There is a very long, hard-to-read, discussion on the gallery
about the difference between a bonsai "collector" and an
"artist." It ties in with one of Andy's BT Online editorials
also.

As discussions tend to do, it has wandered a bit, and as the
thread is getting a bit long and slow loading on the gallery
maybe we can move it here (if we want). The list has been very
slow lately, anyway.

Here's MY contribution at the end of the thread:

Ernie wrote:

There are people who give more credit to Mother Nature than
themselves and therefore refused to call themselves artists. Does
that make them bigots? Does repeating "I am an artist" a hundred
times a day make one an artist?

No.

One is an artist or one is not. An artist would create a "work
of art" in whatever medium he or she tried (assuming the presence
of the requisite skills).

And, Bonsai, per se is NOT an art -- I don't care how many time
an insecure person declares that it is.

An individual bonsai MAY be called a work of art at some given
time, but left to itself and becoming overgrown or with branches
that were allowed to die, is it still a work of art.

Hell no!

An individual may create numbers of trees of artistic merit and
therefore earn himself a label -- bonsai artist. For him -- as
long as he keeps on working in bonsai (and doesn't move on to
become an artist in the field of bronze sculpture, or something
else) bonsai may be considered an art.

For most of us, bonsai is a pastime, a hobby, an avocation, a
business, or a craft. If we have the ability to make a nice
tree, does that make us an artist? I don't think so -- no more
than the blue-haired old lady at the Senior center who can put
out decent seascape painting after seascape painting can
legitimately be called an artist.

However, many of us can aspire to "mastering" bonsai as a
craft -- and attaining journeyman status. And indeed, when we
put the label of "master" onto someone skilled in making little
trees, we are speaking the language of craftsmanship.

And there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT!

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - The phrase
'sustainable growth' is an oxymoron. - Stephen Viederman

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