You Were the Judge & Good Things Happened 4/1/10

We have a winning judge
Remember our You Be the Judge & Good Things Will Happen Contest? The one where we were going to pick the short and sweet judges comments (on our Bonsai Art Contest) that we liked the most and award the winner a $30 gift certificate to Stone Lantern?

Well, after carefully deliberating, we have a winning judge. His name is Matt Cooke (Leland Garrett’s short and sweet comments were a close second, and we very much enjoyed Al Polito’s and Ken To’s not so short comments.

There were others we liked too, but that’s enough for now). Matt’s comments are below with his three selections (two of his selections happened to be the winner and the runner up; his third is his own entry of his girlfriend’s drawing). We’ve also included some other judge’s comments for your edification and enjoyment.

Patrick Giacobbe’s winner of our Bonsai Art Contest (entry F).

Matt’s comment: “Patrick makes his bonsai look like da Vinci’s work. beautiful artistry and very precise. Perhaps a mathematician at work, applying the golden mean (ratio) to his trees.

And some others
Leland Garrett : “Reminiscent of da Vinci’s The Vetruvian Man…but for bonsai.  Great combo of visual vs mechanical – left vs right brain type of thinking!”
Al Polito: “This work reminds me of DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man. The bonsai is rendered beautifully, and the various aspects of classical bonsai geometry are outlaid to demonstrate the principles of design that make a good bonsai.”
Ken To: “In my opinion, this is the most complex, sophisticated, and beautiful piece of bonsai art.  This one is my favorite because the artist was able to do so much with just one color, too many colors and it becomes distracting.  By using light and dark shade, the artist was able to add depth and definition to the tree, making it very life-like.  The tree itself is very beautiful, it is a classic example of a bonsai with nice taper, balanced branches, and well defined foliage pads.  I especially like how the other schematic-like drawings on the page carefully illustrate what goes through a bonsai artist’s mind when he/she examines a bonsai.  This contest is about bonsai art, and I think this piece is the epitome of bonsai art.”

Ken To’s runner up. (entry B).

Matt’s comment (the one that put him over the top)
“Simply Beautiful. A very meticulous artistic creation. I only wonder if he is going to wire the tree to make any adjustments? ;)”

And some others
Youri Boerlage: “Kens tree of wire is a real mame in its purest form (except that it doesnt live, but who cares)
its a deserved winner.”
Leland Garrett: “A small scale model for future reference on a real tree perhaps?”
Ken To (on his own entry, no less): “I’m giving myself a point on this one because it’s one of only two sculptures entered.  This piece is significant because it wasn’t fashioned while looking at a tree.  The wires were twisted together and a rough tree is formed, then I bent the trunk and bent the branches into position.  It was almost like working on an actual tree.  I also think the scale of the tree makes it very unique.  I have seen other tree sculptures before but I haven’t seen similar details on a tree this small.  I didn’t vote for myself in the last contest because I didn’t think that my tree deserved a vote but in this contest, I think this vote is well deserved.”
My comment on Ken’s comment: I agree with everything you say Ken and appreciate your insights into the process. However, unlike your delightful little wire sculpture, your comments are far from short (though they may be sweet). BTW, your little tree was my favorite. Not to slight Patrick’s very deserving winner and the other entries (especially the other sculpture, that I also said was my favorite).

Matt Cooke’s entry (Entry K) that is really his girlfriend’s.

Matt’s comment on his own entry that is actually his anonymous girlfriend’s: “My girlfriend didn’t know I entered it till I showed her the picture on your blog. It has humor, and artistic value. Something I’m sure we can all relate to; our loved one thinks we are a little bit nuts for loving our trees almost as much as them.”

Al Polito’s comment: “When the partner of a bonsai artist appreciates his or her devotion to the art (which, admittedly, always crosses the line from devotion to obsession), it warms the cockles of my heart. I too have been referred to as a bonsai master by a loved one–clearly a case of love being blind–but an appreciated sentiment nonetheless. Of all the artworks portrayed, this work has the best type treatment (“BONSAI”) and the most accurate depiction of an Anderson Flat, which we in the Northwest use to get great root development on our bonsai stock. So Cooke’s bonsai is probably the healthiest of all bonsai portrayed.

Thank you judges!
Thanks to all the judges, including those of your who will have to remain anonymous. There are plenty of other interesting comments that we could include, but no one reads this far down in a post anyway.