Traditional bonsai are beautiful and captivating on their own, but have you ever wondered what might happen if you introduced an air of eccentricity to the classic presentation? Enter: Nick Lenz.

Lenz is an American bonsai artist well known for his provocative styling of trees collected from forests and landscapes in Northern United States and Canada. Lenz has retired from bonsai and ceramics and no longer owns any of his own trees, but is still revered throughout the bonsai world.

After securing permission from Lenz and encouragement from those who own Lenz’s bonsai and ceramics, Museum Specialist Kathleen Emerson-Dell curated an exhibit of Lenz’s work hinging on three themes: On Collecting From the Wild, On Being Unconventional and On the Drama of Nature. Dell said she selected works that would highlight Lenz’s typical themes, like whimsy, drama and wilderness for the unprecedented exhibit.

“We organized the exhibition to celebrate, honor, and introduce a new generation to Nick Lenz’s singular take on American bonsai,” she said. “We had a visitor fly in from Germany just to see the exhibit! He was in town for a week and came back several times to visit.”

“Twisted Genius: The Eccentric Bonsai Artistry of Nick Lenz” ran from Oct. 26 to Nov. 17.

The exhibit was comprised of 34 bonsai from eight private collections in New England and Minnesota and three botanical institutions – The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, The Pacific Bonsai Museum and The Montreal Botanic Garden. Fifty-one ceramics from nine different collections were also on display.

The iconic “Penelope,” from a private collection in Toronto, and “Demon Cedar,” from the Pacific Bonsai Museum are two of Lenz’s most notable works included in the exhibit, Emerson-Dell said.

“This is the first time we have had an international loan on view at the museum,” she said.

David Crust, who lent 10 bonsai and some ceramics to the Museum for the exhibit, like the trumpet bonsai or root over skull displays, said he is enthused that the Museum formally honored Lenz.

“His impact on American bonsai was very special, never much of a pro or a promoter, never much of man of doctrine or dogma, he came and left as an artist striding forward with a causal heart in his hand whispering playful things while acting out a high drama play,” he said.

As a photographer who now makes a living snapping pictures of some of the world’s most influential figures, Stephen Voss didn’t always know that photography could be more than a hobby. Once a bonsai novice, he certainly didn’t think he would publish a photography book of bonsai.

Now that he’s an accomplished photographer, Voss wants to share his “tricks of the bonsai photography trade.” He will be writing a regular blog covering everything from lighting, angles and mindset needed when photographing the trees. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram to never miss one of his entries! Read his last entry here.

When I began photographing the trees at The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, I knew little of bonsai and had even less of an idea of how to take pictures of the miniature wonders. What I did know was that, if I wanted to have any success at this, it would be by creating something new, apart from the tree itself.

Making a photograph to record what something looks like is a perfectly reasonable goal, but it only scratches the surface of the expressive possibilities of photography. But where do you start? Here is an exercise to partake in if you’re just getting your feet wet in the realm of bonsai photography:

Walk around the museum, being sure to look at all of the trees until one catches your eye. It’s not a bad thing if that tree happens to be in good light (open shade for instance, not bright sunshine).

Stand in front of that tree, set a timer on your phone for ten minutes, and do nothing. By nothing, I mean just look at the tree. Bend down, look from the side, just don’t stop looking at it. Notice the way light hits different parts of it, think of the generations of people who have worked on this tree and try to find something new about the tree that you’ve never seen before.

After 10 minutes, take 15 shots of the tree, each one different than the last, like so:

At some point during this exercise, you may find yourself questioning the whole enterprise, feeling foolish or that you've simply run out of things to see. This feeling is part of the process. Without this doubt and uncertainty, without exhausting your sense of what’s there, you can’t really make progress. As someone who’s felt these unsettling, frustrating feelings many times in my photographic life, I urge you to just keep at it, keep looking, keep seeing.

Learning to see is a strangely undeveloped skill for many photographers and developing it requires time and patience. But why bother? If you’re like me, with no discernible skill in working with bonsai, but a deep appreciation and love for the trees, looking closely is a form of appreciation, a way to connect. With a keen eye and a bit of luck, it can also be a way to turn that experience into a meaningful photograph.

Read his last entry here.

Nick Lenz’s Once-in-a-Lifetime Whimsical Bonsai and Ceramics Display at The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum

Photographing Bonsai with Stephen Voss: A How To