Bjorn Bjorholm on Carving

[one_bonsai]

Watched a YouTube video of his and was quite shocked that he said he doesn't carve unless he has to. He's said he doesn't like carving.

 

[Woocash]

I’m sure i‘ll be corrected if I’m wrong, but I don’t think the Japanese take the sort of shortcuts required to need much carving. I’ve read that Yamadori isn’t often collected anymore and so they would have more control over the stock that they grow. Yearly appraisals of ground grown stock means large chops and carving are largely unnecessary, so I would be surprised if Bjorn had done much ever, at least during his apprenticeship.

I think most westerners seem to have a different, hastier approach to creating bonsai, especially from collected or “repurposed” stock, which requires more carving to hide it’s past. Time is a luxury that most people aren’t willing to sacrifice.

 

[BobbyLane]

I’m sure i‘ll be corrected if I’m wrong, but I don’t think the Japanese take the sort of shortcuts required to need much carving. I’ve read that Yamadori isn’t often collected anymore and so they would have more control over the stock that they grow. Yearly appraisals of ground grown stock means large chops and carving are largely unnecessary, so I would be surprised if Bjorn had done much ever, at least during his apprenticeship.

I think most westerners seem to have a different, hastier approach to creating bonsai, especially from collected or “repurposed” stock, which requires more carving to hide it’s past. Time is a luxury that most people aren’t willing to sacrifice.

carving isnt only done to hide scars or chops. replicating a tree in nature isnt just about scar free trunks and perfect flawless bark, because quite frankly not all trees in nature have flawless trunks. many folks create features on trees based on what they see around them. if you ever walk through the woods and see a hollowed oak then you should have an idea that there's a bit more emotion to it than just creating a 'short cut' as you put it.

 

[BobbyLane]

anyway heres bjorn carving up a yew

they do a lot of dead wood work on conifers, using hand tools and machine tools.
not so much on deciduous.
this is nothing new and nothing to be shocked about. everyone has their own style and preferances.

 

[BonsaiDawg]

Agreed. Although in some ways Bjorns work can result in nice looking trees, very little of it exhibits highly unique design or flair, or newness. Nice but same-old same- old stiff. But what can should we expect from the kid,how old is he, has he even turned 30 yet? Potential he has, but he's got a long way to go

 

[one_bonsai]

It surprises me because Bonsai should have the features the tree exhibits in nature.

 

[Woocash]

carving isnt only done to hide scars or chops. replicating a tree in nature isnt just about scar free trunks and perfect flawless bark, because quite frankly not all trees in nature have flawless trunks. many folks create features on trees based on what they see around them. if you ever walk through the woods and see a hollowed oak then you should have an idea that there's a bit more emotion to it than just creating a 'short cut' as you put it.

Oh I agree, but isn’t that the Japanese thought process on creating material? I know Bjorn isn’t Japanese, but from what I’ve seen he’s pretty traditional in his approach. That’s what I meant.

The only real place you’ll see a pristine tree around here is in a park or suchlike, completely not natural and far too managed for my liking, in general. I’ll be getting my carve on, or look for natural defects with everyone else, but then again I’m not Japanese, nor have any Japanese influence.

 

[Tentakelaertje]

Agreed. Although in some ways Bjorns work can result in nice looking trees, very little of it exhibits highly unique design or flair, or newness. Nice but same-old same- old stiff. But what can should we expect from the kid,how old is he, has he even turned 30 yet? Potential he has, but he's got a long way to go

Oh come on man, why talk someone down like that? Referring to him as 'the kid' like that comes across as really derogatory, especially after all the years, effort and money he's invested. Regardless of what you think of his trees he does deserve credit for everything he's built up so far imo, and he's a really nice guy too.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

It surprises me because Bonsai should have the features the tree exhibits in nature.

True. But remember, adding more difficulty to anything serves to make it more "elite."

 

[MrWunderful]

It surprises me because Bonsai should have the features the tree exhibits in nature.

Thats just one facet of it. A tree composition can be anything anyone wants it be.

I like natural, yamadori trees, but I also like aggressive “pine style” triangle deciduous trees, as well as highly ramified and balanced Pines, which would never happen in real life.

Sometimes its about the beauty of nature, sometimes its about the skill and tradecraft of managing a tree over 10+ years and displaying nature’s beauty in macro.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Agreed. Although in some ways Bjorns work can result in nice looking trees, very little of it exhibits highly unique design or flair, or newness. Nice but same-old same- old stiff. But what can should we expect from the kid,how old is he, has he even turned 30 yet? Potential he has, but he's got a long way to go

I understand what’s being said.... but conversely.....,,

 

[Lazylightningny]

I think most westerners seem to have a different, hastier approach to creating bonsai, especially from collected or “repurposed” stock, which requires more carving to hide it’s past. Time is a luxury that most people aren’t willing to sacrifice.

Who has time to wait 200 years for a tree to naturally weather? Carving is an artistic approach to create an art form. A bonsai tree is not just a miniature representation of a tree one sees in the forest. At it's highest form, it's a work of art, the depiction of the artist's vision of something that does not exist naturally. Bonsai is both art and craft, and the practitioner uses all of his tools and wits to create something that transcends nature. That may be a high degree of ramification, carving, miniaturizing leaves, incorporating other elements into the composition, or anything else that the artist sees. Most trees, left on their own, create ugly bulges, do not highly ramify, may have thick branches up high and spindly branches down low, and many other faults. We either eliminate those faults, or incorporate them into the design. Carving is just one aspect of rendering a vision. It's not a shortcut. It's part of telling a story. We want the tree to tell us a story. Even a 1.000 year old yamadori, with all it's beautiful deadwood, will need some carving in it's design.

This large collected piece of material from Graham Potter has some great potential as a pre-bonsai, but has some large ugly stumps. Are you going to wait for nature to carve them, or are you going to do something with it yourself?

 

[Lazylightningny]

Watched a YouTube video of his and was quite shocked that he said he doesn't carve unless he has to. He's said he doesn't like carving.

I think you have to keep in mind where Bjorn apprenticed. Kouka-En generally does not work with raw material. Fujikawa acquires advanced material that he takes to the final stages for sale and show. I don't believe he needs to do much carving, so Bjorn probably did not do much during his apprenticeship. Bjorn is the best in this country at what he was trained in- perfecting highly developed bonsai.

 

[MrWunderful]

Agreed. Although in some ways Bjorns work can result in nice looking trees, very little of it exhibits highly unique design or flair, or newness. Nice but same-old same- old stiff. But what can should we expect from the kid,how old is he, has he even turned 30 yet? Potential he has, but he's got a long way to go

“Kid” is the term used by older people to try and discount someone who just happens to be younger than they are. since one of the best homegrown Bonsai artistS in this country has “a long way to go”, why don’t you show us your trees so we can see someones trees who knows what they’re doing.

 

[Woocash]

Who has time to wait 200 years for a tree to naturally weather? Carving is an artistic approach to create an art form. A bonsai tree is not just a miniature representation of a tree one sees in the forest. At it's highest form, it's a work of art, the depiction of the artist's vision of something that does not exist naturally. Bonsai is both art and craft, and the practitioner uses all of his tools and wits to create something that transcends nature. That may be a high degree of ramification, carving, miniaturizing leaves, incorporating other elements into the composition, or anything else that the artist sees. Most trees, left on their own, create ugly bulges, do not highly ramify, may have thick branches up high and spindly branches down low, and many other faults. We either eliminate those faults, or incorporate them into the design. Carving is just one aspect of rendering a vision. It's not a shortcut. It's part of telling a story. We want the tree to tell us a story. Even a 1.000 year old yamadori, with all it's beautiful deadwood, will need some carving in it's design.

This large collected piece of material from Graham Potter has some great potential as a pre-bonsai, but has some large ugly stumps. Are you going to wait for nature to carve them, or are you going to do something with it yourself?

I don’t disagree with any of that really, I was just trying to give some perspective as to why Bjorn possibly wouldn’t want to engage in much carving, because of his background etc. I agree my choice of words was clumsy though.

However, most sources of reference that I have come across seem to suggest hiding previous wounds, placing them towards the rear of the piece or disguising them rather than promoting them. There will always be a time to truly make a feature of a wound or to create an image that specifically utilises a purposely sculpted piece of dead wood, but creating an image where part of the main focus is the carving is fairly far down the list of bonsai prerequisites.

I don’t know too much of Bjorn’s work, but from what I’ve seen he wouldn’t have been working on pieces like this (from Kaizen) during his apprenticeship. He may have owned or worked on more like this on return to the USA, because you are right, no one wants to wait for centuries for a bonsai to develop, but do the Japanese (and he) not just buy aged material rather than carve to give the impression of age?

 

[MrWunderful]

My opinion is that the traditional eastern artists do not carve nearly as much as europe and USA.

If you look at kokufu books, how much of those have extensive carving? Thats not to say that Kimura or whoever didnt do it, it just is drastically different from some UK folks or some of the olives that come out of Italy or Spain (most of it is so good a lot of people probably mistake it for natural deadwood)

 

[bonsaichile]

Oh come on man, why talk someone down like that? Referring to him as 'the kid' like that comes across as really derogatory, especially after all the years, effort and money he's invested. Regardless of what you think of his trees he does deserve credit for everything he's built up so far imo, and he's a really nice guy too.

Don't feed the troll

 

[HorseloverFat]

Don't feed the troll

 

[Ohmy222]

When it comes to deciduous trees, the Japanese put technique above all else. No matter how much you like some the European carved up and hedge trimmed trees they would not be deemed great in Japanese bonsai circles. They must be smooth, tapered, heavily wired, and ridiculously ramified. They do have tricks though like excessive lime sulfur, using concrete in wounds, and I have heard of specialists that paint bonsai wounds in Japan. Bjorn is very traditional which makes sense considering his training. None of this applies to conifers because Japan. Me, I am not a fan of the carving on deciduous really but I will admit to liking a more natural movement of branching than some of the mushroom maples in Kokufu. In leaf you can't even find a trunk on most of them but in leaf is a non-factor on those trees. I truly believe Japanese value the technical over the art in deciduous bonsai. In many ways post-Kimura I think it applies some to conifers as well.

 

[Lazylightningny]

The Japanese are constantly pushing the limits of horticulture on bonsai. This is a great thing, but leaves us Americans eating their dust. The Europeans shine in carving, and we are coming into our own with collecting and developing large western native pines and junipers.