Lisa,
I apprexciate your feelings, but would offer some consolation. To me,
bonsai is a process: not an end in itself. The pleasure of working with
trees, increasing their beauty as you work, is the real reward in bonsai.
It's the process, not the result that counts. If you think of it in these
terms, you will never look back with regret upon the hours, months and years
spent with bonsai.
Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lisa Kanis"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2003 8:49 AM
Subject: [IBC] Bonsai partnership


A friend of mine took up bonsai as a pastime after she had to leave work,
when her first baby was born. That was a long time ago. She is now a
grandmother, five times over. In the intervening years she created a
magnificent bonsai collection. Two years ago, however, she told me that
she
could no longer keep up with the intensive maintenance her trees demanded,
and had decided to sell all the big ones she could not carry by herself. A
dealer was found who declared that he was prepared to take the trees as a
job lot, and offered her a pittance for them. When she protested, saying
that just the pots were worth three times the amount, he told her that he
wasn't interested in the pots, she could keep them if she wanted. So
almost
half of her collection left in a big truck -- all trees that she had
worked
on for 10 and 35 years, outstanding specimens, with their roots wrapped in
plastic. I asked her if it hadn't made her feel awful, but she shrugged.
"I
am relieved I no longer have the responsibility for them", she said. "I
felt
awful when I saw them becoming neglected, they didn't deserve that. I know
that they'll be looked after well, because they are too valuable to be
wasted." Then she smiled and said that now she'd finally be able again to
get some new trees, which she could style over the coming years, something
she couldn't afford to do when her full collection took up so much time,
and
so much space.

I wonder if she ever got used to the bare retaining wall along her
extended
rockery, where the biggest bonsai stood for many years. For my part, I
haven't.... quite.

The reason I am posting this story is prompted by a question that Andy
Rutledge asked in his Editorial of April, in Bonsai Today Online. In a
nutshell, for those who are not subscribers, he wished to know how people
felt about getting rid of bonsai in which they had invested so much time
and
so much of themselves.
He sees working on bonsai as the creation of a partnership between the
tree
and the artist, and considers it quite different from other artistic
endeavours, like e.g. painting or sculpting. Therefore, selling a bonsai
cannot be compared to selling a painting or sculpture; it is emotionally
traumatic. (I hope that's ok as the briefest possible summary, Andy?)

I have to dispose of a number of trees myself, because I have too many.
Of course I should have limited long ago the amount I acquired, but how
many
of us can do that, before it's too late?
Now, apart from one or two, I can't decide which I should let go. Like
Andy
has for his bonsai, I have plans for each of mine, and with the disposal
of
the trees comes the disposal of the plans... of the future. That is a
combination which is anchored very deeply, and hard to uproot.
However, the more a good potensai advances in the direction of a good
bonsai, the more work it demands, and I am getting desperate. So, when I
have finally reduced the numbers, I expect I'll feel the same as my
friend.... Relief.

Ultimately, we shall have to let go of all our trees, which implies that
in
the background of our partnership with them there is another, still
shadowy
partnership, just waiting.

Lisa


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