Andy Rutledge wrote:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Cowing"
Andy:
Let me ask the $5 question. Do you personally know of anyone who is in
this
desperate situation you describe, being a wealthy person who pays someone
else to
style and completely maintain their trees, and who is suffering terribly
because
nobody will allow them to display their trees in competitions? I guess
I'd like to
hear from this shy group of people myself.
Craig Cowing
-----------------------------

Alas, I cannot help you. You see, this "group of people" does no exist in
the U.S. community because our organizations have worked to make them
unwelcome and provide nothing of interest to them through their publications
and activities. How sad. In the world of American bonsai, if you ain't a
hobbyist, you ain't nuthin'.

It's foolish to blame the national bonsai organizations for this, Andy. In
fact, you have provided the answer to your own concern in a myriad of posts
concerning the whole issue of whether or not bonsai is an art. This country
doesn't have the depth of tradition in bonsai--there is a longer tradition in
California because of the Asian-American population, but out here on the east
coast I get the impression that a bonsai club is old if it's over 25 years
old. Someday this may become a pertinent issue because there will be a larger
number of collector/non-hobbyists in the country. Right now there aren't.

The president of BCI has already weighed in on this issue on the IBC:

"And once again, Andy, I would like to point out that it is not
"the large organizations who are creating this requirement. We are only
"following the wishes of the persons who sponsor the competitions and ask
"us to administer them. If you can find someone who will put up the
"money to sponsor the type of competition you are espousing or can
"persuade one of the current sponsors to change their requirements, there
"will be no problem with getting us to administer it that way.

In order to advance bonsai as an art, not merely a hobby (and personally, I
don't see the highest manifestation of the bonsai owner as someone who owns the
trees and pays someone else to maintain them--that's unnecessarily elitist)
then we're going to have to work at it. There are still plenty of people in
this country who still think of a bonsai as those little juniper cuttings with
rocks glued on the soil that appear in November at Walmart and Home Depot. I
meet them all the time. As you know it's a long ride from that to the sort of
thing you're suggesting. Please see my separate post from earlier today on my
own gradual effort to have a local bonsai exhibit sponsored by a local arts
society.

In partial answer to your request, I can tell you that I know of one
collector in this country who has a talented professional maintain his
collection. This person has some of the best bonsai in this country, but
has exhibited them only once - when a small company hosted a judged exhibit
where the entry criteria were based on size and species (rather than how
long he has been training them or how long he's been in bonsai or how long
he has owned the trees). Getting to see his bonsai was a wonderful
experience and certainly inspiring. He's not a member of any club because
no club or national organization is even slightly concerned with individuals
like him - a collector.

Is that the only reason he's not a member of a club? I can't believe it's the
only one. I can't honestly belive that a person who has made a financial
commitment to pay someone to maintain a bonsai collection would have no
interest in watching demos, hearing lectures on various aspects of bonsai,
etc. Maybe if he did he would learn something--like how to pinch a juniper,
perhaps.

Perhaps this guy could put on a garden party and have his own exhibition at his
home, or for security purposes, at another venue. Maybe do it as a fundraiser
for a charity. Why not? I'd love to be able to do that someday.

Also, why is competing in a contest the highest level of bonsai for some?

Yes, this is a "single" instance that I know of - and for good reason.
Surely I don't have to explain the reason.

Kind regards,
Andy Rutledge
www.andyrutledge.com/palaver/main.htm

Well, you've already given your reason, but don't assume that it is
crystal-clear to everyone else. For me, I just don't agree.

Craig Cowing
NY
Zone 5b/6a Sunset 37

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