|
Bonsai Doer
Join Date: Aug-2001
Location: Fresno, CA
Country: USA
Posts: 5,451
|
Education vs. Repetition
Education vs. Repetition
By Al Keppler
Under the right circumstances most bonsai enthusiasts would jump at the chance to study in Japan. Formal training is something that cannot be duplicated by any other means except to fly to Japan or enlist the tutelage of a Japanese Bonsai Master living in your own country. What are we to expect from such an education? Would it be presumptuous to ask that we come away with all the tools to make artistic bonsai? I would hope that would be a given.
My personal problem stems from a feeling that troubles me from time to time. I vacillate between formal training and just good craft. I love good craft. I can find just as much inherent beauty in good craft as I can in something that many people find artistic. Artistic, whatever that means.
A very dear and personal friend of mine has some very different views when it comes to bonsai. We very much like the same things and are drawn to some of the same basic ideals in bonsai. The difference between us is that this friend of mine will not own or loses interest in anything that has been previously styled by someone else. This person feels that if the raw stock was not initially styled by him, it is never really his. In the workshop, he will take suggestions and opinions but the work must be all his. I can appreciate this very much. I think this is a noble feat and something that many people strive for in their own bonsai. Workshops are a place to learn technique and basics. I feel that artistic vision must be revealed from within. This is a practice that should manifest itself in the tree and the vision thereof. I hope to make bonsai one day that someone will be able to say Al Keppler styled this tree.
Is there a risk working with one individual as a teacher? Is the future of bonsai under the guidenance of one person going to reflect this education in all the students’ future work? Is the formally trained student destined to repeat all that has been learned from the master?
Yes I would love to make a bonsai that looks like something Kimura made. But would I love to make a bonsai that looks like Kimura made it?
Comments…..
ak
__________________
If committing suicide by gas...please press or say one now
If committing suicide by gun...please press or say two now
If you are unsure on a way of committing suicide..please press or say three or stay on the line for further options...
|