Take a look at bonsaiTALK Links in the Styles folder. Also Bonsai Techniques One by John Naka is great. You can find links & critiques in the Books & Magazines folder

Regards,

Matt

That's me, at the moment at least. I don't in any way see myself as an artist, but I still try to achieve aesthetically pleasing bonsai. (does this then make me an artist??)

Regards,

Treebeard, I feel that creation is an artform. Wether we follow the rules or not, we are all creating images. We take what we see in our minds and apply it to our trees. So, yes you are an artist. Heck, just keeping these little guys alive is an art.

Hi Doody,

Actually, "keeping these little guys alive" is container gardening. Words mean things. Let's not cheapen terms like "art." Art is an entirely different endeavor. ;-)

Kind regards,
Andy

You're right it is more of a science

Exactly. ;-)


Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
b u n j i n | d e s i g n :: www.bunjindesign.com
zone 8, Texas

Hi Andy, I think the word art gets used as an adjective in a sense.I see all sorts of books in the bookstore when I shop. The art of stamp collecting, the art of butterfly mounting. The art of container growing trees. The art of bonsai design. The word art in itself does not really have the meaning of artfull design. The word by itself, according to Webster means: 1:skill or 2:ingenuity and 3:branch of learning . It also means 4:creation of things of beauty or works so produced. I feel that skill is needed to produce artistic bonsai, but skill is also needed to keep small plants alive in a few cups of soil. I think the author of any one of the above books could have called their works; The learned skills of stamp collecting. Use the same prefix on any of the above. The word "art" just seems to shorten the title, and make it some how more exciting.

I don't think it takes a whole bunch of skill to coin collect or stamp collect or keep trees in pots. To coin collect or stamp collect and make money doing it is a different matter. This collecting disscusion could be done on any number of collecting forums, and the numismatist or philatelist might also say that a hobbiest is not an artist.

A person given the task of jacking up a 57 chevy with a melon baller, a toaster, and a football, upon achiving his goal would be said to have used much ingenuity. Some kind of McGiver. Would this person be considered an artist. He sure fits the criteria. To be immersed in bonsai, one would have to also be immersed in some branch of learning. While a person learns, aren't they considered an artist. The term artist is not fixed to a person when they reach some academic achievment. It also should not be affixed by persons such as yourself when you think they have reached a modicum of expertise. I think anyone involved in the art, read skill, should be considered an artist. Put any prefix that eases your mind in front of that, apprentice, novice, junior, expert, master. It doesn't really matter the bottom line is they are an artist. The word has room for everyone, no matter what the skill level. The word does not expound on the artistry produced. Ask a child that likes to draw what they want to be when they grow up, They may say they want to be an artist. The child has no idea that there is someone that is different because they don't put crayon to paper the same as them. They think anyone that does crayon is an artist. They are.

What would one call a practising bonsai practioner? Is he not studying art in the medium bonsai? Does one have to reach a certain status to be called an artist? Who determines that status, certainly not you? Is that goal reached when I leave a credible body of work and I'm dead?

Talking about bonsai or art in artistic terms is something entirely different. There is no one that fights harder for the artistic values in bonsai. I know where your coming from. Obviously there are good artists and bad. Thats another thread.

Your right words mean things.....I don't think we can cheapen the word, its allready been cheaply used for the last fifty years...
Regards, Bonsaial

Oh No! What's that slithering?!!?

I think I hear the "Art vs. Craft" discussion coming....

Jim
TX

Fuel for the 'Fire', Jim. When I talk to people and explain what I am doing, I do not know what to call my self......OK wise cracks called for here....Am I a craftsmen.... or an Artist.... for sure I am a student, but am I a hobbist or...... you get my drift!

Basically I tell people "I do Bonsai"... not a very good use of words but so far the most comfortable I can get!
No matter what my answer is...or what you may want to call me, I enjoy the time and my trees..........

Thoughts?

Nah, there's not a lot of contention in the art/craft thing. Art will always involve good craft and craft may involve art, no big deal.
;-)

As to the definition and use of the word "art," as you point out Al, the word has been greatly cheapened in recent history. That is no reason for us to rape the real definition, especially to lend its perverted meaning to things are are clearly not art. Frankly, a modern Webster's dictionary is a poor reference for our world. It is sometimes little more than a topical slave to society's idiocy. A 1940's version would be a far better reference.

Yes, art requires skill and ingenuity and is often a branch of learning, but it does the world of art a disservice (and is an utter nonsequitur) to label any skill, any use of ingenuity or any branch of learning as "art." That's an example of being too smart by half. Remember when being a "good student" meant that a person did the work and scored A's in all subjects. Now the term "good student" is a person who shows up occasionally, tries hard (regardless of the result) and does not shoot the teacher. Our world is harmed when we rape the meanings of words.

Now, this is a great discussion of semantics, but the point is that There are things of art and things not of art in this world and it is misguided to lump them together. Further, there is good art and bad art (reference to the element of skill and ingenuity again) and it is misguided to place them at the same "level." Otherwise, as I wrote in a past editorial, my 4-year old son's kitchen table finger paintings are as artistically important as Monet's works.

So we can pervert the meaning of "art," but that is not a worthwhile endeavor and will not change the fact that some of what some call art is just crap and some is actually meaningful work (artistic, some might say ;-).

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
b u n j i n | d e s i g n :: www.bunjindesign.com
zone 8, Texas