I don't know whether I agree or disagree. Bonsai Today, and International Bonsai are the two publications I adhere to most. However both are heavly influnced by Japanese articles which is not bad but as has been mentioned American growers are not widly featured.

This is the real problem, in the world wide bonsai community American bonsai is not highly esteemed. There is not much any of us can do about this problem. The only way to change this perception is to prove it wrong by producing better bonsai. I think it really boils down to a fact that in America it is not really possible for someone to grow bonsai on a professional level in the same way it is done in Europe or Japan and still make a decent living.

I know there are exceptions, there are some good people out there but they seldom publish and the magizines seldom hunt them ouit. Then of course there are the makers of the ubiquitious Mallsais, who crank out hedious little Junipers and Ficus trees to sell in retail stores to the unaware. Without good professional growers/ artists who produce good quality artistic bonsai the quality of bonsai will remain in the hobby areana where it now languishes.

This brings us back to publications like ABS. Until America produces some bonsai, and growers of bonsai, that cause the world to take notice, publications by and for local growers will remain a back wash of information.

Talk about hitting the nail on the head.

'I think it really boils down to a fact that in America it is not really possible for someone to grow bonsai on a professional level in the same way it is done in Europe or Japan and still make a decent living.'

Vance,

what you call a fact is a myth. I don't know about Japan really. But we are being told that the big names are multi-millionaires. They often behave like this anyway.
I know very well about Europe. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE IN EUROPE TO MAKE A DECENT LIVING FROM BONSAI AS AN ARTFORM. All the big names in Europe either have some other source of income, are somehow independent rich, or have some sort of a bonsai center which is really a big shop and has nothing to do with bonsai as artform. The rest are very poor, and I mean just about starving. Believe me, I know them all.
I also have spent more than one full year together on bonsi trips in America by now. From that I should have a decent overview. It is much easier to make a decent living from bonsai as artform in America compared to Europe, but it is by no means easy compared to other professions. If you want to make decent money you have to produce and do what your customers want and not necessarily what you want. It requires a certain degree of prostitution here and there.
I know that I could make some sort of a somehow decent living in bonsai in America. But there is no way that I could do this in Europe. By that I mean if I did what I am doing, which is what I believe in.

Walter,

Have you tried selling openly some of your specimen trees? Maybe a cheap advert in Bonsai Europe, or even ebay?

My teacher (not 'artist', but teacher) has only 4 days left for 2005 when he is available for tuition. There is appetite out there, and money to pay for it I think, from what I see.

Fish.

ish,

I wonder whether most people are aware that I AM NOT SELLING MY COLLECTION! They are just not for sale. But I know very well what one could get if they were for sale. Forget it right away. Any gasoline sation apprentic makes more money with what he is doing.

I am not in need of marketing advice. I have studied marketing at University of Denver, Colorado and was, among other things marketing manager for IBM and marketing consultant for McKinsey & Comany. I wonder whether many bonsai people can teach me marketing.

Yes, one could make some money teaching beginners classes. But this has not much to do with what I am talking about.

One of the keys for making a good profit with bonsai is the mass production of quality material/pre-bonsai. This would bring down the cost considerably. This can be achieved with a few well trained gardeners. As an artist, you would only get involved in the basic design and then in the final stages. There is one thing having 10 trident maples to work with, after spending 8 years developing them, and there is totally different when you have a growing field of hundreds and hundreds of trident maples, arranged neatly in rows, where you can pick and chose the best material at any day.

The way it is done here is that the artist has to "hunt" for good material and if he is lucky he can find a few good deals. And than there is collecting, which is fun, but there is no way that it could support a business.

This results in exorbitant costs and low volume. A business can only thrive if there is a constant, reliable source of raw material at a relatively low cost.

This wouldn't mean that the artist has to produce only low quality, cookie cutter bonsai. A certain percantage of the mass produced material would have excellent quality and sold at high prices for the high-end collector. The rest would be sold at affordable prices (a few hundred dollars) to the average hobbyist.

I have not seen this done here in the US or Europe. Bonsai artists don't seem to be very talented running an well-designed business. Maybe they think that it is below them to "lower themselves" to the status of a salesman.

Thank you Walter for the feed back. It is encouraging and discouraging at the same time. It is encouraging in that being a fine artist, which many European growers including yourself are, is not enough to float the boat. It is discouraging in realizing, not only is it the climate in America that makes bonsai what it is, or is not if you wish, but that there is a definate lack of real world class artists here, or at least artists that have attained recognition for their work and not just a bravado attaining to legendary status in their own minds.

I am aware that you have no desire to sell your collection and I have made it a point to learn something about your background.
My previous comments were not directed at you in any way. I was just commenting on what I perceive is wrong with the American bonsai market.
It is there but it could be so much better.
If I can make an acceptable living from it I am sure that the more talented people can. It just seems that the average American bonsaiest is willing to just wait for it to be handed to them on a silver platter. A market has to be built and it just won't get there with everybody just setting around.
And this goes for the "art" as well. One can't just talk about it on has to get out there amongst the crowd an learn it.
Setting around all day banging away on the computer won't help. Talking about it won't help. Well maybe they would if it was followed up by some action ;o)
That ABS journal I was talking about earlier is a good example of what I am talking about. Seems like a lot of people can find fault with the articles in it but no one wants to submit a better article. Maybe if they did then one day we might just have a good American bonsai magazine.