Escobar090
Seedling
Hello Everyone,
I come from Chile, poor bonsai culture in general(I'm part of that aswell by the way), but we try to do our best.
The thing is this: I just went to a bonsai nursery, the most respected in this country judging its quality. So I'm talking with the owner (bonsai artist with some recognition, he studied in japan I don't know for how long) and he constantly came up with the notion that you cannot learn by yourself, you need guidance (for some context: he offered a 5 hour class for something like US$200), you need a master, you can be a real good at horticulture but you cannot learn the art part of the bonsai.
What do you think about this? Is this real at all?, it's kind of disappointing, I read a lot about bonsai, watch a lot of videos, try to practice, but according to him that's of no use at all if you want to have good and decent trees, I'm not talking professional here i'm just talking about bonsai as a hobby. He said you will not be able to come up with any decent tree if you try to learn by yourself. He told me that in the 70's he thought the opposite, he learned for 10 years, he thought he knew about bonsai but when he went to japan the people there told them to threw away his trees.
So, any thoughts? Is he speaking from what he experienced, is this still true?
PS: Sorry for my english skills.
I come from Chile, poor bonsai culture in general(I'm part of that aswell by the way), but we try to do our best.
The thing is this: I just went to a bonsai nursery, the most respected in this country judging its quality. So I'm talking with the owner (bonsai artist with some recognition, he studied in japan I don't know for how long) and he constantly came up with the notion that you cannot learn by yourself, you need guidance (for some context: he offered a 5 hour class for something like US$200), you need a master, you can be a real good at horticulture but you cannot learn the art part of the bonsai.
What do you think about this? Is this real at all?, it's kind of disappointing, I read a lot about bonsai, watch a lot of videos, try to practice, but according to him that's of no use at all if you want to have good and decent trees, I'm not talking professional here i'm just talking about bonsai as a hobby. He said you will not be able to come up with any decent tree if you try to learn by yourself. He told me that in the 70's he thought the opposite, he learned for 10 years, he thought he knew about bonsai but when he went to japan the people there told them to threw away his trees.
So, any thoughts? Is he speaking from what he experienced, is this still true?
PS: Sorry for my english skills.
Look, I am not saying there is nothing to learn from some master sensei if you can afford one. I also think that you can find many great "sensei's" or teachers online, with abundant samples of their work to digest and even many videos. Check out the talent here on B-nut that are kind enough to share their advice, techniques and post pictures of their work too. I assume at one time Bonsai, which literally means potted tree, were just that, potted trees. They art has been refined, many say it was originally Chinese in origin and styled like Penjing scenes, the Japanese came along and refined it to the Japanese artform it is today. I long to see American forms or styles unique to America which could lend themselves to the forming of a new style recognized as American Bonsai. Who knows, you could start the Chilean Bonsai style. One example is the German master Walter Pall, if you look at his vast array of work you can see he borrows from the Japanese yet he has a style that is uniquely his own, and his work with species native to his area sets him up in my mind as a truly German master practicing German Bonsai.
