I imagine when people will come to a demo that lasts a few years, then true bonsai can be shown and appreciated.
Until then, in this instant gratification age, the artist giving the demo must reasonably produce appreciable results in a couple of hours. Imagine going to a water color painting class, paying good money and then watching the master mix paint the whole time while he explains the importance of getting the paint right before starting a painting...sure something could be learned, but let's face it, not many people would be overly thrilled with the demo.
With the possible exception of Chris's examples, there are some great people out there doing excellent demos and workshops. They are entertaining, they are instructive, and they produce results that the paying audience wants to see. Take a look at
Walter Pall's recent videos of demos he did while in Croatia. Neither produced an instant bonsai, but both were entertaining and educational. He not only explains why he did things, but also what will happen to the tree in the future. Most importantly, one can see the bonsai that is to be in the results, this is what many people attempt to do when doing a demo, but their talent is limited so they must go too far to show the future, hence tree deaths. Others, like myself, error on the side of caution and leave too much on the tree, hiding the vision still.
There is a balance between showing what can be, showing the vision without over doing it and leaving too much left undone so that nothing can be seen of the vision, of the future the artist has started the tree on.
Vance makes a very good point here that I think was overlooked by most people and that point is that too many people assume that contests produce dead trees. They assume that instant bonsai means automatically killing a tree....here's the real truth, contests don't kill trees, people kill trees. You can't fault Vance for taking the cautious route, he entered this tree in the contest, it lives, as do many others...those who fail do so because of lack of experience and you can hardly blame a contest for someones own lack of experience.
I personally think that these contests and even demos have a valid place in bonsai education as I said in an
article wrote not long ago. But like all education, it is up to the user to use it wisely, those who over style, re-pot a heavily styled tree, or just take too much off, or do too much are to blame for the trees death, not the contest and certainly not those that are experienced enough to do such successfully.
Will