Bonsai artists: growing the new generation
With the gold standard of an apprenticeship in Japan out of reach of most budding bonsai masters, are we overlooking a more home-grown resource to bring on the next generation of bonsai artists.
8 Jun 20216min
I question whether attending a workshop or watching a demo will your bonsai skills.
Demo’s are the mainstay of most bonsai exhibitions worldwide, inviting well known artists to perform is considered an essential to increase attendance to a show. But will watching a demo actually impr...
8 Jun 20215min
"I had a bonsai once... it died!"
Why do the general public has such a distorted perception of bonsai. I am sure we have all had the same experience; you are introduced to someone and polite conversation flows and they enquire, “What ...
8 Jun 20215min
Why do we use Japanese Terms when discussing bonsai?
Lets consider the vocabulary used in Bonsai: it’s artists and jargon. Do we maintain the Japanese terminology or, if the art is to reach a wider audience should fewer Japanese terms be used to explain...
8 Jun 20214min
Bonsai Rules OK
Very good bonsai will still depend upon talent, experience, and imagination, as well as a general conformity to the rules of bonsai… however you are remembered for the rules you break. What is most im...
8 Jun 20214min
When does a tree in a pot ‘become’ a Bonsai?
I recently I posed the question “When does a tree in a pot ‘become’ a Bonsai?” to Bonsai friends worldwide, some professional bonsai artists and some just beginning to create beautiful trees, I receiv...
8 Jun 20215min
Hermann Hesse on What Trees Teach Us About Belonging and Life
This is a reading from one of my favourite books: Wandering: Notes and Sketches by Hermann Hesse... There is nothing more important to our existence than trees, for they are connected to the very air ...
8 Jun 202110min
