Bonsai cages - is it a myth?

GrimLore

Bonsai Nut alumnus... we miss you
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Wasnt that my kid?

Sorce

Nah and if you did that yours kids would climb up the side of the building to get in! They certainly are climbers :)

GRIMMY
 

Zach Smith

Omono
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And wiring is more natural?
Who said bonsai is natural? You're taking a tree or woody shrub, putting it into a restricted space with unnatural "soil," then stylizing it to represent a mature tree in nature. It's not supposed to look like what it really is. So I'd say the application of wire hardly invalidates bonsai as an art form. "Natural" has little to do with it.
 

Vance Wood

Lord Mugo
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You're right Zach, if I may call you Zach, but your trees/bonsai should look like they are the result of natural encounters, elements and time. If the results look un-natural then your efforts have failed. There are a lot of techniques used commercially that are total failures because of a lack of artistic skill. If you do not recognize the naturalness of the efforts when applied properly the problem is the viewer's not the artist't. There are processes used in bonsai that for one reason or another cause the hackles to rise on the necks of some viewers.
 

Zach Smith

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You're right Zach, if I may call you Zach, but your trees/bonsai should look like they are the result of natural encounters, elements and time. If the results look un-natural then your efforts have failed. There are a lot of techniques used commercially that are total failures because of a lack of artistic skill. If you do not recognize the naturalness of the efforts when applied properly the problem is the viewer's not the artist't. There are processes used in bonsai that for one reason or another cause the hackles to rise on the necks of some viewers.
No argument from me, I just want to avoid the concept that you can take a tree and stick it in a pot and let it grow however it wants with maybe some trimming. You know, going for that really "natural" look. There are plenty of ugly trees in nature. And then there are some stunning trees in nature. As bonsai artists, we do a lot of guiding so the tree doesn't get any bad ideas ;)

You may call me Zach. That made me chuckle. Are you old enough to remember Raymond J Johnson Jr.?
 

Vance Wood

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No argument from me, I just want to avoid the concept that you can take a tree and stick it in a pot and let it grow however it wants with maybe some trimming. You know, going for that really "natural" look. There are plenty of ugly trees in nature. And then there are some stunning trees in nature. As bonsai artists, we do a lot of guiding so the tree doesn't get any bad ideas ;)

You may call me Zach. That made me chuckle. Are you old enough to remember Raymond J Johnson Jr.?
Yes I remember Raymond J. Johnson. You do scratch the scab off of a recent Face Book debate where in one individual wanted to go to war over the quality of some really qusai-crumby little nursery trees in nursery containers claiming that they were bonsai simply because they were in pots. Hard to believe that there are still people out there that come from this point of view.
 

Anthony

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There are no ugly trees in nature, they are shaped to survive.

We as humans give them qualities, and our opinions.

However, we do have a human's sense of beauty and that is what we
apply in the seeing.

Just to wax philosophical.o_O
Good Day
Anthony, cousin of Pan, out playing the pipes :cool:
 
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