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Repotting Season – Bonsai as an Aesthetic Practice
It is this cycle, this rhythm of stress and then recovery and the tree’s “memory” of these events, as embodied by its form, that leads to the creation of great, old bonsai… Walter Scott The changing of the seasons signals to bonsai practitioners that it is time to perform a…
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Bonsai Ethics
“Ethics – moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the conducting of an activity” – Encyclopedia Britannica, online edition, September, 2023 Introduction The main area of ethical concern that comes to mind when I think about bonsai art is that of harming living things. I examine this here in…
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Appreciating Bonsai as Aesthetic Objects
Bonsai are complex aesthetic objects, how do we appreciate them?
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The Influence of the West on the Development of Japanese Bonsai
Recent articles suggest that Japanese bonsai originated around 200 years ago, and that Western ideas influenced its development.
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Bonsai De-constructed
The Bonsai Vision of Aarin Packard “A thousand years from now, what will Bonsai be? I guess I would say if it looked the same as it does today, I’ll be very disappointed.”- Aarin Packard I spoke with Aarin Packard at the inaugural Pacific Bonsai Exhibition held at the Bridgeyard…
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Harnessing time
Bonsai artists collaborate with nature and natural processes but they harness time.
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Nine of the Best Books about Trees and Art for 2024
If bonsai = (nature + art), multiplied by time, then the books listed here are truly “bonsai books”. Their subjects range from art, aesthetics, and creativity, to our relationships with trees and trees’ relationships with each other. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by the music producer Rick Rubin,…
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Peace Trees
Trees have been associated with peace for many years. Explore these relationships on World Bonsai Day.
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American Bonsai or Bonsai in America?
What is “American Bonsai” and how should the ABS define “Native” in the context of American Bonsai as an art form?” – Susan Daufeldt, ABS Newsletter editor.
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American Bonsai History – Keystone Arts
The story of Keystone Arts shows the power of collaboration between bonsai artists.
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Judgement Day
There is no bonsai exhibition judging system that will satisfy everyone. But can we do better?
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Bonsai and the Anthropocene
Bonsai practice represents an active and intense human-plant interaction that could, if it were to become more widespread, help to prevent climate change.