fourteener
Omono
I read a quote once, wish I could remember who said it, that has always stuck with me is that Life's 3 mysteries are love, art and religion. Who we love, the art that appeals, and the religion or lack thereof that you follow are each subjective and individual. And bonsai is art.
In trying to put my thought into words on what separates the good from the exceptional, I need to put it into the context of retail. I am the buyer for a high-end luxury boutique so it is my job to be the curator for the items that we sell. Traditional(Good) appeals to the vast majority of people and selling those items is what keeps us in business but finding the exceptional items for the clients that I know can appreciate it has separated us from others in the same market. My clients for the exceptional certainly see the beauty in the good. Good is where they began their journey, but they have seen it before too many times now and consider it predictable and common. They want to see something that doesn't abandoned tradion but still surprises them in some way. They took the 100s, or 10000's of items they have seen, education of the subject, processed it all together over time along with their own experiences and the result is that their good taste level has elevated. They are seeing every detail of an item and comparing it with everything they have seen before. They "Get it". They will have different personal responses to any particular item but they will pretty much agree on whether that item is good or exceptional. Some people are born "getting it", some evolve to "getting it", and some people, no matter what, never will. For those people, they may or may not see tradional beauty in the exceptional but it doesn't fit within the boundaries of their expectations. But the more they see and learn will expand those boundaries and if it is meant to be, one day they too will "get it".
Some people just have bad taste though. Luckily for them, there is a lot of ugly to go around. Don't be that person.
James
I am on the lookout for the exceptional. There are always little reasons why some material is just good, and will always be just good. I think people either arrogantly or foolishly believe their skill can overcome a fatal flaw that keeps a tree in the good category. Sometimes a skill can do that, but this is why people auction off some of their trees. Some people have an eye for the exceptional, some don't. The guys on the show American Pickers, are able to sort through piles of artifacts(crap)to find the exceptional.
In the end a tree has to inspire me, be something I can't stop looking at. This is subjective to be sure. I'm not much into looking at collections that seems to be little mushroom shapes all lined up on a bench. I love all things twisted and gnarled. Everyone doesn't have to like that, different things move people, stir up reactions in you. If the only thing that moves us is that the material was cheap or any easy dig, you might be settling for good.
Time will tell and our collections will reveal how well we've been able to do that. I'm in no place to determine how well I'm doing at finding the exceptional either, just trying to get better at it. I wish all of you well in that regard, unless you are bidding against me at an auction!!