By Rob Addonizio |
Pot Selection: Integrating Artistic Design Principles to Achieve a Balanced Bonsai An effective container is to bonsai as an effective frame is to a painting. The best choice should complete the composition and balance all of its elements. Naturally, the horticultural needs of a tree always come first. That being said, if selected wisely and objectively, the pot can be used to help manipulate the elements and better communicate the artist’s personal vision. The design elements that I have chosen to explore in this article include proportion, contrast, negative space, line and color. Using photographs from Walter Pall, a world-renowned bonsai artist, I will attempt to shed light on these few basic principles.
Both containers are a traditional style for a maple tree. They are both relatively shallow and serve to help the trunk and nebari gain visual attention. Now observe the difference between the two containers in terms of balance. The tree in Figure 1 has foliage that overpowers the design. The shallow container becomes ineffective and the trunk becomes lost under the top-heavy crown of the tree. Akin to wearing an undersized pair of spandex shorts, the small pot is too small in proportion of the rest of the design. (Okay, a bit much, but you get the point!) The same tree in Figure 2 appears better proportioned with a better pot and a small change in the foliage. The top lip of the pot provides an oval frame around the soil line, giving emphasis to the trunk and its base. Similarly the outside curve of the pot helps to validate a sense of great strength that is visually apparent in the trunk and base. Both tree and container are effectively combined to give the viewer a sense of balance. Thus proportion should always be considered when designing a balanced bonsai. The pot serves to offset a masculine feature of the trunk. This composition is mainly feminine with a masculine feature in the fissured bark. Highly regarded in bonsai, fissured bark can evoke a sense of age and character, two features typically seen in more masculine designs. Not letting this beautiful feature dominate, the artist achieves balance with the use of a classically shaped feminine pot. The purse-shaped container, with its feminine quality, has curved lines and a top lip that frames the soil line and tree base. It is this quality that is used to contrast the textured trunk. The pot also has a side profile that unifies with the shape of the trunk. These points effectively contrast the visual weight of the textured trunk, making it more balanced in the composition.
The pine shown in Figure 4 is cradled in a primitive, hand-formed crescent. Notice the jagged edges that are visible in both the left and right sides of the photo. This is well placed to mirror the lower outline of needles in the crown. In the well-suited container and the foliage above it, the negative space unifies relationship between both. The dark background serves to illuminate the negative space around these elements.
In Figure 5, both the tree and the container have lines. This beautiful twin trunk sits in a dish container, which has the remnants of a rim - a broken line. Such a line gives visual interest, at least more than one that just moves straight. The viewer notices the rhythm of the broken line and is drawn to it. The line in the intentionally broken edge of the container gives visual impact and even complements the strong trunk lines. This serves to balance the very strong lines of the two trunks. It is this integration of line in both pot and tree that moves the viewer’s eye. The journey begins at the apex going down the trunks, to the front of the container, follows the jagged edge, and then back up the trunks and out of the composition. Next time a line appears dominant in a design, try heightening its impact with an integrated container.
The tree sits in a light sienna and cream-colored pot, which complements the color of the foliage. The glazed container completes a magnificent example of an asymmetrical composition. At first glance, this conifer appears to be leaning over. The foliage is predominantly located on the right side of the tree, the same side that the trunk is curving towards. On the lower half of the pot is a thin triangle revealing unglazed ceramic brown-grey clay, highlighted in Figure 7.
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