techman81
Valuable Member
So what I'd like to hear more about is this "Scapecrunch Inaugural Garden Style Aquascaping Contest" in 2023. What came of that? It would be cool to have another forum aquascaping contest.
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Fame and Glory: Art, GreggZ, Dennis and Dutch Garden Aquascaping!
- Thread starter Koan
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Hi all, wonderful conversation! I love it!
I don’t have any answers but sharing some initial thoughts.
Dutch style was developed many years ago to be aesthetically pleasing, technically sound and based on the equipment available at the time. While I certainly appreciate clear rules, IMO they benefit but also limit the style. Nevertheless, the rules allow for judging as it allows you to compare apples to apples.
I used the term Dutch Impressionism because I felt the evolving garden style has common elements with the Dutch style. Giving homage to the Dutch style in the name made sense and would give people a framework on what they are looking at.
Like impressionist paintings, to me, the new garden style is more about feelings than fine detail. It’s about broad, soft brush strokes rather than clearly defined streets. It’s about free creativity within wide guardrails - “use stem plants as the main plants”.
This makes judging garden style tanks harder because it requires much more subjectivity from those judging. It’s not apples to apples but rather fruit to fruit.
That said, so what if it’s subjective and difficult? Art is meant to evoke a feeling in each viewer and that is always subjective. I think some clear judging criteria can be developed like we did with the contest and the best examples bubbles up to the top. If you look at our forum of the contest, you’ll see what we came up with.
I don’t have any answers but sharing some initial thoughts.
Dutch style was developed many years ago to be aesthetically pleasing, technically sound and based on the equipment available at the time. While I certainly appreciate clear rules, IMO they benefit but also limit the style. Nevertheless, the rules allow for judging as it allows you to compare apples to apples.
I used the term Dutch Impressionism because I felt the evolving garden style has common elements with the Dutch style. Giving homage to the Dutch style in the name made sense and would give people a framework on what they are looking at.
Like impressionist paintings, to me, the new garden style is more about feelings than fine detail. It’s about broad, soft brush strokes rather than clearly defined streets. It’s about free creativity within wide guardrails - “use stem plants as the main plants”.
This makes judging garden style tanks harder because it requires much more subjectivity from those judging. It’s not apples to apples but rather fruit to fruit.
That said, so what if it’s subjective and difficult? Art is meant to evoke a feeling in each viewer and that is always subjective. I think some clear judging criteria can be developed like we did with the contest and the best examples bubbles up to the top. If you look at our forum of the contest, you’ll see what we came up with.
Yes, it would be cool. No doubt.
It is A TON of work and requires A TON of commitment from a group of people to pull off. We did not have the ability to do it again.
Maybe when I retire, I can convince a few of you to devote the time it takes. We’ll see.
It did make me appreciate the amount of work the AGA team puts into this annually. Perhaps we should partner with them to sponsor a category for this style in their contest?
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