AABC - SALVATORE LIPORACE - Act 1

[MelaQuin]

This is the first post on notes taken during the AABC convention. There are pages and pages still to type.

At the 23rd Annual AABC Convention held in Sydney over the weekend of 14-16 May, the overseas demonstrator was the renowned Italian Master, Salvatore Liporace. His presentation was somewhat hampered by the necessity for a translator but he passed on many tips.

To make good bonsai you need mind, heart and hands. These are the three most important things. Australia has good material but Australian enthusiasts have to move forward. You need to travel all over the world [or use the internet] to see and analyse advanced work. It is so important to study advanced work.

The first thing I notice about Australian bonsai is proportion. John Naka, the American-Japanese bonsai master, was a great teacher and he was generous with his knowledge. His two books, Bonsai Techniques #1 and Bonsai Techniques #2 are bibles of bonsai information.

John Naka’s guideline for proportion was 1:6. The tree should be no higher than 6 times the trunk width. If the diameter of the trunk is 10cm the tree height should be no higher than 60 cm. But bonsai is an art and art changes.

Now the proportion is changing, big bonsai are not popular and the styling trend is towards smaller trees; trees to 15cm, 15-20cm, 20-30cm 30-45 cm. This takes the ratio to 1:3 and 1:4. If the trunk is 10 cm the tree should be 30 or 40cm high, not 60 cm.

My comment on Australian trees is the trees should be smaller. Of course this is my opinion. In a couple of days I go back to Italy and you can do what you want. Years ago Italian bonsai stylists felt they could never do as well as the Japanese Masters but this has proved to be false. The philosophy of 30 years ago has changed.

Salvatore proceeded to demonstrate styling a Mugo pine. He doesn’t like classical styling but prefers to do something original and unusual. His demo subject was reasonably tall and he immediately removed the entire top section and jinned it.

“When you start a bonsai you have to know in your heart that you can improve it, otherwise don’t start. The first step is to remove the unnecessary branches. Wiring is a very important technique. Putting wire on properly is like owning your tree”.

Salvatore scorned aluminium wire and stated that Europe uses copper as aluminium is too soft. With conifers the branches are flexible and when wired with aluminium they will stay in position until the branch starts strengthening and then the aluminium wire won’t be able to control the growth. Copper is softer but as it weathers it hardens and holds the tree better. A professional bonsaist will use 15-18 different gauges of wire from .05 upwards. 5 gauge is not used because it is too thick and if you need thicker than #4 you should use branch benders.

The angle of wiring is said to be 45 degrees but that is not true. It should be wider than 45 degrees with all wiring the same distance apart. You should lower the branch and wire the branch when it is in position so the wire doesn’t get loose. The more wire there is on the tree the less the person knows. Less wire and the tree will be happier.

Wiring properly has three advantages: It looks nicer on the tree, anyone seeing the well wired tree will know whether the bonsai artist is capable or not, and most importantly, for the well being of the tree. The majority of people put at least 3 wires when 1 wire should be used to do two branches. Before you start wiring you need to know the future shaping of the branch. Every time you wire you can improve the tree. If a job has to be done it is better to do it well than poorly.

To start your wire at the front of a tree is a mistake. Start at the back and this means you have one less wire crossing the trunk and the tree looks better. The more wire you use the more danger of wire marks.

Europe is very dedicated to bonsai – their trees have to be good enough that you want to eat them. There is less competition in Australia and competition increases the incentive to do better.

In Italy there are a lot more species than in other European countries. The huge variety of terrain and soil contributes to this. Australia is such a big country that it is impossible not to have a good selection of trees. In Italy we can import trees from China and Japan but now we realise that Italian trees are just as good and we appreciate our Italian bonsai. We take great pride in the Italian way of making bonsai.

Bonsai is not just an art or a hobby, it is also a philosophy.

[bodhidharma]

Thanks for doing the hard yards for us Mel

[Mitchell]

Thanks for going to the effort, of posting these. It is great to get a look at what went on!

[Glenn C]

Yes , thanks Mel, for me as a newby I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the last weeks long running debate on proportion stirred up since the convention and I have learned a heap reading the all of the links and opinion. It is nice to put it all into perspective having now read Salvatore's actual comments

[Ash Barns]

Many thanks Mel for taking the time to present this to us. Looking forward to Act 2.

Ash

[anttal63]

Beautiful to read, even more beautiful to listen to. A man of great generosity and integrity. Thanks lee.

[LLK]

Mel quoting Liporace:

The first thing I notice about Australian bonsai is proportion. John Naka, the American-Japanese bonsai master, was a great teacher and he was generous with his knowledge. His two books, Bonsai Techniques #1 and Bonsai Techniques #2 are bibles of bonsai information.

John Naka’s guideline for proportion was 1:6. The tree should be no higher than 6 times the trunk width. If the diameter of the trunk is 10cm the tree height should be no higher than 60 cm. But bonsai is an art and art changes.

Now the proportion is changing, big bonsai are not popular and the styling trend is towards smaller trees; trees to 15cm, 15-20cm, 20-30cm 30-45 cm. This takes the ratio to 1:3 and 1:4. If the trunk is 10 cm the tree should be 30 or 40cm high, not 60 cm.

My comment on Australian trees is the trees should be smaller. Of course this is my opinion. In a couple of days I go back to Italy and you can do what you want. Years ago Italian bonsai stylists felt they could never do as well as the Japanese Masters but this has proved to be false. The philosophy of 30 years ago has changed.

Thank you for this report, Mel. Most inteeresting!
I can't say that I am thankful to Salvatore for his comments on Australian bonsai. He implies, doesn't he, that our bonsai are not compact enough, and that we are behind the times with the sizing of our trees. It is a fact that there are fashions in bonsai, and that in the last few years the compact, medium sizes have proved the most popular. Bill Valavanis noticed it already at the Kokufu-ten a couple of years ago. But SO WHAT ??
Also over the past years, the emphasis on the fact that bonsai rules are not cast in iron, and have to be interpreted as guidelines, has become more insistent. But when a sensei comes along and tells us that the styling of our trees is not in step with the times, what are we to think?
Mel also reported that Salvatore prefers an original design to one that obeys conventional styling rules. Very laudable, but it seems to include a size and compactness according to the latest conventions. Perhaps that results in an Italian bonsai which can rival the best of Japan? Hmmm.... I have seen styling quite as good (and better) by our demonstrators here in Oz.
Pardon me, Salvatore, and very sorry, you guys who appreciated his point of view, I just couldn't be impressed by the comments reported above.
The art of bonsai consists basically in creating trees that mirror the ancient strugglers in nature, of whatever region or species they may be. They vary infinitely in their shape and mode of survival; let this continue to be our inspiration, not the latest fashion.

Lisa

[MelaQuin]

I do agree in part with what Salvatore said... many [and I do mean MANY] of the Australian bonsai on benches at clubs and shows could well do with judicious restyling that made the tree far less leggy and more compact. While I am not saying that all trees should come under this guideline I do think it is an error to brush it aside as Italian nonsense. The most important aspect SL was on about was PROPORTION. Penny from Mudlark has posted quite a number of photos from the convention display on this site, as has Steven. I suggest anyone who disputes what SL is saying about proportion should look at each photo and improve their bonsai eye by seeing how the tree would look with reduction in height and being trained on more compact lines. Many trees are fine but there are a few that would really stand up and be noticed if they were compacted.

Many stylists think that because they get a stock plant that has foliage growing at 40 cm, 50cm etc that that is the height the tree will be. What is being overlooked is increasing the visual power of the trunk by gradually bringing the foliage down by judicious pruning and allowing new shoots lower on the tree to develop into strong branches. Or graft branches on.

It is simply amazing how much more dominant a trunk is when the line is not over extended by allowing the tree to follow its natural growth pattern or up, up, up and out. Cut it back, back, back and in and then you can start to see a really fine tree developing.

[Rhiannon]

Of course this is my opinion. In a couple of days I go back to Italy and you can do what you want.

Interestingly, these two sentences right here gave me a completely different impression of Salvatore from the other thread.

I feel like I understand it all a lot better now, so thank you, Mel, for going to all that work.

[LLK]

Hi Mel,

I agree with you on every point, except that I didn't talk about Italian nonsense. Yes, indeed, many of Australian exhibited trees could do with a restyling. The proportion of excellent bonsai at shows is not what it could be... in principle. Neither, as one might expect, is the number of truly great bonsai artists in this country. However, from what I have seen during many years of surfing the internet, much the same thing could be observed or deduced at or from local/regional shows in all Western countries, though some are much better than others.
"Proportion" and the balancing thereof is certainly one of the great considerations in styling bonsai, but that does not necessarily exclude the shaping of large bonsai. In relation to this, many of the trees at the National Collection are very nicely proportioned, though quite tall.
To say that smaller trees are now in vogue because bonsai is an art and art changes, does not make sense to me. This observation also ignores the magnificent, large bonsai exhibited in Asian countries and particularly during the Asia Pacific Bonsai and Suiseki exhibitions. Good bonsai does not have to be 40 rather than 60 cm if the material from which it is created has the right potential for the taller size.

In bonsai, we are told the same things over and over again by our own experienced bonsai artists here, including how to obtain better proportions and a good, compact tree with a good trunk and good taper. If we listened better and applied what we were told, the defects you notice on the show benches would be drastically reduced. Still, perhaps we need the voice of a prestigious foreign artist to bring the basics home to us.

Salvatore also talked about bonsai phisosophy and the fact that it also had changed. What is bonsai philosophy, or rather, what is Salvatore's concept of it?

Lisa

[Rhiannon]

Many stylists think that because they get a stock plant that has foliage growing at 40 cm, 50cm etc that that is the height the tree will be. What is being overlooked is increasing the visual power of the trunk by gradually bringing the foliage down by judicious pruning and allowing new shoots lower on the tree to develop into strong branches.

I hope this isn't too much of a tangent, but this got me thinking... what about for species that don't reduce in leaf size, such as a Jacaranda? Should they still be small? If they're tall do you just have to invest a long time thickening the trunk to get it to the appropriate ratio? Or can a different ratio apply for them?

There's all this talk about compact trees, but I wonder if I could make it work for my Jacs at a compact level. The only way I can fathom is to defoliate when the leaf becomes too big and allow a new one to take it's place, until that becomes too big and so on and so forth. Though it wouldn't be exactly practical.

I figured my Jacs would have to be about a metre in height to look convincing. Though if I have to thicken the trunk to a 1:4 ratio or something similar, I think it might be a longer project than I first imagined.

[Dave54]

Hi,
have not posted here for quite a while,however, this is a subject(like most things) that I have an opinion on.
After visiting Kokufu Ten in Japan a few years back and also Taiwan last year for the Asia pacific conference, which by the way had just about all the world's leading bonsai experts, I must say that large trees are still very much in vogue over there. I think over 900 BIG trees at the main venue and probably 50-60 small ones
Salvatore failed to mention the size thing over there as he worked on a supplied tree which took a few people to lift. (Will supply a photo if I can dig it out)
Without trying to offend anyone, I feel we in Oz are in a bit of a "bubble" and are still preoccupied with the left right rear structure of the 1960's.
Don't know that "art" is changing, however, our artists are progressing and allowing the material to dictate style. Just look at the covers of trees on the "Bonsai Today" mags from that period compared to overseas trees of today and judge for yourself the improvement.
I visited the display at the AABC, without attending the demos and by Aussie standards, the show was great. Having said that, most trees there lack the refinement of our overseas counterparts. My own trees at home I would put in the same category (lacking the necessary refinement to make Japanese or Taiwanese show bench).
As an excersize, take a look at photos of the display trees and pretend that the tree is raw material and start from there.
In Japan the trees growing in the ground by nurserymen, are often so well pre-trained that the purchaser only needs to "tweek" and refine.
I have always tried to design the SMALLEST tree within the tree which greatly improves the dynamics of the tree and the impact of the trunk. I like those 1:4 or 1:3 ratios regardless of the size of the trees.
I think we should take on board some of the critique of our overseas peers. In my opinion a lot of Aussie trees are very leggy and could be more compact
cheers
Dave
ps in 2nd photo the backboards are 1200 or 4ft tall. This was only the "eating venue" and not the main display. In the backgroung is Bill Valavanis standing on a stool whilst working on his tree

[LLK]

Great post, Dave, thanks. I so agree about the question of refinement, in addition to greater compactness in general.
And yes, we should take on board what overseas artists have to contribute, especially as they have a fresh point of view.
But I'd like again to emphasize how much further we could get if we began by respecting and applying much more the
teachings of the top artists available here.
Lisa

[Pup]

A couple of years ago maybe more we had Robert Stevens here in the west. His biggest criticism, was not of the size, they have access to huge trees from collection point of view.

Was of refinement all the trees he saw needed it, even mine, this is the big thing we do have to address. whether the tree is big or small it does need to be refined.

Prior to shows. we spend time cleaning and gleening them. When a tree is to be shown in Kokufu or Ginko, the work starts 3 years or more before.Then after it has been shown, it is let rest from all the constant pinching and wiring.
So I have been working on some of my trees for next years show for the last 12 months. The people of Melbourne if that is where it is to be held. Should now be working on the trees, they are going to put in for 2012.

We do however have to respect the trees like us they do need to rest. So constant working of a tree will weaken it.
It needs a holiday.
Grant Bowie and Leigh Taffe are charged with care of the National Collection, they will undoubtedly have trees moving in and out of display for this very reason.

So I think when we have as enthusiasts, got to thinking more on these lines, we will not be so suspect to abrasive comments.
Dave has brought up a point which is something I always do is look for the smallest tree within the tree. Also if it looks right good.

I am also at the point where new trees for me are very rare.

Cheers Pup

[craigw60]

I completely agree with Dave on the refining of our trees. Wiring of sub-branches and twigs is a long slow and tedious job but very rewarding once finished. I have always argued that old trees are much more work due to the increased ramification and the need to wire all this twiggy growth. Apart from the advantages of having the twigs flow together which wiring achieves it also spreads the twigs so the branches receive more light and so the ramification can increase. Many Australian trees that I have seen have been laid out and then the wiring is reduced to a minimum whereas it should be continued throughout the life of the bonsai.
Craig