Bonsai Study Groups

JimLewis wrote:

BUT once again I ask you to ask yourself, after horticultural health and the various clip / wire techniques and a study of design what more is there?

That's Easy to answer!

It is the stimulation of tossing ideas between two (or more people), changing them, refining them, sometimes discarding them entirely and going off on a different tack. The solitary bonsiest gazing at his trees and his navel in his own back yard, misses all that. As a result, new ideas come slowly -- or not at all.

I say this despite tending toward hermit status myself.

I beg to disagree,
I am a "hermit" bonsaist, when people saw my finish work. they said my idea is new (which I did on my own). but when I ask people for ideas and show them the actual semi finish materials on my garden. They tend to make it/advised to be like an ordinary bonsai... The typical "by the rules" type of bonsai which they learned from a club discussion.

This is my personal experience, most people who learned from clubs against "maybe" those (I can speak for my self ) who learned the hard way on their own or with a teacher guiding them in a limited crowd. Individuals who has their own drive to learn and discover new things on their own tends to be more natural and discover and adapt their own styles, Though sacrifices were much greater than those who learned in clubs. And those who learned and get to much attached and dependent on others and rely to much on a group /club tends to learn the style of the club which most of the time (sorry) is the typical by the rules style thus discovering their individual style will less likely to come out...Most will come up with left side, right side, back branch, triangular apex or domed apex for all species of trees etc. bonsai styling in template style is the easiest way to do bonsai and were the first (and maybe last) style that many clubs learned and teach.

...Again this is just my personal observation. I remember many times when we invited different "masters" to a club or even national shows, I would always sit behind the crowd to hear what people might say or observe what would their reactions might be. Most of the time somebody would say Is he ("Artist doing the demo) doing it right?, Or somebody would even make corrections on the Artist approach on the design and some would even go to the extreme of interupting the demo to voice out their disapproval and infused their own ideas they learned from the club...Oh yes! An old member of a National club here even grabbed the microphone from the program host...it happened here recently, hehehe.
My conclusion, Most clubs specially with those older folks as the dominant members would less like let new ideas flow into the veins of the club....maybe I am wrong.

Club members, Don't get mad at me please...I am not against a club membership, in fact I am encouraging people to join local clubs. It is good for socialization and friendship, but everybody in a club should have an equal voice. I am just voicing out my own personal experience.

regards,
jun

Well, I have been a member of the clubs I go to for a long time, and we have visiting speakers some are good, some not quite, but everyone has their own opinion. Ask any bonsai grower what soil mix they use and no two will be the same. Opinions about styling will be each individual's own opinion, so that when I take a tree or piece of material to work on I will usually have my own opinion what to do with it, and the more experienced members will offer theirs. The usual quote is this is what I would do but it is your tree. This works sometimes, but I have taken advice and regretted it after. I could never do what I have done alone, and working with a master is fine but I can't do this on a regular enough basis to be worthwhile.
I see a lot of trees that beginners buy, and they all are making the same mistakes, I always advise to join a club to learn how to look after their tree, find something that is worth growing, and see what others have so that they have an idea what they could achieve. We have two members of the group that I run, who have had bonsai for a long time, one has superb trees the other a lot of sticks in pots although they are getting better. One has always been involved in a club, the other one not until joining our group,
Geoff