From time to time I like to pose a question. One that is meant to provoke comments, and at the same time make people think a bit about what they are doing.
Mind you it is only a question. Don't read more into it than that. It is not a slam, nor am I saying that I am the only one that does bonsai the right way. It is just a question. Nothing more.
At almost every bonsai show/convention there is a demo. The tree done here is almost always raffled off. It is usually done by a highly respected artist. The guru of bonsai if you will. The demonstrator is supposed to know what he is doing. A master of the art so to speak. They stand up in front of the audience and tell us, with all the authority they can muster, how to do bonsai. What makes it beautiful, how to succeed if only we use what they teach us.
These guys write the books, win the awards and get paid good money to do the demo. They are the tops in their field. They are the basis of our knowledge. We listen raptly.
The winner of the raffle is almost always a knowledgeable bonsai person. That is the kind of people that these things usually attract. The problem is that the loss rate on these demo trees is appalling. A good portion of them are what a friend of mine refers to as firewood.
So why is this the case.
?
Are the demonstrators overworking the trees? Is the winner of the raffle almost always doing something wrong? Just who is responsible for killing all these trees?
As one that occasionally stands in at the podium I would like to hear some thoughts on this. The answer might just change how I do things. I am willing to learn.
Any comments? I am listening!