The short answer is yes.
The long answer...I better keep that for myself.

Regards,
Attila

Edit: Sorry, I misread your post. I read: Have you ever made a living bonsai?
So, I have not made a living in bonsai but I have been doing it for a long time. And I always like to discuss the business aspect with the nursery owners around my area.

Ron,

wasn't speaking to you but to Fish. Never mind. Interesting discussion here.

You are definitely on the mark on this.
It is true that we all expect someone else to come up with the big money and produce a glossy, beautiful magazine.
Getting involved and trying to contribute would help to improve the quality of the existing magazines. If we haven't done that, we don't really have a ground for complaints. I know you have done in this are more than almost any of us.

As to making a successful living in bonsai,


I have been involved in business management for a long time. After years of interviewing the top executives of some of the most successful companies in the US, I know that there are some important ingredients common in every business.

Each type of business has its own particulars, but there are also common traits necessary to be successful. The bonsai business is no exception from this.

Seing Brent's name amongst the users viewing this thread, I am sure he has a few things to say about this..

I find it interesting that North American bonsaiists have such a low opinion of what's being produced here . There are many excellent bonsai being produced here, on par with the best in Europe and Japan. I am fortunate enought to live within a ten minute drive of the bonsai collection at the National Arboretum. The trees in the North American Pavillion there are excellent and represent only a snapshot of North American bonsai http://www.bonsai-wbff.org/nabf/gallery.htm

The Yamadori material being dug out here, in particular, is spectacular and relatively inexpensive and available. Europe and Japan would kill for some of these trees. A $1,000 yamadori here is worth double or triple in Europe and Japan. We also have a broad spread of yamadori, beyond the six or seven most favored native species in Europe. Our climate runs from sub arctic to tropical making yamadori collection a smorgasbord of species.

There are many professional bonsaiists making a living at it here too. From Ron, to William Valavanis and Guy Guidry, to Jim Doyle, Kathy Shaner and Brent Walston to name only a few. Heck, Colin Lewis came here from the U.K. to do professional bonsai and has established a pretty successful traveling school. There is a wealth of excellent quality stock and "finished" bonsai out there available through a few excellent bonsai nurseries that fly under the radar

http://www.artspoint.org/articles/c..._type=artspoint

This is only one. Take a look at the Blue Oak nursery link here for another example. Then take a look at some of the ads in Bonsai Today, BCI, and ABS Journal for more.

Artists?-- Nick Lenz, the dozens of Japanese American on the west coast (John Naka's study group has literally a dozen by itself), Mary Madison, Arthur Skolnick, Reiner Goebel, Vance Wood (yes, Vance you are pretty good at it ) Vaughan Banting, Thomas Elias, Dave DeGroot. There are many others out there as well.

As for the European books and shows, among the gems, there appear to be many mediocre trees as well. Take a closer look at some of the trees in Bonsai is Europe album series, as well as the Bonsai Europe magazine.

I don't think Europe really has anything "on" North America. It's just more concentrated and better orchestrated there. North America is a pretty vast place compared with Europe, making travelling and tree transport difficult. North America also lacks a concentrated effort and will to bring things together as Europe does.

Maybe then the problem is not so much as I pointed out here previously, but the tendency for bonsaiists in this country to be clanish, that is hindering our world wide exposure. In short we refuse to really work together lest someone we consider on a lower rung of the ladder may be elevated above us. In short--------PRIDE. If you haven't noticed yet you will, we spend a good deal of time sniping at each other.

Vance - I have to completely agree with you here...100%...here is why...

I (last spring) used Bonsai for a bible study that I did with the teens (don't sweat it...I am not going to preach). I had 45 teens there and each one of them got a foot tall ficus that they each got to re-pot, trim, wire and take home. This was all under the watchful eye of myself and the man that trains me named Bob. The kids loved it! And I got my two goals met...

1. They better understood the bible lesson because of it

2. They were all exposed to the art of Bonsai and the good things that come from it (caring for something else, responsibility, patience, thinking out of the box, the list goes on...)

Of the 45 people there (mostly teens) all but 4 of them still have their plant. Why? They were proud of it!

What was the reaction from my Bonsai friends "Why would you waste the trees on them? They have no understanding of the art! What a waste of time! Did you instruct them in proper upright and informal upright?" I was sorely dissapointed in my fellow Bonsai enthusiasts. The clan mentality was exactly what they were up against.

I really don't plan on a job change. But I do plan on getting as many newbies involved in the art of bonsai. Why? Because for me it was lifechanging (which is a whole nuther story). If I can get one other person to find the peace that I do in the art of bonsai, I will be thrilled! If I can get people to see a bonsai and listen for the story of the tree, if I can get people to get excited about the beauty of the right pot with the right tree...how much better will they look at other areas in life?

But sadly not all share my view. Tolerance of new people who want to enter into the world of Bonsai is not abundant, lack of knowledge is considered as ignorance, and assistance is considered as an annoyance.

But this can all change! That is the cool part! And I honestly think that this website can be a part of that change! I really think that good things are coming for the world of Bonsai in the U.S.

Just my ramblings...

Jeffrey

Ask some of our European friends about "clannish." This goes on over the pond also...

Is it just me, or does anyone else find quite a lot of the articles by Americans in Bonsai Today embarassing? It has gotten so I cringe when I see certain names.



Regards,

Matt