The Art of Bonsai Project

Congratulations to all the winners and participants. The overall winning Bonsai by: Min Hsuan Lo, is simply amazing and deserved to win in this competition as like it deservedly won the CERTRE AWARD as well! Beautiful Bonsai Art, BRAVO!
Now I do now, that you cant debate about taste, but there is one thing that immediately caught my eye looking over the jury score sheets. I would love to hear the explanation for the big differences between the scores. I think that this would also be helpful to the novice bonsai enthusiast, who now is faced with some substantional mixed messages about what is considered no bonsai and good bonsai.
Regards,
Hans van Meer.




Entry Category Score
left: W. Valavanis
Middle: M. Invernizzi
Right: L. Bebb

aob_054 Conifer___ 6 0 1
aob_086 Conifer___ 9 2 2 winner of price.
aob_087 Conifer___ 7 not bonsai 4
aob_098 Shohin____ 8 2 4
aob_107 Display____ 7 0 1
aob_124 Landscape_ 8 3 3
aob_142 Display____ 7 0 1
aob_143 Display____ 6 0 2
aob_146 Landscape_ 6 1 1
aob_154 Display____ 8 2 3
aob_178 Broadleaf__ 6 2 1
aob_204 Shohin____ 8 2 4
aob_230 Shohin____ 7 1 2
aob_231 Broadleaf__ 7 2 3

Congratulations to all winners and participants.

Just like the Hans van meer, I would very much like to understand the reason for this difference so pronounced. Without debunk the judges, of course, had technical criteria for trials or just personal taste?

I signed up two plants:

AoB_079:

William Valavanis Scored: 6
Marco Invernizzi Scored: 2
Lindsay Bebb Scored: 7
otal Points: 15
Average Score of all Judges: 5.00

aob_095:

Judge William Valavanis Scored: 3
Judge Marco Invernizzi Scored: 2
Judge Lindsay Bebb Scored: 3
Total Points: 8
Average Score of all Judges: 2.67

All notes granted to the second plant are compatible and can not fit any comment. In the first plant, the note issued by the second judge, totally different from the others. I'm having a terrible question: Who is right?

Regards,

Sergivaldo

First of all, I congratulate the winners... indeed, wonderful trees and displays (I hope to get there someday, as we always hope for the best).

Many thanks to all those who made this contest possible. And many thanks to the judges, who gave me the opportunity to see my work evaluated by the professionals. It is a great way to learn something (about yourself, and about your trees).

By the other hand, indeed there were some big differences between the judges scores on some entries. I don’t wanna comment anything, but it’ll be interesting to know the scoring technic.

Thanks again, AoB.

Sorry Will, but I did not read a thing you wrote.

All I will say is why is everyone expecting all bonsai judges to think the exact same way the world over? Every person the we would think of making a judge for any of our contests, knows what they are talking about when it comes to bonsai. They all have their ore conceived ideas of what they like and do not like, no matter what.

No matter who the judges are they are not going to all agree all of the time.

Best of luck to everyine next time.

I love the fact that there is so much difference in the scores. This makes bonsai exciting, unpredictable. And considering the choices of the judges, bonsai is undoubtedly mysterious.

The scores should not be a surprise: how many times we've heard one world class painter calling another world class painter "talentless", "clumsy", and other unflattering adjectives? It happens all the time. Why shouldn't be the same in our art form?

If you want to hear why exactly Marco, Bill, or Lindsey voted the way they did, I guess you would have to take private lessons from them. It would be priceless if they would explain in detail their thinking and the reasons behind, but I think we would be asking too much. Considering the prices of high quality education today, free education is not a right, but rather a privilege.

It certainly kills me to find out why Marco voted "not bonsai", or "1" (or "2") while the other two judges gave decent marks to some of the trees, but I would just have to live with the knowledge that I will never have the answer. Instead, I should just focus on what I consider to be great bonsai.

Great show though, thanks for all the effort to organize it.