lspichkin

Tree Shaping, Living Art, Arborsculpture, Pooktre -- the process of shaping the trunks of trees and other woody plants produces remarkable works of art, often as practical as they are beautiful, and a result of many years of patience.

One of the most famous examples of arborsculpture comes from Axel Erlandson, a resident of Central California who began his work with trees in 1925. In the late 1940's he opened up "The Tree Circus," a tourist attraction on the main road between Scotts Valley and Santa Clara, California. After changing hands many times upon Erlandson's death, the trees were eventually transplanted to an amusement park in Gilroy, California where they continue to thrive.


Axel Erlandson's "Basket Tree"


Axel Erlandson's "Two Leg Tree"

Independently of Erlandson, several folks have developed new techniques for making amazing things happen with trees. Master tree shapers, Peter & Becky, over at Pooktre have been working together for over 20 years creating beautiful and unique living art. Their work was on display at the World Expo in Japan in 2005.

These "People Trees" are wild plum trees that were planted in 2000 and continue to grow. Photo was taken in February 2008.


A view through the tear drop shows Becky working in the garden.


Two works that had been on display for 6 months at the "Living Village" of the Japan World Expo in 2005

Unlike some tree shaping processes, the Pooktre process is repeatable. Says Becky: "With our techniques we know what will work or not and we can reproduce any of our pieces. Which we have done with our favorites. [The name] Pooktre only relates to our techniques, in short we have mastered the art of Pooktre."

The Pooktre duo will be publishing a book in the near future that will outline their entire process, from picking a tree to the finished piece.


The living bench below is the work of Plantware and Ezekiel Golan, an Israeli artist. The bench was donated to the children's playground in the "Shiba" hospital complex in Tel-Aviv.

Golan explains, "The bench was donated with the temporary template which will be removed when the roots holding up the seat have become thick enough and strong enough. The seat is the only deadwood part of the bench that will remain embedded permanently. The bench was designed with this in mind. It was planted in Revivim (Israel) a year before being relocated to the hospital."


The Living Bench

Plantware is pursuing some of the more utilitarian possibilities of this art form. The images below are digital renderings of trees that Plantware hopes to make available in the future.


And finally "The Pretzel Tree" shaped by Aharon Naveh at Kibuttz Revivim in Israel.


Anyone else doing cool things with trees? Anyone seen a good "How-to" on tree shaping? We'd love to get more info! Please post a reply with any additional info or experiences you have had.

smgardener

Great article, thanks for posting!

huckaberry_19

those trees were absolutly beautiful! i love the arched one over the path and the people sculptures....i wish those people could bottle their patience for me!

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ErinKer

There is a young Sycamore being trained to have a big circle in it up on Tigertail just a little south of Deerbrook. I have to stop by it nearly every day on the way home so that my boys can look at it out the window and wonder how and why this tree has a big circle in it. I'd snap a picture but I'm not sure how cool it is to snap a photo of the front of someone's house...
I drew a quick sketch -but am having trouble uploading it...