Joy of Bonsai Innovations

I loved the innovations display. Whilst not strictly "Bonsai" in the traditional sense, they all were fantastic and a joy to see.

John Pitts Lunar display was awesome I loved every part of the composition even the relationships of ancient druids and the moon. John perhaps you can explain.

Simon's Blackthorn juggler was so impressive, the amount of thought and ingenuity that went into the creation of this piece was so so good.

Paul Finch's "Fakesai". A total masterpiece and display of skill, patience and accuracy. I loved it. I bet you get some orders

What a wonderful weekend at Bath. I am sure we will see some pictures on here over the next few days

All the best

Andy

Agree wholeheartedly Andy.

BTW, the small dish on the right of Nick Duncan's Yangtse River display was filled with oil, the hydrocarbon most likely to be the source of the pollution that killed off all the Dolphins.

i feel my English does neglect the feel witch it is presentatet here!


Mr......Pit i'd love to see them ballerinas dancing!
Where ever......
You have made a display in large! Moon in bloom. anything can happen....thnx 4 that

Jugglers creator, this seems to go beyond, matter!
I know juggling, you have made it in a still,.....with a tree.....? even if it isn't juggling love what u did!

I think fake tree (sorry) entry has to be seen,......miles away from what we do.......is it called counterpart(help)?

Dolphin display yes, we should all drive a prius! save the planet and help ourselves, or stop buying and through knowledge into veggies....

grtzz m

Thought the innovations section was excellent, especially the Juniper which had me fooled!
Why is it people dont realise you look with your eyes and not your hands! Hope the damage is repairable.

As regards the Prius just being able to stop would be an advantage!

Were there any other trees in the Innovation display?


Prius and other hybrids are a mere drop in the bucket. The problem is too many people.

OMG since the bad old days of BTalk etc. I said I'd never again get involved in either a

1/ Online discussion of art and bonsai
or
2/ Online discussion about soil

But that being said................................

I must confess that although I passed the big juniper several times it was so far outside my experience it kind of washed over me. I did think the brown lifeline/wood was "kind of funny looking" (cf Fargo) but never twigged that it was a model.

Very impressed with the Age of Stupidity piece of art in the bonsai style and am afraid to say didn't get a real chance to admire the other 2 featured on the thread probably because I was too busy haggling, gassing and they were surrounded by a crowd most of the time.

There's plenty of room for this type of thing at a Joy of Bonsai type event. If we have tables, scrolls, hardware/software, martial arts , Ikebana and what ever else going on why not a bit of art.

TimR

I tend to like the first three that Fiona posted, but on the "fake" tree, I have to ask: Why? And why a copy of a "real" tree?

Just to show skill at modeling doesn't seem to be enough for me.

Who's going to be first to say "the Japanese wouldn't do that"?

I'll say that . . . then add that the Chinese might. I've seen penjing in wall hangings.

Paul Finch( on right) was the artist who made the tree out of clay. This piece must have been the most talked about topic in the whole show. Some did'nt like it but the majority did. Most people were really shocked to find it was'nt real. Testament to his skill.
Serge clements in the middle and Lee Kennedy ( Wirral Wolverine, no 1) on the left. All three infront of Lee and Tony's yamadori.

Now you have a better Idea of how great these ideas were, I particularly likes Simon's Prunus Spinosa. I think it will be amazing in flower.

fiona wrote:

I'm interested to find out if the answers given are as I expect them to be.

I dont really understand the 'rules' of display, my visit to Willowbog a couple of weeks ago was the first time I've heard an explanation of how all the elements of a display work together or not. It's far more complicated than I had first thought.

here's my very amatuer comments on the display above.

My eyes were instantly drawn to the glass but then very quickly to the pot and tree. The glass at this point almost becomes invisible as I focus on the tree. There are no distractions, simply the tree, pot and accent, looking like some kind of serpent creature returning to its underground home. I'd like to see it with a bit of atmospheric lighting, casting a shadow of the tree on the surface below. Very nice though !!

I love the moon pot scene too, I'm a big fan of fantasy art and Smithy's 3rd photo is how I'd imagine someone like Boris Vallejo would paint a bonsai tree. Nice photo Smithy. (Can someone explain how to 'quote' from 2 pages of the same thread ?)

Innovations? Yes from me.

Paul

Something about that moon display has been bothering me since I first saw it posted here. Thing is I like the concept and it intrigues me, but the thing i keep getting stuck on is that there is no air on the moon so how could a tree survive, that and the moon has no satellites orbiting it so that suiseki seems out of place. My mind can't get over these 2 points but if it were changed to an earth pot and a small moon stone I think my mind could better get around the concept. That and the imagery would work better with the tree symbolizing a tree of life or something like that. Just my opinion.

paul burke wrote: I dont really understand the 'rules' of display,

possibly one of the main reasons for the Innovations section was to challenge the notion that there are "rules" for display. Ther have been a number of interesting discussions on here over the years regarding this very topic. It's nice to see some examples of how things in bonsai could be progressed rather than just discussing abstract notions of change.

paul burke wrote: Can someone explain how to 'quote' from 2 pages of the same thread

two ways: first way is after you've done your first "quote" bit, don't hit Send - simply open another window and set it on the second bit you want to quote from. Hit Quote button on that new window then Copy and paste the bits you want into your first window where you have your other bit already set up. Then hit Send.

Second way: use the standard codes for quoting. The first bit is quote="member's name" with all of that enclosed in square brackets [ ]. (I'd show you fully but the system will read it as a quote and not print it as written.)

Then you put in whatever text you want to take across (copy/paste or retype it) followed by [/quote]. Note - if you use this method you have to get the member's name absolutely right. Hope that made sense - it's one of these things that is easier to show someone than try to describe.

jon hultgren wrote:Something about that moon display has been bothering me since I first saw it posted here. Thing is I like the concept and it intrigues me, but the thing i keep getting stuck on is that there is no air on the moon so how could a tree survive, that and the moon has no satellites orbiting it so that suiseki seems out of place. My mind can't get over these 2 points but if it were changed to an earth pot and a small moon stone I think my mind could better get around the concept. That and the imagery would work better with the tree symbolizing a tree of life or something like that. Just my opinion.

No one said this was earth's moon.

Good point, Rob.

by jon hultgren on Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:16 am

Something about that moon display has been bothering me since I first saw it posted here. Thing is I like the concept and it intrigues me, but the thing i keep getting stuck on is that there is no air on the moon so how could a tree survive, that and the moon has no satellites orbiting it so that suiseki seems out of place. My mind can't get over these 2 points but if it were changed to an earth pot and a small moon stone I think my mind could better get around the concept. That and the imagery would work better with the tree symbolizing a tree of life or something like that. Just my opinion.

Symbolism Jon,

"Not so much a style of art, Symbolism was more an international ideological trend. Symbolists believed that art should apprehend more absolute truths which could only be accessed indirectly. Thus, they created scenes from nature, human activities, and all other real world phenomena in a highly metaphorical and suggestive manner. Symbolism is an important element of most religious arts. They provided particular images or objects with esoteric attractions."

Thanks Tony, for the HD video, brings it a little closer to life.

Fiona, you asked the question " does a bonsai display have to contain a living tree"
For me definately, how can it be bonsai if it dosn't?

I'd like to thank ABBA, and Simon in particular for giving me the opportunity to display my work,
only in an innovations section could I display this "bonsai" in a way I wanted to.

john pitt wrote:Fiona, you asked the question " does a bonsai display have to contain a living tree"
For me definately, how can it be bonsai if it dosn't?

It was a devil's advocate question really to get the discussion going, and more appropriate to Nick's Age of Stupidity exhibit. Much as I liked the idea behind this latter, it was probably the one where I came closest to saying it wasn't "bonsai" as such.

john pitt wrote: I'd like to thank ABBA, and Simon in particular for giving me the opportunity to display my work,
only in an innovations section could I display this "bonsai" in a way I wanted to.

I think everyone who was there (plus many others on here) would like to thank Dan and ABBA for having the foresight/guts/sense/temerity/etc - delete as appropriate - to make such a major feature of the Innovations section. I have heard people rail against "innovation in bonsai" but my own take is that until we have actually seen it, how can we possibly have an opinion on it - an opinion, that is, which is balanced and not the stuff of prejudice and/or intransigence. I applaud ABBA and all the artists for their work.


I finish on a colossal piece of sooking in (that's Scottish for grovelling!) Are you sitting down John Pitt, because there's a compliment coming your way (despite the pelters I took off you all weekend re my hairdo. Hah!). There are probably a number of people who associate John only with bonsai pottery and who are not aware that he is also pretty handy with styling the occasional tree or three, as a good number of us have witnessed. I am glad that you got the opportunity to display your work as you "wanted to" because it let these others who do not know you in this context see the superb bonsai artist that you are. You got my vote as "best in show".



And I'm not just saying that because you're tailor-making me a pot!

jon hultgren wrote:Something about that moon display has been bothering me since I first saw it posted here. Thing is I like the concept and it intrigues me, but the thing i keep getting stuck on is that there is no air on the moon so how could a tree survive, .

There may have been n o air on the moon, but the "atmosphere" at joy of Bonsai was excellent!!!

Rob Kempinski wrote:

Smithy wrote:This i gather was the one made of resin. It fooled me to start with.

Was they whole tree fake? Or was resin foliage added to the real driftwood?
How big?
Impressive piece of modeling and low maintenance requirements.

As i wrote in other topic, it's a wonder!
My compliments to artist!

Fiona,

despite the pelters I took off you all weekend re my hairdo. Hah!).

I thought your hairdo was very "innovative" , sorry , just my sense of humour.

Thanks very much for the compliment, good job I was sitting down, phew....

I'm sending e-mail re hawthorn, just been looking at it.

Was the pot also modeling clay?

As far as I can remember, the pot and the moss on the surface were the only real items.

Thanks to everyone involved in The Joy of Bonsai and for your help in making it live up to its name.

Hi all a bit late I know but the perpouse of my polution display was if we dont as a whole protect our world the only ispiration for bonsai in nature will be dead trees.

Hope this finds you all well.

Nick