My Contribution to "American Bonsai"

I just lurk because im very new to this hobby still, and am just soaking in the information first. I have a gardening and landscape background, but bonsai just recently sucked me in. You all know what im talking about im sure. But id like to chime in on this. I think Japanese bonsai is a good reflection of how the culture really is. They are very hard workers, disciplined very young, taught cleanliness and manners and many other things that unfortunately American families dont really put emphasis on. Its finely tuned over many years and everything about it is learned and absorbed. I know many Japanese chefs through my father and they all talk about starting work very young and basically trying to hone and be the best person they could be regardless of what situation they were born into. Americans are much more relaxed or "wild" so to speak with certain things. We dont take dinner as seriously (unfortunately), or things like making eye contact, holding the door, saying thank you, writing thank you notes, just generally respecting one another. Not saying we as in you guys, just we as in most Americans. I think it takes a certain type of person to be able to the bonsai that i have been seeing on this site and the many others ive found. You not only need to respect the plant, but you have to be open to making mistakes, instead of just making mistakes hoping you can get away with it. Well now im just ranting too much. I just find that Americans are probably very far off on discovering our style, well because our country is only 240 years old. There are plenty of trees from japan that are older than that. So much like being patient with our plants and trees we need to be patient in developing our own style. Because its not going to happen overnight, or by one individual or club.

Sorry punctuation is not my strong suit.

Hopefully i didnt offend anyone, just my .02
 
sawgrass said:
Thought I would pull up this thread cause I am getting the Tea ready for Nationals and I needed to find a quick picture of it with it's backdrop...

Then I started going through some of the comments, and could not help but think how big of douch-bags some people are.

I always find it amazing that people who don't do shit, have never done shit, and will never do shit, are always the first to try and criticize other people's work. I guess they have to try and compensate somehow, Right? Then to top it off... they expect their opinion to be respected, as though it is worth a crap... go figure?

Anyways, gotta get back to work! I will not be able to make it personally up to Nationals... I will be sending my tree up, so hopefully some of you will be able to see it!
Cheers Big Ears!
Click to expand...
You are just getting the tree ready to send a picture to Bill Valvnius now, or am I missing something? You are aware that the deadline for submitting an entry was June First of 2016 aka this summer. So do yourself and us a favor and not complain when the board refuses your sumbission. Under normal circumstances I am sure it would have been good enough to be accepted but then again, I'm not Bill Valvanius. He has turned down trees better than both of ours for reasons known only to himslef and the board. He does not have to explain himself.
 
Vance Wood said:
You are just getting the tree ready to send a picture to Bill Valvnius now, or am I missing something? You are aware that the deadline for submitting an entry was June First of 2016 aka this summer. So do yourself and us a favor and not complain when the board refuses your sumbission. Under normal circumstances I am sure it would have been good enough to be accepted but then again, I'm not Bill Valvanius. He has turned down trees better than both of ours for reasons known only to himslef and the board. He does not have to explain himself.
Click to expand...
He's said in multiple posts it was accepted , read
 
DrGreenthumb said:
I just lurk because im very new to this hobby still, and am just soaking in the information first. I have a gardening and landscape background, but bonsai just recently sucked me in. You all know what im talking about im sure. But id like to chime in on this. I think Japanese bonsai is a good reflection of how the culture really is. They are very hard workers, disciplined very young, taught cleanliness and manners and many other things that unfortunately American families dont really put emphasis on. Its finely tuned over many years and everything about it is learned and absorbed. I know many Japanese chefs through my father and they all talk about starting work very young and basically trying to hone and be the best person they could be regardless of what situation they were born into. Americans are much more relaxed or "wild" so to speak with certain things. We dont take dinner as seriously (unfortunately), or things like making eye contact, holding the door, saying thank you, writing thank you notes, just generally respecting one another. Not saying we as in you guys, just we as in most Americans. I think it takes a certain type of person to be able to the bonsai that i have been seeing on this site and the many others ive found. You not only need to respect the plant, but you have to be open to making mistakes, instead of just making mistakes hoping you can get away with it. Well now im just ranting too much. I just find that Americans are probably very far off on discovering our style, well because our country is only 240 years old. There are plenty of trees from japan that are older than that. So much like being patient with our plants and trees we need to be patient in developing our own style. Because its not going to happen overnight, or by one individual or club.

Sorry punctuation is not my strong suit.

Hopefully i didnt offend anyone, just my .02
Click to expand...
Last time I held the door for a stranger, they got offended because I was being sexist by assuming that the woman couldn't open the door on her own.
Gotta love those feminists...
Similar thing happened to a close friend, when attempting to hold the door for a black family, they all stopped dead in their tracks and refused to enter the building until his white ass went thru...
Talk about respect....
 
DrGreenthumb said:
I just lurk because im very new to this hobby still, and am just soaking in the information first. I have a gardening and landscape background, but bonsai just recently sucked me in. You all know what im talking about im sure. But id like to chime in on this. I think Japanese bonsai is a good reflection of how the culture really is. They are very hard workers, disciplined very young, taught cleanliness and manners and many other things that unfortunately American families dont really put emphasis on. Its finely tuned over many years and everything about it is learned and absorbed. I know many Japanese chefs through my father and they all talk about starting work very young and basically trying to hone and be the best person they could be regardless of what situation they were born into. Americans are much more relaxed or "wild" so to speak with certain things. We dont take dinner as seriously (unfortunately), or things like making eye contact, holding the door, saying thank you, writing thank you notes, just generally respecting one another. Not saying we as in you guys, just we as in most Americans. I think it takes a certain type of person to be able to the bonsai that i have been seeing on this site and the many others ive found. You not only need to respect the plant, but you have to be open to making mistakes, instead of just making mistakes hoping you can get away with it. Well now im just ranting too much. I just find that Americans are probably very far off on discovering our style, well because our country is only 240 years old. There are plenty of trees from japan that are older than that. So much like being patient with our plants and trees we need to be patient in developing our own style. Because its not going to happen overnight, or by one individual or club.

Sorry punctuation is not my strong suit.

Hopefully i didnt offend anyone, just my .02
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it!
I am not offended. However, I see a different picture than you do.

To me, American Bonsai is nothing more than the "Scene" of Americans doing Bonsai.
There is no right or wrong way of doing it, and we are not bound by cultural ties and traditions that we have to adhere too.

In fact, I think just the opposite is true... often here and elsewhere, you will hear folks comparing what people in America are doing, and comparing it to that of the Japanese... We are not Japanese, will never be... just as their art is not the Penjing of China, from which the art originates from.

I think this does a great disservice to what folks are doing here. There is some awesome work being done in the states, this work is just different and should rightfully be thought as so. We should not strive to be Japanese... we should just be ourselves. And we should congratulate the achievements being made by those doing great work, rather than the usual poo-poo that often happens.

Style, is nothing more than that of what an Artist appreciates in life, being reflected in their work. It is nothing something one seeks to find, but is instead something that is already apart of the Artist.

Will give you an example...

To me, what I appreciate in Art is "movement". I think it is critical in giving a stationary object a feeling of life. Because in life, as we all know, things are moving... Alot of my appreciation for this has actually been carried over from the days when I used to paint cars and motorcycles. Doing mural and pinstriping work... It was common belief, that even when a car or bike was standing still, it should still have a paint job that made it feel like it was hauling ass! That it was alive...

So, this "Style" of movement, will always be apparent in the way I design my trees, because this is what I appreciate, and what I like. I don't have to try and seek this out... this will always just come naturally... regardless of whether I am Japanese or not.

I am bringing my experiences to the Art. Experiences, which are very different than that of the Japanese. My Art, does not have to be tranquil or calm... it just has to be what I want it to be.
 
jriddell88 said:
He's said in multiple posts it was accepted , read
Click to expand...
I don't have time to go through multiple posts in multiple threads looking for strange and self aggrandizing threads by Stacey. I responded to what he wrote. I don't generally go around following what Stacey does. I would not have found this one except I saw the subject: My Contribution to American Bonsai. The subject intrigued me, the author seems to offer more than a modicum of debatable statements. I'm glad he is going, or at least his tree.
 
Late comment. Didn't even read past the first page. First off amazing trees! If I were going for an "American" display I would've found an old wagon wheel or industrial age poster, something along those lines. Still amazing work and I hope someday I can be as excellent as you.
 
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