Andrew Lenz

1940 - 2022

Andrew Lenz

Leverett, MA — Renowned bonsai master, ceramicist, author, expert carpenter, colonial restoration mason, Sunday-school teacher, painter, practical joker, fresh-water ecologist, teacher, playwright, local curmudgeon, and friend to many Andrew Nicholas "Nick" "The Ogre" Lenz died on April 8th, 2022.

Nick was born in Belvidere, Illinois in January of 1940 and grew up primarily in Glencoe, Il, north of Chicago. He began gardening at six. At the age of seven he mail-ordered a live baby alligator which he kept for about five years until it grew too big for the basement bathtub. At eight, he began model building. While attending New Trier Township High School he became a part time landscape architect and collected exotic reptiles. At the insistence of his parents that he pursue law or medicine in college, he made a dodge for science and completed his B.A. in Biology at Stanford. He first learned about bonsai during his time at Stanford while living abroad in Germany in a nursery. He spent the next seven years at the University of Wisconsin in Madison adding a masters degree in Zoology (minor in bacteriology) and completing his PhD research in fresh water ecology under Dr. Hasler at the "Lake Lab" as well as extensive field research in Yosemite National Park. In 1967, while visiting his brother Peter on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, his entire body of research was stolen along with the MG convertible he had been transporting it in. Believing (incorrectly) that he had been fired from his lab at the same time, he gave up on the PhD and bought an old farm in Leverett, Ma, "to make growing bonsai the goal of my life".

The Ogre was self-taught in the art of Bonsai out of necessity - his inspiration derived from the natural environments where he encountered native American and Canadian species, and it was impossible to successfully cultivate those species along the traditional Japanese strictures. Collecting material was a regular activity, and expeditions ranged across northern North America wherever marginal environments produced old trees that remained small. From the parched edges of the desert in Wyoming to the wind-blasted shores of Adirondack lakes, peat bogs of Nova Scotia, pastures of New England apples chomped back yearly by underfed cows, and even the odd ornamental juniper run over one too many times on the edge of a parking lot, Nick was constantly on the lookout for trees that represented the most dramatic aspects of the temperate North American climate.

At any given time, his collection consisted of approximately 500 trees in various states of compositional completion, often with five, 10 or even 20 year time horizons. In Nick's own words "Perhaps the greatest influence on my styling remains the European artists of the late 19th century who insisted on painting drama into each and every tree. A mess of them came over here, hung out on the Hudson River before moving further inland, as far as Yosemite, and were known as the Hudson River School. I am Hudson River School by choice."

From the 1970s through the 2000s Nick published nearly 50 articles on bonsai collection, cultivation, and design in the ABS Bonsai Journal and several others. While his collection was private, he regularly invited groups to visit for workshops and traveled internationally (begrudgingly) to present lectures at major bonsai symposia. He exhibited to the public at bonsai events, local art galleries, and at the Boston Museum of Fine Art. Select trees are held in the collections of the The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at The National Arboretum, The Pacific Bonsai Museum, and The Montreal Botanic Garden. His book Bonsai From the Wild was published in 1997 with a second edition in 2007. Nick maintained long-term contact with bonsai students and artistic collaborators across their creative careers in relationships that were both artistic and personal. In spite of his endeavors to become a recluse, he was always available to return an email or talk on the phone late into the night.

Uninterested in commercial success from bonsai, Nick's career was largely supported by two others in ceramics and restoring colonial homes. Understanding he would need to make his own bonsai pots, he was able to sneak in fairly comprehensive training in the pottery studio during his graduate studies. He built and operated a pottery studio and kiln starting in the 1970s and produced thousands of bonsai pots and artistic ceramic objects. His ceramics remain much sought after today, particularly those incorporating monotonal landscape paintings. His work in colonial restoration was primarily masonry (rebuilding historic fireplaces and chimneys) and carpentry. He restored his 1790 home in Leverett as well as a house in Leyden, among many dozens of other projects. He also built reproduction furniture, paneling, and cabinetry, often using period tools and old salvaged materials to ensure a convincing appearance.

Nick enjoyed occasional creative writing projects, including a series of metaphysical missives about the tropical fish he raised called the Discus Diaries. He wrote and directed several plays for the children of Leverett Congregational Church where he also taught a Bible class, and taught Sunday School at Wesley Methodist Church in Amherst. In his words "I still teach an advanced Bible class because no one around believes this document to be a work of art and anthropology".

Into the 2010s Nick began to reduce the size of his collection, primarily by giving finished pieces and material to his long-time students. By 2018 his bonsai collection was completely wound down and he shifted his artistic expression to painting, primarily realism focused on natural subjects with not infrequent jolts of surrealism. Even in periods of infirmity towards the end of his life, he would never hesitate to demand the car be stopped so a plant could be inspected.

Nick is survived by his brother Peter Lenz, wife Joanna Stone, son Abel Lenz, and daughter-in-law Diana Romer. He is predeceased by his parents, Lillian Marguerite Nilson and Andrew Charles Lenz, and brother Alan Lenz.

A memorial service will be held this Saturday, May 14th at 2pm at the address below. All who knew him are invited. In lieu of sending flowers, make something beautiful and share it with someone.

144 N. Leverett Rd, Leverett, MA 01054. Please park on Richardson road. Please do not drive up the driveway and do not park in the fire station parking lot. Please email, text, or call Abel Lenz with any questions. abellenz@gmail.com; (617) 461 5605