You be the Judge

[Smoke]

but why are we judging?

I wanted to see how you all would vote it. Looking for a consensus of opinion. Frankly I understand what is right and what is wrong with each display but have enjoyed why you all like and dislike what you see. I have been surprised at the many votes for number five since it is a bonsai display competition, and now wonder if I have to rethink what a bonsai is...????

Have I been wasting my time with trees and could have fared better with a pot of accent plants? Maybe next year I should display some cactus and a dried cock roach accent?

Maybe its time for Mr. Hanky?

 

[Smoke]

LOL playing with virts I flipped the scroll. The reality is the bonsai (in the original display) should be on the left side of the scroll. But because the tree leans left, the artist placed it to right of the scroll. So I flipped the scroll image to make it work.

View attachment 187695

Wouldn't life be great if everything we owned went the right direction. I have 34 scrolls and never have what I want. I would purchase it if I could find it but what we want and what we need changes daily. ahh...so is life.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I have been surprised at the many votes for number five since it is a bonsai display competition, and now wonder if I have to rethink what a bonsai is...????

You didn't specifically say it was a bonsai display contest You said "display contest". I was judging each display on its own merits - which is why I gave my nod to #5. Otherwise I would just move up all my other rankings one spot

 

[Smoke]

I am really happy that the flower points the right way now!!!!!

 

[Smoke]

You didn't specifically say it was a bonsai display contest You said "display contest". I was judging each display on its own merits - which is why I gave my nod to #5. Otherwise I would just move up all my other rankings one spot

Well thats the rub. This has ALWAYS been a BONSAI display contest.

ahhhh..the politics....raises its ugly head. Once you allow the parameters of the contest to stray, there is no way to put Pandora back in the toothpaste tube.

BTW That was the winner.....

Just a point of contention, a sansui scroll would never be used in traditional Keido bonsai display. The fact that that has won means that absolutely no rules were used in the judging of this event. It was left strictly on the feelings of the viewer and purely subjective. That means that those that strive for, and continue to study have no reason to further their pursuits of this aspect, art of, bonsai display. The rules have been rendered moot and anything goes....

So next year is Ikebana a winner, do we throw out bonsai altogether and just make this an accent plant competition? Should maybe I display some of my 150 year old Native American baskets with a few arrowheads as accent and some acorns thrown on the tatami?

Would a trinket stand full of Chinese Mudmen fill the bill? Is that where this is going?

 

[Smoke]

The judges order was 5,3,2

 

[Smoke]

oops

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Well thats the rub. This has ALWAYS been a BONSAI display contest.

I meant in your post you didn't describe it as a bonsai display contest. I have no idea where this show was or what the judging parameters were. If there were no judging parameters... you are going to have a lot of opinions about what qualifies as an acceptable entrant. For example most of these were three point displays. Would I have automatically been disqualified if I had gone with a two point display?

That said, I knew right away that #5 was probably going to be controversial due to the lack of a bonsai

 

[Vin]

The judges order was 5,3,2

???? Say what...

 

[Smoke]

I meant in your post you didn't describe it as a bonsai display contest. I have no idea where this show was or what the judging parameters were. If there were no judging parameters... you are going to have a lot of opinions about what qualifies as an acceptable entrant. For example most of these were three point displays. Would I have automatically been disqualified if I had gone with a two point display?

That said, I knew right away that #5 was probably going to be controversial due to the lack of a bonsai

fair enough....I did post this on Bonsainut not Accentnut right??

 

[Smoke]

Remind me to PM you for details on starting my own site.

I wish to start three for the future of bonsai display.

Accentnut
Ikebananut
Areyoukiddingmenut

 

[Smoke]

I'm not bitter though....

Just raising post count for the "King of the dipshits" title.

 

[Smoke]

The other reason I did not post any parameters or that this was a BONSAI display contest was to prove the point that no rules were used in the decision making process of determining a winner. If I said this was a bonsai contest, then 5 would automatically be disqualified. Since it won, and garnered much appeal here also, I have to deduce that rules were not used, otherwise the official results would have been different. Just from a purely Japanese point of view the use of four would have rendered display 3 moot also. In fact the judging sheet specifically asks for number of items in the display. And yes a two point display would be OK in this competition. Of course which do you leave out, the scroll or the accent. Which ever you keep must be so strong to stand on its own.

 

[LanceMac10]

I'm not bitter though....

Just raising post count for the "King of the dipshits" title.

Photograph of your entry? Is putting a tree overlapping the scroll "a thing".........makes everything seem pushed together and sloppy. In my opinion......

 

[Smoke]

Photograph of your entry? Is putting a tree overlapping the scroll "a thing".........makes everything seem pushed together and sloppy. In my opinion......

It is “a thing”. Much like a tattoo is “a thing”


Jackson Pollack is an artist. I am not educated in the field enough to understand the piece of art that looks pushed together and sloppy to me.... see where I’m going with this???

 

[Adair M]

The judges order was 5,3,2

Smoke, who were the judges? I’m not so interested in their actual names, but knowing their backgrounds. Were they bonsai people? Master gardeners? General public?

Its entirely possible that the judges had no clue of what they were judging! For instance, maybe they chose number 5 because “it was different” from the others - no tree! To someone who is totally clueless, they might think it was “original” or “thinking outside the box” to not have a tree!

(For what it’s worth, at last year’s North Carolina Bonsai Expo, there was a display of an oversized accent plant as the main display element. Go figure!)

 

[Adair M]

Photograph of your entry? Is putting a tree overlapping the scroll "a thing".........makes everything seem pushed together and sloppy. In my opinion......

Yes, by having the bonsai intrude over the edge of the scroll signifies that the bonsai is more important than the scroll.

 

[milehigh_7]

I suppose 5 should win if it was a farmer's market and not something about bonsai... Maybe a nice fruit basket would give it a run...

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I'm not bitter though....

 

[Bonsai Nut]

And yes a two point display would be OK in this competition. Of course which do you leave out, the scroll or the accent. Which ever you keep must be so strong to stand on its own.

I would have gone with #3 without the scroll or the 2nd accent (the plant).