by Mollie Hollar

After I had been doing bonsai for a couple of years, I realized that many bonsai look alike due to a strict adherence to the rules. I believe bonsai, as an art, is a genuinely personal artistic expression, and as such it is very difficult for me to follow someone else's rules. I have felt very lucky in the past few years to become acquainted with several people from all over the world who have many more years of experience than I who feel the same way. I believe that we should learn methods of bonsai and basic aesthetic principles, but when it comes to "branch A, branch B, branch C" we all know this seldom occurs in nature.

To quote from Peter Chan in Bonsai Masterclass, "The process of creating bonsai is not a mechanistic one: bonsai cannot be created simply by pruning and wiring branches according to certain rigid rules and conventions. Instead, it is a long process which begins with an idea, born perhaps from a subliminal vision of a tree seen in its natural setting, and finally ending with the complete transformation of an ordinary tree, or plant into a spectacular work of art, which is able to evoke feelings of beauty, grace and grandeur. . . . Almost all Chinese and Japanese arts and crafts have their origins in Taoism and Buddhism. Although complex and highly technical disciplines are often vital components of such arts, nevertheless they play only an instrumental or secondary role. The distinguishing feature of a superior work of art, or of a masterpiece is its quality of appearing uncontrived, or almost accidental."