bonsaial1

In light of the closed thread about language, I thought that maybe a concensus could be reached by the forum about what a formal display should be used for.

My point of view. The personal gallery, and the Formal gallery are there for us to showcase personal achievements. At least that is what they should be used for.
H.B. made a statement in the language thread that the forum Mike used said: Post a picture of your bonsai tree and receive suggestions and constructive criticism.
But it didn't. That is the quote from the show and tell forum. It says nothing in the formal display forum. This is just a place someone should post a photo of a tree that they feel captures the feeling of the artist. Something that the artist may be trying to say.

When I post a tree to my personal Gallery, I post it there to show what I am capable of doing, and what some of my sucesses are. I have tried to post some of the best pictures possible to help showcase my talents in a way that will let people know that what I have to say has some merit.

Just because you may have nothing in your gallery is not to say that what one has to contribute is not noteworthy. Some people just do not like to have pictures of their trees shown. I accept that. I do feel that the gallery is a reflection of those that wish to participate there. Just remember that if you have no gallery, there can be no reflection, and therefore you would be pretty safe. On the other hand, if you do have trees in your gallery, I would think that you have opened yourself up to that reflection, and they should be as best as possible.

The Formal gallery I feel follows the same way. I feel that it dovetails the personal gallery, but gives us the freedom to showcase artistic trees during the seasons, and show them in a more formal setting. While trees in the personal gallery may be just an image of the intended tree, the Formal Gallery is the place that Suiseki, scrolls and accents may be used to build the artistic compositions we like to see from time to time.

I feel this is not the place to add negative comments, nor should this be a place that constructive criticism should take place. There are many places that one could post a tree and recieve all the negative comments one could handle. We have TOD, where a tree could even be placed incognito to really help get some constructive criticism. ATM, where you can open your work up to the critique of Walter Pall, and then the open forum. You could post it in show and tell and hopefully get that important construtive criticism.

I do not have a problem with an artist posting a very nice formal composition, and then ask for constructive criticism at the end. If the poster wanted to get that feedback, they could. I still think there are better places to post it though.

I thought the Formal Gallery was placed there to replace the seasonal shows that I used to do early in the forum. I used to do a summer show and a winter show. By Matt giving it a more formal title, I had hoped we could maintain a high degree of photo achievement. So far we have been. At least to the level we know at the present time. I would think that the photos will only get better. During these seasonal shows, we had a thread going outside of the show thread for comments. I suggested this during the thread. I am not saying that critique of artistic formal compositions should go without critique either. I feel that a sampling from your peers is a good thing. I think that the poster should be the one that sets the tone for either inviting discussion or leaving it out.

Maybe someone would like to critique a tree, and could ask the poster for permission to do so. That thread could be started under the students of bonsai forum, and critique could ensue.

In closing, I know when I post a tree to the formal Gallery, I would ask that those that wish to critique my tree would just ask to critique it. I will gladly post it somewhere else, or allow the asker to do same.

The formal Gallery should be like looking at the bonsaiTALK equivilent of a Kokufu album. The pictures should be there for retrospect, and feeling. They should have the feeling of pureness, and not be ruined by silly comments on trivial aspects of display. I can see just as much in a poor display as I can a good one. I have the ability to see past the small errors, and feel the do not reflect poorly on the artist in this forum.

Does this make any sense? Al Keppler

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Real men don't wear coats with "happi" in the title.

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