Bananaman
Chumono
- Messages
- 668
- Reaction score
- 1,569
Education is fine but if you are spending 50.00 for a piece of material your wasting a lot of money on education and cheaping out on the material. I kind of have a phobia about bonsai education. I am very selective about who I take on as a student. I ask lots of questions about how they buy material and how much they want to spend. I always ask to have them bring their most expensive piece of material with them to the first meeting before I even commit to helping them.
Why?
First most people will be eager to tell others about who they are learning from. Their work is a reflection of me. Just like Ryan's students are a reflection of him. Boon, Kenji, Kathy, Bojrn, etc., etc. Most professionals will try and steer you to the stock they have, not always, but if a teacher is really good and honest they will tell you up front you are wasting your time. There a couple teachers out there that never say anything about what people bring to a workshop or teacher student relationship. Ted Matson is one of those guys. He is the nicest and most professional guy I know. I have known him for over three decades and I have never heard him say boo to a student. On the other hand I have heard Kenji Miyata say "take the crap home, don't bring that here no more" I remember one time, who remembers "Ripsgreentree", Glenn VanWinkle. Kenji told him to clean it up. When Kenji came back he told Glenn, "you cut off all what good. Now we have nothing, you take tree and sit in corner"
but....I have watched him work on trees for decades in a club, going on 40 years for me...and the tree never gets better. At what point do you cut the cord and just let it go and get better material. For some, never. They don't know any different. They are happy with the piece of crap and proud of it. Get a couple hundred of those kind of guys together and it's what kept Ted going when the advertising game vanished in 2007 and he started doing bonsai teaching full time.
If you wish to make trees like this:
Why?
First most people will be eager to tell others about who they are learning from. Their work is a reflection of me. Just like Ryan's students are a reflection of him. Boon, Kenji, Kathy, Bojrn, etc., etc. Most professionals will try and steer you to the stock they have, not always, but if a teacher is really good and honest they will tell you up front you are wasting your time. There a couple teachers out there that never say anything about what people bring to a workshop or teacher student relationship. Ted Matson is one of those guys. He is the nicest and most professional guy I know. I have known him for over three decades and I have never heard him say boo to a student. On the other hand I have heard Kenji Miyata say "take the crap home, don't bring that here no more" I remember one time, who remembers "Ripsgreentree", Glenn VanWinkle. Kenji told him to clean it up. When Kenji came back he told Glenn, "you cut off all what good. Now we have nothing, you take tree and sit in corner"
but....I have watched him work on trees for decades in a club, going on 40 years for me...and the tree never gets better. At what point do you cut the cord and just let it go and get better material. For some, never. They don't know any different. They are happy with the piece of crap and proud of it. Get a couple hundred of those kind of guys together and it's what kept Ted going when the advertising game vanished in 2007 and he started doing bonsai teaching full time.
If you wish to make trees like this: