the Technology of Medical Laboratories, English Language Teaching, and Teaching Methodology.
From 2003 to 2013, Elsa lived in a house in the mountains where she worked intensively with gardening and became self-taught in the Art of Bonsai. She learned about the physiology and pathology of trees, cultivation, techniques, and various parameters of bonsai according to weather conditions and climate suitability in Greece. During this time, she even managed to train about 200 bonsai trees.
In 2008, Elsa became a founding member of the Greek Bonsai Forum and, since 2010, has maintained a blog under the name Bonsai Cosmos, where she shares her work and guides bonsai lovers worldwide. Elsa attended some courses on the Art of Bonsai in Italy in 2013-2014. In 2013, she established the Bonsai Club of Thessaloniki and organized a Bonsai Exhibition, Workshop, and Demonstration in the Festival RUN THESSALONIKI II of Mangatellers and the Greek-Japanese culture in 2014.
From 2014 to 2017, Elsa taught the Art of Bonsai in Greece in individual and group workshops, and in May 2015, she participated in a bonsai demonstration in Arco di Trento, Italy during the festival of Arcobonsai 2015. In May 2016, Elsa organized and held the 1st Official Bonsai Exhibition in Thessaloniki, Greece, and was a member of the jury of the pre-selection Commission. She also won the 2nd place in the international bonsai competition Black Scissors Bonsai Styling Video Contest - Lithuania 2016.
In November 2016, Elsa was a member of the jury for the pre-selection of bonsai for the exhibition of the Hellenic Bonsai Club in Athens, and she was the Honorary International Guest at the 1o Trofeo Bonsai & Suiseki Emporio Agrario of Mimmo Abate in Torregrotta Sicily, where she awarded the special prize of Bonsai Cosmos. In May 2017, Elsa organized and held the 2nd Official Bonsai Exhibition “Bonsai MicroCosmos” in Thessaloniki, Greece, and was a member of the jury of the pre-selection Commission.
In September 2017, Elsa was invited to Rugao, China, for the 4th Zhongguo Feng Penjing Exhibition 2017, where she performed a Demo on Stage. In February 2019, she was invited by the California Bonsai Society in Los Angeles, USA, to participate in the Visiting Artists Program where she performed many demonstrations, workshops, and private lessons.
In January 2020, she held a demonstration for Bonsai Focus Magazine. In March 2021, she gave an online demonstration for the Bonsai Societies of Dallas, Texas, which was the most attended Zoom meeting. During the demonstration, she fully styled a Pinus sylvestris yamadori raw material. In September 2021, she was honored to be accepted as one of the contestants in the Instructors' Competition at Giareda, Italy. She arrived at the 4th place after styling a Pinus sylvestris yamadori raw material. In December 2021, she was one of the judges for the FELAB (Latin American and Caribbean Federation of Bonsai) Photo Contest.
In May 2022, she was invited by FELAB (Latin American and Caribbean Federation of Bonsai) to Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, where she performed demonstrations, workshops, critiques, and judged local competitions. She also conducted a workshop with Maurizio Toraldo at the Bologna Bonsai Club in Bologna, Italy, in May 2022. During this workshop, many bonsai enthusiasts worked, learned various techniques, and set new paths for their trees. In October 2022, she was one of the judges for the ANB Bonsai (Associacao Nordestina de Bonsai) Photo Contest.
In May 2023, she was one of the two headliners for the Bonsai Societies of Florida Annual Convention. During this convention, she held demonstrations, workshops, critiques, and judging assignments. Since September 2016, she has been living, working, teaching, and studying with her teacher Enrico Savini (Bologna-Italy) and his Progetto Futuro European Bonsai School. She continues to share her work with all bonsai enthusiasts worldwide with the same passion and love she had when she was a 14-year-old girl who fell in love with a little tree while holding it for the first time in the palm of her hand.
Follow Elsa www.mybonsai.gr. Her blog under the name Bonsai Cosmos https://bonsaicosmos.blogspot.com/
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