Randy Clark, 60, has been learning the art bonsai for more than a quarter century and for the past decade, has traveled throughout the United States and Europe teaching the subject. He strongly encourages his students to develop an individual approach to the art .

“One must have more than a simple classical understanding of the principals of bonsai design if one wishes to grow and develop in the art. It is certainly important to honor our Japanese teachers by understanding the time tested principals upon which classical bonsai design is based,... but it is even more important that each student strives to bring new insights into what they do,” he said. “One must learn and understand when to apply the rules as well as when to bend them. Bonsai is an art... and all art forms, by definition, are interpretive.”

During his thirty plus years of  involvement with bonsai, Mr. Clark has spent seven of them serving as a vice president of the National Bonsai Foundation in Washington D.C. as well as two terms as president of the Minnesota Bonsai Society and as Chairman of the 1987 International Bonsai Conference which was held in Minnesota. He also served two years as the managing editor of Bonsai Magazine, the official publication of Bonsai Clubs International and is the author of Outstanding American Bonsai, a book, published by Timber Press in Portland, Oregon. His bonsai have won numerous first place and best in show awards at both the local and regional level.

For nine years he operated White Dragon Bonsai Studio out of his former home in Minnesota. In 1995 he relocated to North Carolina and now operates The Bonsai Learning Center in Charlotte. He has studied with such well know national and international bonsai authorities as: John Naka, Toshio Saburomaru, Chase Rosade, Keith B. Scott, Susumu Nakamura, Horst Krekeler, Mas Imazumi, Hu Yun Hua, Qing Quan Zhao, Marion Gyllenswan, Vaughn Banting, and many others.