Profile: Dan Robinson
Dan Robinson
Photograph by Walter Pall
Dan Robinson looks and acts younger than his years. His drive and joyful obsession for creating bonsai are crucial elements in his artistry.
In 1978 Frank Okimura, the curator for the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, watched Dan create a cascade from a monumental upright Ponderosa Pine. He quietly said "Dan is the Picasso of Bonsai". It is an apt description for an inventive artist who is unafraid to challenge accepted traditions.
Frequently called from his lake-side home in the Pacific Northwest to share his wealth of knowledge and skills with bonsai enthusiast, Dan has traveled the world over helping others develop their own vision. His seminars and workshops on carving and sculptural processes present a unique American perspective; emphasizing natural forms and in effect, rejecting prescribed rules that restrict artistic expression. Dan is credited with the development of a root enhancing technique now used by collectors around the world. He introduced power-tools into bonsai creation arena in 1978. His articulation on "The Aging Process" clarified the design implicit during ascending stages of age in trees. His treatise "Focal Point Bonsai Design", which challenges the perpetuation of the "One-Two-Three-Triangle" design concept has been published in US, Italian, English and French bonsai publications. The subject of many newspaper and magazine articles, Dan Robinson was featured in a Smithsonian article on Bonsai in 1989.
Dan's personal bonsai collection numbers more than 200, and are significant for their quality and age. His work is also represented in numerous public and private collections, including the American Bonsai Collection at the National Arboretum in Washington D.C. The National Forest Service purchased a Robinson collected bonsai, dubbed as a gift to America in 1978. It was presented during the 100th Anniversary of the Forest Service as the National Bonsai Tree.
Dan weaves his love of nature with the ancient art form of bonsai. His impressions from the High Cascades form the basis of his artistic education. The University of Washington School of Forestry provided the technical education. For Dan, bonsai has been a solitary artistic pursuit, developing a distinctive and abstract style. He holds no schools nor claims any direct followers. Yet he is a profoundly influential figure.
For 50 years Dan has been a nearly daily practitioner of the art. Still exploring, he has not found the limits of his creativity or his desire to practice the art. Each day is regarded as an opportunity. Whether a tree holds the promise of tomorrow, or is ready to be turned into a beautiful work of art today, he is eager to rise to the challenge, and share the fruits of his labor with others.
The following is an on-line interview with Dan Robinson.
AoB: Your Elandan Gardens have become quite famous. Can you expand about the history and aim of this?
Dan: It occurred to me during my "mid-life" in bonsai that production and results best displayed individual talents. The sharing of bonsai with everyone, not just fellow enthusiasts, was the best way to spread the passion. Elandan Gardens is a family effort. Its grand presentation is my forum, my proof and manifestation of 50 years of effort.
Will Robinson Scupture at Elandan Gardens
Photograph by Victrinia Ensor
AoB: Will Robinson, a world-renowned sculptor, also has a presence at Elandan Gardens, how has his work influenced your philosophy of bonsai design and has your work influenced his?
Dan: William grew up in a family immersed in a love for nature, and the artifacts derived from her. Weathered wood, gnarly roots, ancient trees, and etched stone were all ingredients in a young man's rehearsal for life. Will has never done representational sculpture. All of his designs are one of a kind. Brilliant and never seen before, all are patterns inherent in creative art. He and I both treasure the idea of evoking the response, "I've never seen that before!"
AoB: Many remember your treatise "Focal Point Bonsai Design" and that you are not so fond of the classical Japanese approach towards bonsai. What is wrong with that and what would you suggest instead?
Dan: "Focal Point Bonsai Design" is presented as an alternative approach to dealing with older, perhaps collected material. It is not a repudiation of other approaches. It offers an expansion over many of the narrow, engineered approaches, found in doing things "by the numbers". "Japanese Art of Miniature Trees and Landscapes" by Yoshimura and Halfords, set the criteria for what has come to be known as ‘classical bonsai'. Such as triangular design, 1-2-3 branch patterns, trunk to branch thickness ratios etc. American bonsai art has bought these values.
The Japanese approach to bonsai rarely manifests the same adherence to the ‘classical bonsai' regulations. Each Japanese artist follows his own path in his creative journey.
AoB: Do you feel your formal education in forestry has helped your pursuit of bonsai and would you recommend such education for all practitioners?
Dan: The study of forestry was decided upon as a freshman in high school. As a small child, I was enamored over plants and trees, so forestry was a destiny. The forestry curriculum covers a huge spectrum of math, engineering and other sciences. However, the portions covering silvics, botany, forest management and dendrology particularly interested me. All of these studies contributed to the development of my approach to bonsai. Every practitioner can use this science.
AoB: Why would you not use copper wire?
Dan: I started with copper wire. I understand copper wire. It is appreciably stronger than aluminum. When aluminum showed up it was a better tool. Wire is a tool nothing more. Inspiration, technique, and tools lead to good bonsai, not copper wire!
Dan Robinson
Photograph by Walter Pall
AoB: You have said that very tree deserves deadwood, really, every one?
Dan: As I have stated in "Focal Point Bonsai" all trees deserve deadwood. In fact, all trees in nature, even juvenile trees, are replete with deadwood. As an enhancement to a bonsai's visual appearance dead wood is magic. It is the ultimate aging feature. If well sculpted and proportional, it completes the illusion.
Do all trees deserve it? I think so!
AoB: Most bonsai practitioners work with nursery trees. You seem to only concentrate on collected material. What is wrong with nursery stuff?
Dan: Old nursery material is rare these days. The ‘Mom & Pop' have yielded to the Home Depot and Lowes plant selections, and those plants are young and small. Working with small plants puts most trees into the 200-year plan. Greatness is possible with a 200-year plan. Most American bonsai were begun as small specimens. Through careful tutelage over 20-30-40 years, a certain level of success has been achieved. A full, well developed crown is there, but the trunk is disproportionately small, another 150 years will fix this.
Show me a great trunk. I can grow a top!
AoB: You have a couple of Ponderosas where JBP was grafted on and maybe RMJ where shimpaku was grafted on. How did this work and why did you not do more of this?
Dan: I grafted JBP on several collect ponderosa in the late 60s. One is in the National collection in DC; the other is my logo tree. Several collected junipers I also grafted, but my success was limited. Experts should handle grafting conifers. In January of 2007, I delivered 5 Rocky Mountain Junipers to Roy Nagatoshi. I helped him perform his magic. I will pick up these trees this spring and being the art of growing a top on a great trunk.
AoB: You introduced power-tools into the bonsai creation arena in 1978, quite a bit has changed since then, what do you think of the path carving has taken over the years. What do you think of Kimura's carving?
Dan: I am pleased with the exponential growth in the carving of bonsai. Many detractors have changed their tunes over the years. Creative artists have always employed sculpture in one form or another, so it is not a new craft. Power tools expedite the fruition of ones inspiration. Kimura validated my approach, and made it acceptable. His genius, skill, and vision is extraordinary. The Europeans are quick studies and excellent sculptural works are being created. America is for the most part stuck in the ‘classical bonsai' approach.
AoB: Your carving on many trees is quite bizarre. Are you aiming to surpass nature? Some say that your carving in some instances is not looking natural. Do you see it the same way?
Dan: Artistic vision is largely based on what our eyes have seen! The scope of what I have perceived in nature is the well I draw from as I sculpt. In my lifetime of exploring wild places, one word says it all, "extraordinary". In my book, which is in development, I will present my evidence of unbelievable natural deadwood. A recent trip to the Baja yielded a world of visual images and one small piece of ancient naturally weathered wood that is priceless. If as an artist the only deadwood you have seen is lumber, firewood, or presto logs, then much of my sculpture may seem overdone.
Dan Robinson
Photograph by John Dixon
AoB: We hear that too many collected trees go downhill after a decade in a pot. Why is this and what can we do against it?
Dan: I think that the environment where we try to grow trees is profoundly influential in its survival. A collected tree remaining in its normal habitat is very important. A tree collected in British Columbia is unlikely to survive anywhere else. Some trees are tough. Ponderosa's have the widest range of any western pine, but it still might not like Georgia's humidity. Luckily, I live in conifer country and most trees like our benevolent climate. Only dry land junipers are troubled, and grafting water loving shimpaku to them fixes it.
AoB: We understand that you do not believe in ever re-potting a tree that is established. Can you explain this?
Dan: First, let me say that I have never killed a tree by not repotting it. However, in the same breath, many trees have died in this root tampering process. Trees in the natural confines of cracks survive for hundreds of years without root tampering. I do repot trees when root growth forces the trees up and out of the pot from being properly seated in the container. Without belaboring the point, my advice to neophytes is to begin considering root renewal at about twenty-five years.
AoB: You developed a root enhancing technique now used by collectors around the world, could you tell us more about this technique?
Dan: I devised this technique to guarantee the survival of fresh wild tree transplants. Conifers need a continuous water stream from root tip to foliage. The absence of white root tips is the death knell. Root enhancement promotes white root tip actuation, which if treated right guarantees survival.
Bonsai by Dan Robinson
Photograph by Victrinia Ensor
AoB: A demonstration of yours at the Portland International Bonsai Convention divided artists for many years, could you tell us more about this demonstration and why you think it was so controversial?
Dan: At the Portland Convention, I introduced sculpture with power tools. I took a large ponderosa pine, inverted it into a cascade form, and carved the errant branches into value adding deadwood. The disruption it caused at the time was more a function of my audacity than a design failure.
Everyone carves now. However, back then, peeling a jin was about it. Parochial thinkers are always offended by innovation.
AoB: You do not frequent the internet bonsai scene often, do you see any value in what is being accomplished on-line and what would you like to see more of there? Less of?
Dan: I have never personally visited the Internet scene, so I have no opinion. I do think that sharing ideas and methods is vital to the health and evolution of the art form.
AoB: Many practitioners still consider bonsai a craft or a simple backyard hobby, even in this "enlightened" age. Many people and organizations (like AoB) now are strongly promoting bonsai as an art form. What are your thoughts of bonsai as a legitimate art form?
Dan: Personally, I consider bonsai the ultimate art form. Bonsai encompasses all of the traditional elements in art: good design, technique, creativity, and medium. However, it integrates all of these elements with a living and evolving organism. The complexities of a living art form encompass it all, and the onus of perpetually maintaining life is fantastic. A bonsai is never complete.
AoB: If you could only teach one thing about bonsai, what would it be?
Dan: The proper pronunciation of the word "bone-sigh".
Seriously, teaching someone to see the possibilities within a tree is the key to their success in the art. Technique is readily learnable, but seeing the endless possibilities that nature proffers is the hardest to learn. Creativity should give birth to something new, but most bonsai guidelines only lead to repetition.
Dan Robinson
Photograph by Walter Pall
AoB: What do you see happening in the bonsai community now that you feel is important and exciting?
Dan: My particular bonsai community is quite small. And my excitement is generated by continually finding extraordinary material to work on. Whether collected in the wild, gathered from local nursery growers, or neighborhood residences, great stuff is still out there. All it takes is good eyes, savvy, and energy to find it. This is what excites my community.
AoB: What do you think is the future of the art of bonsai?
Dan: I think the future will continue along its present course, fraught with the varied opinions of different practitioners. Most enthusiasts will become ensnared in the "by the numbers" methodology and their work will be marginal at best. However, a significant number will go beyond the "one-two-three" triangle methodology. If their eyes learn to grasp the endless possibilities available to them, new and interesting designs could result.