Andrew Robson
Shohin
I had a chance to view the Advanced Bonsai Course of Bjorn's recently, produced by Bonsai Empire, and wanted to share a few thoughts and impressions...
The course is more expensive than previous Bonsai Empire courses, but for good reason. A lot of time was spent filming this course, which is especially apparent in Aesthetics and Design portion of the course. In fact, the course is over 6 hours long, which definitely merits the price! I found the filming that Bjorn did throughout Japan to be particularly effective for the course while talking about the aesthetics that have evolved from that Japanese around bonsai, and I thought he nicely explained how those aesthetics can be applied to trees we work with here in the US.
My favorite part of the course was the Case Studies, where Bjorn would work on a tree for a long period of time, (one styling of a juniper was 43 minutes) and clearly show what techniques he was doing and explain why. At the end he did an excellent recap of the key points covered which I enjoyed quite a bit. And the variance of trees and species covered was also quite nice. While the Aesthetics and Design portion of the course was fun to watch, the Case Studies are what really personally stuck with me and what I would go back to reference from time to time.
Bonsai is not only an art but a practice, and being so it is most clearly and effectively learned in person with a talented teacher. This is hands down the best way to learn bonsai, and anyone who has spent time studying with someone in person can testify to this. However, traveling to study with a talented teacher isn't always feasible... and the next best way to learn bonsai is by video. Although books and magazines can be fun to read and look at, one can memorize 100% of the information and still fail 100% in the application. That's why for anyone who can't afford to spend time going to a professional to study, or doesn't yet have the money for classes from one, I highly recommend the Advanced Bonsai Course and others like the Fundamentals Course from Michael Hagedorn. For the amount of information covered, these courses are to me extremely affordable and are a great stepping stone to a well rounded bonsai education.
https://www.bonsaiempire.com/courses/advanced-course
The course is more expensive than previous Bonsai Empire courses, but for good reason. A lot of time was spent filming this course, which is especially apparent in Aesthetics and Design portion of the course. In fact, the course is over 6 hours long, which definitely merits the price! I found the filming that Bjorn did throughout Japan to be particularly effective for the course while talking about the aesthetics that have evolved from that Japanese around bonsai, and I thought he nicely explained how those aesthetics can be applied to trees we work with here in the US.
My favorite part of the course was the Case Studies, where Bjorn would work on a tree for a long period of time, (one styling of a juniper was 43 minutes) and clearly show what techniques he was doing and explain why. At the end he did an excellent recap of the key points covered which I enjoyed quite a bit. And the variance of trees and species covered was also quite nice. While the Aesthetics and Design portion of the course was fun to watch, the Case Studies are what really personally stuck with me and what I would go back to reference from time to time.
Bonsai is not only an art but a practice, and being so it is most clearly and effectively learned in person with a talented teacher. This is hands down the best way to learn bonsai, and anyone who has spent time studying with someone in person can testify to this. However, traveling to study with a talented teacher isn't always feasible... and the next best way to learn bonsai is by video. Although books and magazines can be fun to read and look at, one can memorize 100% of the information and still fail 100% in the application. That's why for anyone who can't afford to spend time going to a professional to study, or doesn't yet have the money for classes from one, I highly recommend the Advanced Bonsai Course and others like the Fundamentals Course from Michael Hagedorn. For the amount of information covered, these courses are to me extremely affordable and are a great stepping stone to a well rounded bonsai education.
https://www.bonsaiempire.com/courses/advanced-course
