Bonsai Gallery of Walter Pall: Material for Demonstrations

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Preferably the material should be quite complex, allowing many options. It is not a good idea to offer material which is obvious. If the majority of the audience can see what will be the outcome then there is not much of a point to perform a demonstration. Obvious material can be excellent bonsai material, but very poor demo material. Very rarely the artist can fool the audience and make something unexpected from obvious material. But then it was pure luck.

If the overwhelming majority of the audience can see that nothing of value can be done with the tree it might still be very good demo material, but it could also be very poor. The best option is to have a very experienced bonsai artist choose the material. Twenty years of experience in bonsai do NOT necessarily make a very good bonsai artist usually though.

This mess is outstanding demonstration material. Why? Because it certainly looks like a challenge, it offers lots of options, it is not at all obvious for most what the result could be, it is well established and healthy, it has a lot if inherent character because of age and experience.

Here a possible result which is probably educational for the audience. The treasurer will also be happy if the creation is put into the raffle.

This could be the result of a second demonstration a couple of years later.

This is extemely poor material for bonsai as well as for a bonsai demonstrations.

Although it was possible to create this.

But it took twenty years! In a demonstration we want to show something within two to four hours which is worthwile to watch, educational, and entertaining. With poor material this is not really possible.

Often people think that a master is a master if he proves that he can create something good out of ANY material. This notion is absolutely wrong. The truth is that masters look very hard for material that looks like it's impossible to the audience to prove their magic and still create a wonderful bonsai on stage. By definition this was good material then. Quite often it is just impossible to do a decent job with material that looks impossible. Because it is impossible.

Make sure you get the very best bonsai artist available to choose the right kind of material. This is not necessarily the treasurer of your club. It is a very good idea to stay in close contact with the artist long before that demonstration; to find out his preferences; to give him a decent chance. It is a very good idea to offer a variety to choose from. Very good demo material can be very expensive, but not necessarily.With the help of a very experienced artist you can possibly find very cheap trees which are very well suited.

For more reading about material please check out: Garbage for Dinner at Bonsai Talk