bonsaial1

Hi Andy, I think the word art gets used as an adjective in a sense.I see all sorts of books in the bookstore when I shop. The art of stamp collecting, the art of butterfly mounting. The art of container growing trees. The art of bonsai design. The word art in itself does not really have the meaning of artfull design. The word by itself, according to Webster means: 1:skill or 2:ingenuity and 3:branch of learning . It also means 4:creation of things of beauty or works so produced. I feel that skill is needed to produce artistic bonsai, but skill is also needed to keep small plants alive in a few cups of soil. I think the author of any one of the above books could have called their works; The learned skills of stamp collecting. Use the same prefix on any of the above. The word "art" just seems to shorten the title, and make it some how more exciting.

I don't think it takes a whole bunch of skill to coin collect or stamp collect or keep trees in pots. To coin collect or stamp collect and make money doing it is a different matter. This collecting disscusion could be done on any number of collecting forums, and the numismatist or philatelist might also say that a hobbiest is not an artist.

A person given the task of jacking up a 57 chevy with a melon baller, a toaster, and a football, upon achiving his goal would be said to have used much ingenuity. Some kind of McGiver. Would this person be considered an artist. He sure fits the criteria. To be immersed in bonsai, one would have to also be immersed in some branch of learning. While a person learns, aren't they considered an artist. The term artist is not fixed to a person when they reach some academic achievment. It also should not be affixed by persons such as yourself when you think they have reached a modicum of expertise. I think anyone involved in the art, read skill, should be considered an artist. Put any prefix that eases your mind in front of that, apprentice, novice, junior, expert, master. It doesn't really matter the bottom line is they are an artist. The word has room for everyone, no matter what the skill level. The word does not expound on the artistry produced. Ask a child that likes to draw what they want to be when they grow up, They may say they want to be an artist. The child has no idea that there is someone that is different because they don't put crayon to paper the same as them. They think anyone that does crayon is an artist. They are.

What would one call a practising bonsai practioner? Is he not studying art in the medium bonsai? Does one have to reach a certain status to be called an artist? Who determines that status, certainly not you? Is that goal reached when I leave a credible body of work and I'm dead?

Talking about bonsai or art in artistic terms is something entirely different. There is no one that fights harder for the artistic values in bonsai. I know where your coming from. Obviously there are good artists and bad. Thats another thread.

Your right words mean things.....I don't think we can cheapen the word, its allready been cheaply used for the last fifty years...
Regards, Bonsaial