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bonsaiTALK Journeyman
Join Date: Nov-2004
Location: Rural NSW
Country: Australia
Posts: 49
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I have often observed the seemingly endless circular discussions of what an artist is and does and how to become one etc. And I find Mr Rutledge’s thread an extension of the same phenomena. I’m not sure, but it appears to me that there is an increasing need in community to stand up and label itself as such and such. “I’m an artist, I’m a collector, I’m neither but I am a hobbyist etc etc.” Where is the modesty in calling yourself an “artist”, a term that is bandied about so causally nowadays. To be an artist means that you have reached the pinnacle of your craft, it is a title bestowed upon by others who recognize that you excel. No one has the right to confer it upon them selves. Who says that you produce art? You cannot be your own judge and jury on these matters. So arrogant and egotistical!
The reality is that labeling is ego driven and irrelevant, whoever has an interest in bonsai is a practitioner in some form or another. Everybody who has bonsai is a collector, an enthusiast, a grower and a hobbyist. To do and own and practice bonsai means that you are all those things and that is the wonder of bonsai. How many “Crafts” offer the breadth and depth that the craft of Bonsai encompasses. The goal is to master your craft, whether you buy a masterpiece or grow your trees from seed, it is your mastery of the craft that will raise you above the mediocre. A masterpiece will fade and die under mediocre care, a small sapling can will become a masterpiece under the care of a master craftsman.
It would be wonderful if people looked a little deeper at them selves and realize that any label categorizes them into a pigeon hole of mediocrity. Look outward and expand rather than retract into label. If you must, choose a title for yourself that has breadth and allows you room to grow.
I have noticed in Bonsai Today magazine (having not ever visited Japan, I cannot talk with first hand experience) that many Japanese people own bonsai which are cared and styled by a recognized master of their craft. And why not! These trees are treasures and should be cared for by the most experienced. They are also looked upon as investments and all investments should be carefully managed. The elite exhibitions display these trees and give awards based on the merits of the tree, not so much on who styled it. WHY? Because they realize that a 300 yr old tree will have had many owners and carers and stylists that have all contributed to the present shape and form of the tree. Only in the west are we so arrogant to forget that. Maybe it is because bonsai is a young art form in the west and single ownership of a tree is the norm. Lets look at other art exhibitions and contests. In a portraiture competition is the prize given to the most established painter? At the Olympics, does a coach get a medal if their charge wins? Of course not, it goes to the object (or in the Olympics, athlete) of most merit. In an exhibition it matters little who the craftsman is, it is the tree that is paramount.
Something seems to have gotten right up my nose!
Paul
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