This is probably best placed in Opinion, but I am sure the Mod Squad will move it if they so feel.

Our friends (many reside here as well) at the Art of Bonsai Project are discussing this topic in the context of a tree that was submitted in response to the inanely titled "North America vs Europe Photo Contest". My writing this is not in response to the contest, nor to the concept of the contest. Nor is my concern about the topic itself, it is a fascinating read, at least the parts written by folks who actually do credible bonsai.

My concern is that this article by none other than Mr. Eristic, Will Heath, in the "Eristic" section has tainted the competition. How so? The tree in question a very nice Japanese White Pine was submitted, was placed for judging, and now because of who was involved with the project, the owner and those who have worked with her in developing the tree was exposed in the article. While this was "bad enough", when posts were made by those who were concerned that this had happened, their posts were immediately removed from the thread. I have this directly from those involved, in personal conversation.

Editorial repression, based on a view expressed that is counter to that of the editors, is the lowest form of intimidation. It continues to demonstrate a flaw of character, maybe not for the entire competition and those who have put a great deal of effort in to organizing it, but to the core of the editorial process. I realize I will probably (hopefully?) be removed from the AOB mailing list for posting this, but that is OK.

Maybe the tree's picture wasn't submitted properly, maybe proper credit (in the contest's eyes) wasn't given to an annonymous tree grower, to Boon and to Mike Hagedorn, I haven't seen the submission. But the fact that the "anonymous" submission was outed (and I and you can recognize many of the trees submitted) and the tree is still shown among the trees submitted for judging, suggests that this was just another opportunity to bully someone who will not be allowed to reply.

Good show boys and girls.

JOhn

__________________
"Wiring is simple; However, it is not easy to do it right" Boon

Ooh! What's going on here?

I've been too busy with actual work to catch up... Maybe I'll check in there tomorrow.

Bri.

This is an odd thing, but this is what I can glean from reviewing the posts:

1) It appears that an editorial article at artofbonsai.org titled, "Ownership and Artistic Credit in Bonsai" was illustrated using a photograph that had been submitted as an entry to the North America vs. Europe contest there before the judging had finalized. (See Entry #NA085)

2) The caption beneath the editorial photo identified, by name, the owner of a bonsai entered in an active contest at artofbonsai.org, as well as the names of two extremely well-known artists who influenced its design.

3) There's been concern that the article text casts doubt on the entry used to illustrate it, by association. For example:

4) Finally, it appears some post or post(s) expressing concern about this issue were removed from the discussion there, and replaced with an editorial comment, I think that summarizes the FACTS. My personal opinion is that this is a very difficult situation to correct at this point, and it's part of what makes running a fair and impartial contest difficult. The best practice is for the judges and facilitators to stay completely removed from discussion or participation, at least until the awards have been finalized.

The only "right thing" to do, in my opinion, would have been to pull the article until the judging was complete and to apologize privately to the folks involved. It would also be appropriate to establish a policy not to use photos for illustrative or decorative purposes until the contest had concluded.

Regards,

Matt

Apologies in advance if any of the links above break or change. They were correct at the time they were posted. If someone has a different understanding of the issues or more information, they're welcome to clarify!

My apologies to Atilla Soos who has worked diligently to fix the situation.

I was at Boon's last weekend for a BIB workshop weekend, my first. This is an opportunity for members and Boon to interact, work on trees and to try and figure out the very best course of action for a trees development. The major topic of conversation was the apparent attempt to discredit the work of a member,Janet Roth, who had submitted a tree for consideration in the North America vs Europe photo contest. As the author of the article most likely has never owned or even touched a tree of this quality, nor has he participated in an environment as is present at Boon's during these workshops, he has no idea how the creative process works.

Boon provides an environment where, as long as you apply the craft of bonsai correctly, creativity and novel approaches are encouraged. Plus, the quality of the trees owned and worked on by club members is unbelievable. I saw ten or twelve Black pines over the weekend that would stop most shows in the US and a couple with the right politics would have been fair for the best competitions in Japan (or Europe...). Boon stresses collaboration on tree development, an extension of his adoption of the Japanese approach to Bonsai. In Boon's yard the provenance of a tree is as important as anything else- an example as to why 5 of us worked 4 hours to repot a Mas Imazumi tree that had been a pond tree for a number of years.

What the AOB has done is to allow Mr. Eristic (Will Heath) to place a slight glimmer of doubt about a superb tree in the Judges minds. My concern about this was edited out by their moderators, and Atilla has ensured me that Mr. Heath doesn't get to edit his own threads, and I will take him at his word. However, the brute force approach to editing leaves a bad taste. Kind of like eating chopsticks and mushrooms.

I settled for a private apology to Janet Roth and Boon, and Michael Hagedorn who have been placed rather cagily in an uncomfortable position by indirect damning. I will drop this when there is a public apology from AOB's editorial staff to Janet, Boon and Michael. If those who write articles, OK when Mr. heath, can ever produce trees as beautiful as Janet Roth's, then I will take them seriously. Discrediting the good work of others is very similar to plagarism- a question of character- this damns all who facilitate it.

Simncerely,
John

It would seem to be a very awkward situation indeed, especially taking into account the amended ruling:

So, all entries are anonymous - only some are less anonymous than others. That's not very - dare I say it? - professional, now is it?

Thanks.

Fly.

Posting the picture of a tree that is currently in the contest is unacceptable. There was no good reason to do it. It's like when an attorney calls attention to something in a trial, all the time knowing that the judge will tell the jury "Please disregard what has just been said". The judges in this contest may be able to overlook the shadow that has been cast over this tree, but the large majority of people who are reading about the contest and looking for themselves will not.

Aside from that, the premise of the article is simple minded twaddle. Anyone who has worked on or explored the pedigrees of really excellent bonsai, knows that most of them have had multiple owners and influences. They grow and change constantly, and the more familiar you become with the way bonsai is styled and worked on, the more you see how many different hands may be guiding various stages of the work. Bonsai is NOT like painting. Painting is static, once it's done it's done. Restoration of painting can be undetectable. Bonsai can NEVER be restored to exactly what the original artist created. That's absurd. Branches come and go, foliage dies off, the trunk gains girth, the apex gets too heavy and needs to be replaced. That is what makes bonsai unique among art forms.

Many of the people who have been in bonsai for decades, proudly tell of John Naka's influence on their trees. John hasn't touched those trees in a very long time, but his vision and insight are indelibly stamped on their trunk and branch formation. Are they Naka trees? Of course not. Don't DARE exhibit them as such. That would be presumptuous. They belong to the current owner, and look entirely differently than if John had taken over their styling. The influence of a teacher, or an interim owner, is simply part and parcel of a bonsai.

Joanie

I posted a challenge to the ethics of posting that tree in that way. My tone was not very approving.

"Never has so much been said by so many about so little."

The original article can only be one of two things: a deliberate attempt to downplay one tree, or a colossal misstep due to ignorance and/or stupidity. That's really the only way to read it.

Another friend of Boon simply stated that it called into question the integrity of the entire contest. Both posts were summarily deleted as if they had never existed.

Here's the PM I got from Attila, whom, by the way, I respect:

Hi Chris,

I had to delete the posts toward the end of "Artistic Credit" thread.
You must have completely misunderstood the issue, we went out of our way to make the contest as fair as possible.

The thread had a very interesting thing going until you derailed it, we prefer to keep it that way. Sorry, but I don't want it to become another Will Heath bashing, we had enough of those.

Sincerely,
Attila

I tend to disagree with his estimation of the thread, but when editing posts, a certain amount of acknowledgement should be given.

There are two options open to the AoB staff. Either option would have helped.

They could have removed the photo of a tree CURRENTLY IN THE CONTEST and replaced it with an example of a multi-owner tree that is NOT in the contest.

Or, they could have pulled the thread until after the contest. Then it wouldn't have mattered if the tree was in the contest, everything would have been finished.

These options needed to be implemented as soon as questions arose about having the tree as an illustration for the article. If the tree remains as an illustration, then posts concerning the legitimacy of using it in this way should be left in place.

"Will bashing" happens because Will wrote the article and used a tree from the ongoing contest to illustrate it. His choices were what precipitated the crisis. I sincerely hope that some day, some day soon, people who are in positions of responsibility will understand the blows to their credibility for allowing this stuff to happen over and over again. This isn't the first time, nor will it be the last.
Joanie

Furthermore, the staff at AOB has apparently misused the image in violation of the specific permission granted by the owner when submitting the picture. I have highlighted a selection from their own rules.

"I have read and understood the rules of the contest and agree to abide by them. I have full copyright to all text and/or photographs I am submitting and I grant the Art of Bonsai Project, Bonsai Today magazine, and Stone Lantern Publishing full permission to use any or all of the text and/or photographs submitted by myself in such manners as described in the rules and in future publications of any type as related to showcasing, promoting, featuring, or publishing the submissions to this contest as approved by the Art of Bonsai Project. I understand that any other usage of the text and/or photographs will require addition permission from myself and that, other than permissions given here, I retain full copyright to submitted materials as described."

It appears clear from the rules ( see them here http://www.artofbonsai.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=994 ) of the contest Mr. Heath was perhaps the only person with access to the names of those who submitted trees. There was an amendment to the rules on March 10, 2007 stating participants will remain anonymous until judging was complete. Mr. Heath posted his article, ostensibly "outing" a participant on June 3, 2007. Mr. Heath appears to have violated the contest's rules, an ethical misstep compounded by the fact that the picture and citation remain (regardless of whether he sought permission from the photographer to use the photo for purposes other than intended) within the article.


The issue itself is a non-issue. Bonsai is a fragmented pursuit. There is no single governing body standardizing or enforcing terminology, process, or ethics for bonsai. A bit like the "States vs. Federal" argument in the US, since there is no "Federal" the jurisdiction for defining standards rests squarely with organizations and organizers of shows and contests. Until a consensus is reached across a broad range of organizations, individual organizations are responsible for themselves and the real or perceived integrity of entries. It is up to them how they define ownership and artistic attribution. As outlined in the thread precipitated by Mr. Heath's article, there may be broad irreconcilable differences between regions/cultures/organizations on this topic. A standard may never be established until enough organizations adopt similar guidelines.

With this in mind, each organization planning a show or contest should clearly outline requisite standards which submissions should adhere to, or accept the outcome of their own ambiguity. For this contest AoB made their own rules, as quoted here direct from the contest rules posted on AoB at http://www.artofbonsai.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=994



Clearly Mr. Heath received the provenance of the piece from the submitter, knew the rules of the contest. I am not a judge of the contest and can not say whther the submission complies with the contest rules. Still, Mr. Heath apparently wished to debate the issue of ownership, citing an entry from an ongoing contest with flagrant disregard for said contest's rules, particularly the amendment regarding anonymity which was posted by him on the website.

Simply stating the tree was not discussed in the article, which contains both the picture and citation attributing ownership, or lauding the integrity of the judges is not enough to absolve. In my mind the integrity of the contest is in question, since the rules of the contest have been broken by an organizer.