When most Americans think of bonsai — the craft of pruning and shaping small trees — they probably think of an ancient gardening craft practiced by lovers of Japanese culture.

Ryan Neil thinks it’s anything but.

With a story ripped from the movie “The Karate Kid,” he founded Bonsai Mirai, a leading international school in the hills outside Portland, and he’s partnered with cutting-edge architects and designers in an effort to make bonsai cool for a new generation.

From Sept. 25–27, they’re staging an ambitious exhibition of bonsai from around the country at the Portland Art Museum called the Artisan's Cup with design help from Skylab Architecture. Their goal: to elevate bonsai into a contemporary art form worthy of, well, museums.