An apology to Will...and others.

[Chris Johnston]

I find that I must apologize to Will Heath for claiming that the post that has been bothering me was deleted. I'm not sure how I missed it when I looked recently. I think I assumed it was further down in the thread and was looking for it from the bottom up, and never got to the first page. Silly.

The post in question,

Today, Chris Johnston, a student of Boon, in his usual manner posted the following on another forum ( http://forum.bonsaitalk.com/222479-post10.html ).

"I will agree with you fujian, that the stupid, stupid idea of 360 degree bonsai is pointless. Every great bonsai looks good from all angles, but there is always one best way, or a couple that might be interchangeable or possible. But the whole concept was merely promoted by a self-aggrandizing fool who always posts to engender a lot of debate to boost his own website babies."

What he fails to mention is that this "stupid, stupid" idea has been put forth by such recognized masters as Colin Lewis and Walter Pall, in fact examples and quotes from both these artists are included in my article on page one of this thread.

He states that "Every great bonsai looks good from all angles, but there is always one best way, or a couple that might be interchangeable or possible" but fails to mention that the "best way" is totally dependent on the viewer, what I may see as the best "photo front" may be entirely different from what another may see.

He also fails to mention that the entire concept of three-dimensional bonsai is to get people away from the all too common single front styling and thinking more about the total tree. This will lead to trees with much better perspective, depth, and offer many more possibilities for design.

There is no such thing as a single front, which I pointed out quite clearly in my article, "The Myth of the Single Front." Chris would do well to read it at http://www.artofbonsai.org/feature_arti ... efront.php

This article on three dimensional bonsai was published in Bonsai Today issue #101 and has received many good reviews. Many people have said that at the very least, it has changed the way they look at their bonsai. What more could one hope for?

As to the insult "a self-aggrandizing fool" Chris posted, this is usually the response of someone who can not intelligently debate a topic. People tend to condemn what they cannot understand. Such is the state of bonsai on-line today.

simply points up my overall position, however, that what you or I or anyone else might get deleted at Art of Bonsai is allowed for some with the admin button. Why necessary to drag Boon's name into this? I think most folk can understand that my failings are my own and not the result of or a reflection on my teacher's spirit and capability.

It should also be pointed out that while the first part of the quote certainly sounds like me, and I am sure I have called Will a self-aggrandizing fool online, I am quite certain I have never used the phrase, "to boost his own website babies." That is a bit reminiscent of someone's use of "chat babies" to denigrate others who enjoyed camaraderie in the bonsaiTALK chat room.

My apology to the rest of those here goes a bit deeper. When I decided that this forum was no longer the place I wanted to post my bonsai content, I fully intended to break all ties and just quit posting here. I haven't quite made that happen yet, and I apologize for dragging that out. It's like a train wreck I can't drive past. I'm working on letting it go and I appreciate Klytus for pointing out the obvious to me. The voice of reason.

So I will say, in the words of the immortal Douglas Adams, "So long and thanks for all the fish."

Chris