BONSAI. TREES OR SCULPTURE?

Good words, Sam.
I started with something even worse than potted-plants as well... Bonsai is a multi-discipline art, but nothing better than practice and practice and practice...

Keep going for your dream....

Sam, you articulated very well what many enthusiats believe. Yet, I think what many in the West suffer from is growing pains. We take an art form (there I go again) that spans an ocean of time and try to compress the collective knowledge, philosophies and experiences of countless practitioners in an attempt to find our own voice.

My goal is to have a 1958 slammed to the ground VW Bus with the Safari windows

I bought a VW bus NEW in 1958 or 59. We drove it FOREVER and a day. Chug-chug-put-put . . . it never liked the mountains, but boy did it rock in Florida!

I have been self taught and quietly involved in what I consider the "art" of bonsai for 25+ years. Only in the last 2 years after retirement have I become involved in clubs, shows, web-sites etc. I in no way consider myself an expert and never will. I don't always follow the rules (guidelines) and I have some trees that I love that some "experts" would likely look down on. That being said, I believe that bonsai is art (sculpture) as well as horticulture. I can appreciate trees that emulate a large natural old oak being viewed from a distance as well as a juniper highly styled with incredible deadwood and polished red bark in the Kimura style. I love a well done tanuki as much as an old highly styled yamadori juniper.

I look at some of the judged entrees at shows or on bonsai web-sites and often disagree with the points given by persons considered expert judges. The technical side of Bonsai in a way ruins the creativity for me. However, we should not let different opinions like this determine what we as individuals believe constitutes a beautiful tree (bonsai). Doesn't Bonsai basically just translate to "Tree in a pot"?

There are many forms of art and I find that I don't understand or appreciate all of them. There is the simplicity of Norman Rockwell and the complexity of Picasso. Who is the better artist/painter? It is always in the eye of the beholder.

I like to take friends that have little or no knowledge of bonsai to shows and exhibitions and see what trees amaze them. They are not concerned with triangles, ramification, first branch, second branch, style etc. They just see beauty and are amazed that someone has created a living sculpture that speaks to them. Maybe we all need to look less at the technical side of the art and just let ourselves be amazed and enlightened by the overall vision of each tree we see without over analyzing every aspect of the tree.

Just my two cents.

Take care all!!!