A Spring Afternoon with Marco Invernizzi
By Michelle Gray

After a providing a full Saturday (April 1, 2006) of instruction on pruning, wiring, and creating quality bonsai at the Sonlight Nursery in Blanchard, Oklahoma, Marco Invernizzi was still going strong. He didn’t seem to miss a thing. Somehow he was able to catch all of the participants right before they made any mistakes with their trees. He explained to them the folly of their ways, and did it in such a manner that they all seemed grateful to be learning.


As I sat with Marco to chat with him about his thoughts on Bonsai, I realized that much is written about him that I have not had an opportunity to read. Much of it is in diverse languages that I do not speak. This prompted me to ask him if he has a website or a biography that I could read, and he recommended I Google him and find a bit written in the Tokyo Classified. His travel schedule prevents him from spending much time on his website. “It is under construction. Right now it is a home page.” So I decide to do some research. Having that to look forward to, I jumped right in with my own questions. Being only a few years into the art of bonsai, and having attended few workshops, I imagine my questions were the basic questions any newbie might ask.

Marco was fifteen years old when his interest in bonsai started. Something happened when he watched the movie; “Karate Kid.” Already an artist, he was convinced that bonsai was the art form he wanted to devote himself to. Having done some research, I have since learned that Marco went to Japan to study with Kimura with less than $2,000 to his name. He sometimes worked six different jobs during his four years of study in Japan to cover his living expenses.

Marco seems humble when he talks about his teachers. “I’ve been very lucky. I had a chance to learn from Italian artist, Salvatore Liporaci.” He then went to Japan to study with Masahiko Kimura. He still has his first bonsai, and says he has never killed a tree.

"To be a good bonsai artist, you have to do a lot of work, make so many mistakes, learn from them."

When asked about the lighthearted tenet that “You have to kill a few trees before you become a bonsai artist” (I have heard this stated many times), Marco recoiled. “It sounds pretty strange. I have no answer. What is a few? fifty percent... thirty percent? One out of ten? Did you repot it while drunk or during a storm you weren’t home it fell off the shelf? I’ll tell you; to be a bonsai artist, you’ve gotta work on a hell of a lot of trees. On other forms of art, my ideas are worth about as much as everybody else’s. Bonsai, you have to know a lot of good techniques. You can have a lot of artistic sense, you can create a beautiful tree, but the tree suffers.

“(To be ) a good bonsai artist, you have to do a lot of work, make so many mistakes, learn from them.”

I asked Marco if he still makes mistakes. “Of course!” he said.
“Do you tend to make the same mistakes, or new ones every time?”

Perhaps a little surprised by the question, he said; “I would be a fool if I made the same old mistakes. I hope I’m making new ones and not the same one!”

Marco stated he misses working on the great trees. He has worked with world renown masters, and has seen and worked on some of the world’s best trees. “I miss working on world masterpieces like in Japan. For me, my challenge now is to improve the quality of trees I work on today.”

Marco spoke about what he tries to teach in his travels. “(I try to teach that) a person can enjoy a bonsai. Experience how to relate to a tree, how to position your body. There is no connection with how much you can learn and the quality of the material.”

Marco stated that a large part of what he deals with at his workshops has to do with what he called the psychology of it. He mentioned that he has been working with some of the same people in Europe for quite a while. When he sees them, he is able to focus on the psychology of things. “What is your goal? Do you want to learn how to bend a branch or take it easy because you had a rough weekend? Either one is ok.”

Marco said that for him, it is all about commitment.
When asked if he has a favorite species to work with, the artist didn’t hesitate to answer. “Larch. Like pine, like rosemary, like a few other species, it is double sex in nature. It is very male in shape, very female in foliage. It loses its needles in the fall. Cypress is both male and female. With the male form, Cypress goes straight up. The female form of the Cypress has more open branches.”

Having had my curiosity piqued, I asked him if he considers this often.

"Harmony is the most important tool. "

“When I style a tree, it’s definitely the most important tool that I use. Harmony is the most important tool. It is of no use to have very heavy pads if the branches are too thin.”

All during our conversation, the students present were completely engaged. A few of the other students came and sat nearby to hear him talk. Others, who were working on their Japanese Black Pines, were quietly focused on the assignments Marco had given them. Often he would interrupt himself to correct or comment on something a student was doing. “What are you doing there? No, I wouldn’t do that. I touch a branch when I prune it. Then I wire it. Then style it. Then restyle; it is too much stress.” He instructed the student to avoid styling and “restyling” a branch more than once. He had earlier told the group to conduct as much styling as possible in the mind before actually manipulating the tree.

Then, just as quickly, he would be back with me to carry on with the interview. “Choose. Seeing a tree happens with experience.”

I asked if Marco feels there is too much emphasis on Japanese styles and got an earful.

No, no, no. That is bull-----. Trees grow the same all over the world. A juniper on Lake Tahoe grows the same as a Juniper in Milan. Trees all over the world have the same basic instinct.”
He spoke about how trees cascade over cliffs the same way, grow straight up in pleasant conditions the same way, and twist, bend, and break in harsh weather, wherever they are.

“The difference is about the species. What the Japanese do - they try to represent nature as it is. Except for azaleas; I don’t consider azaleas as bonsai - they do not grow naturally that way. Who is a blind person to tell me the way I match colors is incorrect?” Likewise, the artist feels that there is no clear way to critique the style of an azalea bonsai because most bonsai forms are unnatural for azaleas.

"Bonsai trees have a certain proportion"

“Bonsai trees have a certain proportion. Or every Christmas tree would be a great bonsai. I think it is a matter of trying to copy the Japanese because the Japanese do it right. All the others are way behind. The biggest problem with American trees is that they are just too young. Sometimes the Japanese do things too symmetrical. I never want someone to say; ‘Marco always does his branches this way;’ if I always do branches the same way, I am not expressing nature.
I asked if he would you be expressing himself, then, rather than nature?

“I don’t know what I’m expressing, but I’m expressing something that is wrong.”

All this reference to right and wrong made me wonder if he disapproves of “Naturalistic Bonsai,” or sees it as an excuse to not work a tree to its full potential.

“I think I do naturalistic bonsai.” And he reminded me that the aim of Bonsai is to try and represent nature artistically.

Another student asked Marco if his taste in his own work has changed.

“Yes, but right is right.” Marco picked up one of the photo albums of his work that he had brought. He thumbed to a couple of trees and said that he likes to criticize his own work. He felt that on one of them, the lower branches should have been brought down a bit more and at more of a pronounced angle to the trunk. All I could think was that I wish just one of my trees were so “flawed.”

At this time, it became clear that I was keeping the teacher from his students, and thanked him for his time. Later, one of the other participants told me that she enjoyed listening to the interview because she learned so much from it, as she had from the workshop itself.

- Michelle Gray

Attached Images

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Sonlight NurseryGreen Country Bonsai Society

Gday EarthGirl!

I haven't finished reading your article yet, but already I'm asking myself where it was when the Articles Contest was announced. 'Twould have surely been a contender for the Top Three!

Good stuff!

Bri.

PS: Bump.

Enlightening. Thank you for your efforts, Michelle.

Michelle,
Another nice job, thanks again.
Here are some pictures of Marco helping folks with their trees.

Attached Images

	davidmarcoearthgirldon.jpg (44.3 KB, 121 views)
	marcodavidclaus.jpg (41.9 KB, 108 views)
	marcoanderlene.jpg (47.1 KB, 143 views)

Thanks, guys. I really enjoyed this workshop.

I had the pleasure of hearing Marco speak acouple days ago, it was a great experience. He's a very engaging and interesting speaker, even when he was dictating the 30 rules for wiring that he had thought up earlier in the week. My girlfriend, not particularly into bonsai told me, "If I don't marry you I'm marrying an Italian." She whispered this to me about 5 times during the demo.

I wonder how much close he packs though, everywhere he goes he's always wearing bonsai shop apparel given to him. When I saw him thursday he was wearing a Nature's Way Hoodie and I think he was wearing other bonsai merchandise earlier at MABS too, from the photos I saw.

Anyway, great article, Michelle, I always like reading about bonsai artists in addition to looking at their work. Their philosophies often resonate with me more than images of their trees.

Marco packs very well. It is amazing how much he can fit into that suitcase of his. I think my mother in law (with whom he stayed for about a week) got three or so loads of laundry out of him. And he some how fit 30 or so albums from the 2002 Migliore Bonsai exhibition (sp) in as well.

John