Day at Malibu

my blistering collected stones, used to tell a story, day at the beach

Hi Stonener... I particularly like the largest (vertically-oriented, oval) stone which suggest a "set of waves" approaching. It is a creative impression for that pattern & very evocative of California, where the surf appears up!

HI Chris thanks for your helping hand, chance to tell my story and clarity editing on comments, I needed that!

re: Malibu
Main idea, Stand levels set stage for story;
Top stone: are sea birds "gathering for feast", scraps of flesh...
Left top: next level down is surfer, on board, knees bent, arm out stretched "shooting the tube", water tunnel...
next level down: to far right are "killer waves" or ten year storm...
far left bottom: is "Great White" shark about to attack, make meal of surfer...
center stone: are tiny fish, gathering for meal in wave...
on table far right grouping; fish shape stone "nemo" and accent plant as anemone...

Hi Stonener... Thanks for your explanation of the exhibit & for graciously accepting edits. The title of your forum thread will always be the title on the first post, so it is only confusing to change the title. Add content in the larger, white 'text block' below both the 'post title' & long row of editing buttons.

I can see your thought in the arrangement... including consideration of sky, water surface & underwater scenes. I'll offer suggestions, if you want suggestions. Perhaps, a revised illustration would help discussion...

OK! Chris shoot, Ive got my vest on...

Graciously Awaiting Suggestions you offered Chris, re: revised illustration to help discussion. Update Please, very interested in your thoughts. I did not mean to change title, only trying to explain. For those who were not aware that Malibu is a California Beach. I like one word titles, leaves more to the imagination. Should I post close-up pictures of each stone to help with viewing images...

Hi Stonener... Your display elevates stone appreciation and deserves thoughtful response. I'm surprised that others aren't jumping on it. Your concept is thoughtful & distinctive.

Below is an illustration clarifying directional flow using blue arrows ("<" or ">") for the first four stones.

Will you express (or illustrate) the directional flow for:
- stone #5 (Tiny Fish)?
- stone #6 ("Nemo")?
- the accessory plant (Anemone-- unnamed on the illustration), which we probably agree is a little large relative to the "Nemo."

Perhaps, you see Anemone it in relation to the Sea Birds (#1) stone instead of a companion to "Nemo"," which is another interpretation we can explore from two angles-- one relating to the multi-tiered stand chosen & directional flow of the first stone, while another relates to the plant's size.

Respectfully, order is not so easily followed after the 4th stone by the chosen arrangement.

Yes! Chris I too am surprised, why others will not engage. I like your depth, challenging!, makes me feel understood. #5 is dead center, no direction, all other point to it. So hidden theme of display, "Ocean life", left up to the viewers imagination to discover, connect or bridge to. As you say in, on, over and under water seens. As if in a discovery channel documentery, being watched by. #6 nemo is a clown fish, which live in large anemones for protection from preditors, size is in keeping with nature. nemo watching the "shark attack", direction < facing into display. This stone breaks embeded images by adding shape of real clown fish. With the white as pattern instead of image. Further note that all stones are of the same material and color as well as the pot, which unites the entire display. Stones are all completely natural river polished, collected over a ten year period. Daiza are crafted by me, including the display stand. Once again Chris Thank You for your Kindness, it's a good thing...

Pictures in descending order, 6,5,4,3,2,1...

I love the creative expression... & follow your reasoning, which is very close to my feeling for display with some distinctive differences. This is your display... and it is your projection to guests as their host. Don't over-read the following except as friends whispering separate from viewing the exhibit-- it would not be the conversation suitable for Keido, within which I appreciate your creativity & feeling.

The extraordinary expert in this arena is Jim Greaves in California Aiseki Kai. I hope you have (or will get) Jim's exhibition book Beyond the Black Mountain-- available through Jim at his American Viewing Stone Resource Center (his home) in Los Angeles. Jim photographed, wrote, published the book in California before mounting the exhibition across the United States at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in DC. That was AMAZING! Curator Ked Dell at the Museum & Jim's wife Alice are due much credit for that exhibit. Alice walked me through it with expression that really made it sparkle.

Jim took knowledge of Japanese suiseki display, added incredible artistic experience in mounting stone exhibits and created a profoundly influential & intellectually stimulating exhibition of viewing stones from widely dispersed sources.

BTW, your showing stones in reverse order for our IBC Forum seems a very nimble expression. Jim Greaves had a display in the Beyond the Black Mountain exhibit where the first view of an entire evening (sunset to dawn) began at the bottom of the multi-tiered stand. So cool when done by an exhibitor of Jim's caliber in an entire exhibition filled with subtlety & intellect. It isn't learned as much as felt when creativity succeeds. Jim & Luciano Queirolo (AIAS in Italy) often lead-the-field tasteful expression. It is SO rare.

When studying Keido ("Way of Display" for bonsai, stones and kusamono) for an autumn & winter season in Japan under Mr. Sudo, he neither presented shohin nor exhibit display in Keido lessons. One of Mr. Sudo's "master" Keido students visiting the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum said shohin bonsai and stone display as seen in the Gafuten was odd & often incomprehensible to Keido discipline. Still, it is very insightful when broken down by careful students.

Your feeling is right... but I'll share modest alternatives in choice & arrangement for consideration. Can we agree the multi-tier, shohin-size display arises from Japanese discipline? Among important lessons in display are:
- carefully viewing each object (including pot, stands, table, shelf-space et al. individually),
- utilizing empty space as an important element,
- paying attention to almost imperceptible or humble details (often drawing the deepest feeling),
- easy wayfinding with clear visual flow (recognizing ordinal importance and reading of objects), and
- ending in a final glance/Gestalt with feeling of an unlimited atmosphere.

The display should encourage the imagination to wander/create/yearn and the viewer to feel very personal engagement with boundless resonance.

Without your explanation, I was really puzzled by the stone Tiny Fish-- labelled #5. If the stone represents the exhibit's end, it should be viewed & numbered last, I think. Sitting where it does, it stops wayfinding for me if not given a map to overlook it as invisible until leaving and returning to its place. Every stone in the stand should be viewed together (I would argue) before going outside the stand, so I am still confused. However, I perfectly understand and greatly appreciate ending wayfinding in a boundlessness which could be expressed as looking into the sea at Tiny Fish.

For me, the back wall is the place for the last view. It might be blank (the mu "no-thing" universe) or it might be a scroll with resonance (scenic or metaphoric) that does not include any piece of earth/place to reduce the image-- celestial objects, a bird or insect in flight, a limb falling (but not the earth below it-- as in looking skyward), peering into an undifferentiated sea, calligraphy with the writer's "brush trace" et al.. Leading to the back wall can be an empty space in the stand, but only if there are not objects to view outside the stand.

"Nemo" should arguably face in an unambiguous direction, which aids in display wayfinding. I'm not sure if Nemo faces left (toward the multi-tier stand) or right (toward Anemone), for you. With your explanation, I think the viewer should be moving from Shark (Stone/Object #4) to Anemone (as Object #5), which flowing leftward to "Nemo" (as Stone/Object #6), which flows rightward as the accessory to the Anemone. A stone as an accessory to the shitakusa (complementary planting) Anemone is outside of guidance, but it is an intellegent design & the objects are placed in display-depth correctly (the less important more forward). Returning to the multi-tier stand for the stone overlooked requires a leap not found in discipline, but I accept it as your revealed expression.

In Keido lessons, there was a record of objects about to be seen distributed to guests before the lesson. I haven't seen commentators on Keido speak much of it, but i think it was as essential as tea records are for guests to a tea, where the history & connection of objects might not be fully revealed yet anticipated by a knowledgeable participant. Not evey object or placement will be understood the same by each guest, but a record of an important key might be relayed, here, as you have done by explaining the stone Tiny Fish.

Artistic license is distinguishable from ignorance or inattention. It usually occurs to elevate the feeling for the scene (or resonant metaphor) or to mitigate not having a more fitting object available.

The stand outside this form of stand (where the Anemone would sit in my imagination) is often paired with a matched, single-level table at the same height as the the lower tier of the multi-tiered stand. Alternatively, the satellite support might be a board or slab large enough hold Anemone on a small short table and support "Nemo," directly, as well. Repeating regular shapes (square & circle) in equally-thick lacquered boards under Anemone & "Nemo" is too regular, repetitive (even in near-size of the boards) and lacks rhythm.

Causing a viewer/guest to stretch beyond his comfort-level is arguably a worthy end. I hope viewers share in feeling your expression. Thanks for patiently guiding us.

CHEERS CHRIS and thanks again...