AusBonsai

I notice most people in Australia display their bonsais with Asian style stands, mats etc. Any suggestions for a more Australian look?

ellen welcome to aus. bonsai. a very interesting 1st post! although it should probably be in the stands and display forum? tradition is strong in this area. the thing that is most important when formal displaying that the elements (stand, pot, tree) marry yet do not detract from the tree. if this is created successfully then imo sky is the limit. nothing wrong with breaking tradition. wether its classic, modern or FUNKY. as far as australian goes im not sure i can define that seeing as we are still a young country that is heavily influenced by the rest of the world. especially when it comes to design. how about the opera house with a slab of wood on top? beside the joke im sure there is much to draw on from colonial days. but will it suit all - probably not. im definately interested to hear what others think.

Mela is very proud of a wooden box top with aussie type company mark on it that was incorparated as a stand!

Ellen this is one of my pet subjects. I feel that to present trees correctly is very important.I have many stands some oriental some made by myself.
Also some made from Australian wood.
I do have a post here called Australians all let us rejoice.
In which I have displayed an Australian tree in an Australian pot on a piece of Huon Pine with a settlers cottage. It is as I said an Australian display.

The reason you see so many of the Oriental stands is because, when you see them displayed at large Exhibitions, and seeing as most tree's are exotic.
You see them on stands that are designed for them.
There is nothing to stop you putting your tree on a piece of Jarrah or a stand that is made by you for your tree. The important thing is to remember the tree, is the most important part of the display.
I have exhibited trees on bamboo and cork mats, the accent should also reflect the trees habitat. In other words you should not display for instance a Pine tree with a cactus. Or an Australian tree with a piece of heather.
When it come to ornaments it should be subdued not garish so as to detract from the tree, and should also fit the total display.
I hope this helps you to understand more of the display techniques. Also answers your question.
Cheers Pup
Edit for typos then to tell you to search type in Australians all let us rejoice. That will bring up the post. The search button is up on the top right of the page. Cheers Pup

ellen wrote:I notice most people in Australia display their bonsais with Asian style stands, mats etc. Any suggestions for a more Australian look?

Gday Ellen, and welcome to AB.c!

Have a look at the Australian Plants As Bonsai galleries: most stands and mats there are what could be called 'traditional', but there are a few that have a more distinctly Oz feel...



While I like the idea behind the blocks above, I am not completely sold on the execution. I will be toying with similar ideas when it comes time for me to start displaying trees (hopefully within the next 20 years).

Disclaimer: I have never displayed a tree, so my expertise on the subject is questionable at best.

Thanks.

Fly.

[EDIT] This has got me thinking, and I might float some ideas to y'all soon... Anybody in the Melbourne are got access to an old corrugated steel water tank that could be cut into pieces? [/EDIT]

No fly that is an Aussie Stand
love it mate but I would prefer a single lump of timber

as pup says you can use anything so long it matches the tree.

With Natives, we are not trying to emulte th japanse so why do so in our stand and settings.

A plank of wood, old packing crate, corrugated iron, Slab of timber, Broken roof tile maybe. old dunny They all work for me

Ken

Hey guys,
Brilliant question and interesting responses. Some responses have alluded that an exotic tree be exhibited with an exotic or Asian style stand and an Aussie tree being exhibited on either Aussie stand would be more appropriate/believable...I would tend to disagree.

I think that a tree designed in an exotic or Asian style should be so exhibited...for example, a Leptospermum styled in a purely Japanese traditional style, would probably look best sitting atop a purely Japanese traditional stand. A Leptospermum, styled to emulate what it would look like in the Australian wild as a full grown tree, would probably be more successfully exhibited with an Aussie style stand.

What I'm saying is that I think that the style is more important than the species when considering the way to display.

The good old "Left Right Back", no matter what species, is going to look better on a Japanese style stand. This is simply because Bonsai is mostly about illusion. We are creating the illusion of a tree in the wild.. If we are leading the viewer to believe that the tree is the shape of a Japanese tree in the Japanese Alps...then "Left Right Back" is going to look believable and we are going to need to display it on a stand that is also believable. If we are attempting to lead the viewer into believing that the tree is a thin round topped tree, hunched and hanging over a billabong, then maybe a gnarly old piece of polished Tasmanian Myrtle might be more believable...

As others say......JMHO

Hi,
My father made a fantastic aussie stand for me, constructed out of 100yr old fence posts, here's a pic

nices shan looks cool, very rustic too, i could picture a rough barked mel. or callistemon on that i reckon i can see you got a fig on there, well half a fig you gonna show us the rest of the overall pic mate ??? would love to see the marriage between tree, pot and stand


jamie

Have posted this pic a while back but here it is again mate

ahhh yes, i remember now, excellent still though shan, love it with the fig too

love ya work mate


jamie

The good old "Left Right Back", no matter what species, is going to look better on a Japanese style stand.

This implies we have an aussie style that does not include left right back

Do we have an aussie style that does not include "Left Right Back?' I 'd be interested to hear if we have one. The point I was trying to make is that we seem to be copying all sorts of Japanese and Chinese accessories - stands, bamboo dividers, paper screens and the like when displaying bonsais and I wondered if this was because it hasn't been practised in Australia for very long. I wondered if it was a bit kitsch, that's all. I don't think this needs to be replaced with Australian kitsch.

Hi ellen
A great question to raise at the start of your AB.C first post. It is similar to one that filled my mind some years ago when I finally wanted to move my trees from ice cream containers to pots. I found that if you consciously looked at the Australian bonsai, with the attempt to create the illusion of an Australian mature tree, then somehow the illusion just evaporated when you put that tree into a pot that had nothing to do with the overall aesthetic being aimed for. I found that most bonsaiists of the time simply didn't expect to use anything else and effectively just ignored the styling of the pot. So came my search for more appropriate pots.

The same attention to aesthetic coherance of the various parts of a bonsai display apply to the stand, as you have raised. I don't think there is anything that can be called 'an Australian style', and from an artists perspective, I would probably react against it if there was. However, finding materials that help to evoke feelings or references to the Australian landscape or Australian icons etc, are valid endeavours of bonsai artists working here in Australia.

You asked if we do have an Aussie style without left/right/back. While I'm not sure there is an Aus style now, do look at that euc posted recently in this string. It is hard to apply l/r/b to the branching on that mallee form euc.

Cheers
Kunzea

i would love to see something interesting and unique with a bit of old weathered corrogated iron or something for native trees, i think that would give a very australian feel... ??