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Tree shaping

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The Chair that Lived by John Krubsack
The Needle and Thread tree by Axel Erlandson

Tree shaping, also known by several alternate names, is a form of living sculpture wherein woody plants are cultivated and trained to grow into ornamental shapes or useful implements. Artists choose from among various compliant wood species and an evolving array of techniques and tools to shape living wood as it grows, perhaps bending, weaving, twisting, braiding, grafting, molding, or pruning to achieve an intended design.[1][2]

The craft has been practiced for at least hundreds of years, as demonstrated by the living root bridges of India. Early ornamental tree shapers were John Krubsack, who made the first known "living chair" in 1914, and Axel Erlandson who opened a horticultural attraction called the Tree Circus in 1947.[3] Contemporary tree shapers include Richard Reames, who coined the term arborsculpture, Dr. Christopher Cattle, who uses the phrase grown furniture, and Peter Cook and Becky Northey, who coined[4] and use[4] the term pooktre.

History

The earliest known examples of tree shaping are the living root bridges of Cherrapunji and nearby Laitkynsew in the present-day Meghalaya state of northeast India. These suspension bridges are made of living banyan tree roots which are gradually trained to grow across a gap, weaving in sticks and other inclusions, until they take root on the other side.[5] There are specimens spanning over 100 feet and some may be over 500 years old. They are naturally self-renewing and self-strengthening as the component roots grow thicker.[6]

In 1516 Jean Perréal painted an allegorical image, Dialogue Between the Alchemist and Nature, in which a chair-shaped tree is used to symbolize a conduit between mankind and nature [7]

Methods

Practitioners of tree shaping may employ a variety of horticultural, arboricultural, and artistic techniques to craft an intended design. Benches, chairs, and many other useful implements may be crafted from living, growing wood.

One technique involves bending young, small-caliper trees into a design shape.[8] Trees thus shaped are then held in place for several years until the design is permanently cast. Each plant's growth rate determines the time necessary to overcome its resistance to the initial bending.[9] The initial work of bending and securing in this way might be accomplished in an hour or perhaps in an afternoon.[10]

A related but distinct approach begins with much younger and more pliable seedlings or saplings, which are bent more gradually while the tree is growing to form the desired shape. Design and setup are fundamental to the success of such pieces.[11][12] Both techniques employ approach grafting to purposefully direct and control the natural capacity of woody plant cambium to grow together, or pleach, on extended contact. Either may involve precise wounding of two or more sections of bark and then binding the wounded parts together securely while they grow together. As new layers of wood form at each point of contact, living wood swells the design and perpetuates the intended shapes. Supports may be employed as needed and removed once the design is self-supporting.

Another technique used is pruning to control and direct a plant's growth into a desired shape. Pruning above a leaf node can steer plant growth in the direction of the natural placement of that bud. A practice with results similar to pruning is to more or less slowly kill a branch by girdling it, whether by simply scoring a branch or by removing a narrow band of bark,[13] thereby somewhat more controllably influencing the growth of the adjacent parent wood intended to remain in the finished design.

Aeroponic plant culture is yet another approach that may be employed, allowing roots to remain flexible enough to be shaped to form ornamental or functional structures as they grow. According to US Patent No. 7,328,532,[2] tree roots grown aeroponically stay "soft" and so can be subsequently shaped into a desired form. Living root bridges have exemplified this technique for several hundred years. New designs and techniques are reinventing the craft as eco-architecture, which may allow designers to grow and shape large structures such as homes.[1]

Tree Species

In a given region, any disease and insect resistant tree species that grow well there might be good candidates for tree shaping. Each plant has its own quirks, but they can be understood with time and experience.[14] Popular species for artists include:

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Tools

Pruning tools for cutting twigs and branches
Bonsai tools, which can also be used for Tree shaping

Various tools and materials may be used for creating, shaping, or even molding a project design, including boards, pipe, rope, wire, string, tape, existing furniture, etc. For example, a metal patio bench could be used as a design pattern. Shaping the design is accomplished with some of the same tools that gardeners, arborists, and horticulturists use, including hand pruners (secateurs) and pruning saws.

Shears and hedge trimmers are used less commonly, being better suited for topiary or hedge maintenance.

Styles

This mirror was shaped by Pooktre from the roots at planting (in 1997) and shaped as it grew. Harvested in 2004 and finished in 2005, it went to the World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan, at the Growing Village Pavilion.

Each style may include abstract, symbolic, or functional designs and may be constructed with or without inclusions; materials such as glass, mirror, steel and stone. These may be incorporated either as structural or aesthetic elements.[15] They are positioned in the project as it is cultured and, depending on the design, may either be removed when no longer needed for support or left in place to become fixed inclusions in the growing tissue.[15] These are also known as "gluttonous trees".[citation needed]

Styles of tree shaping include:

  • Architectural: planting and shaping trees into structures such as archways, rooms, houses, tunnels, and gazebos.[15] Some designs use only woody plants to form the structures, others use both plants and inclusions to form them.[15]
  • Living Art: Plants are shaped with the intention that the design will continue to grow during the lifespan of the plants. When an arborsculpture is designed to stay alive, the piece is not finished until it dies.[16]
  • Intentional Harvest: Designs intended for harvest and drying which are finished growing when they have grown into the intended design. The grown wood composing the project piece(s) is cut, dried, and finished.[16]

Time Needed

Two Leg Tree by Axel Erlandson

The time needed to grow and construct a tree-shaping project varies according to size of targetted trees, growth rate of species used, design height, style, cultivation conditions and technique of shaping trees used.

It is possible to perform initial bending and grafting on a project in an hour, as with Peace in Cherry by Richard Reames,[17][18] removing supports in as little as a year and following up with minimal pruning thereafter.[19]

As little as one season of guiding a plant's growth might be enough to form a design, and then longer for the wood to grow and thicken to the desired size. Large designs may take a few to several years to achieve the design height and several more years for the wood caliper to increase to the desired size. Chair designs, for example, might take 8 to 10 years to reach maturity.[16] and might then either remain growing, as with the living Pooktre garden chair, or perhaps be harvested as a finished work, as with Krubsak's The Chair that Lived. Taller architectural projects, such as Two Leg Tree by Axel Erlandson, may require 10 years or more to grow the plants enough to accomplish the grafting.[citation needed]

Chronology of the Craft

Some notable artists were aware of and inspired by earlier artists, while others assert having discovered and developed their craft independently.

John Krubsack

John Krubsack, 1919

John Krubsack planted 32 Box Elder (Acer negundo) seeds in 1903. He shaped and grafted the first known living chair. Dubbed The Chair that Lived, it is the only known tree shaping that John Krubsack did. He harvested and dried the chair 11 years after planting.[20][21]

Axel Erlandson

Basket Tree by Axel Erlandson

Axel Erlandson started shaping trees as a hobby on his farm in Hilmar, California, in 1925. In 1945, he opened an horticultural attraction called the Tree Circus in Scotts Valley, California. He shaped over 70 trees during his life. Erlandson's trees appeared in the column of Ripley's Believe It or Not! twelve times.[22] Erlandson's Telephone Booth Tree is on permanent display at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. His Birch Loop tree is on permanent display at the Museum of Art and History in Santa Cruz, California.[21]

David Nash

David Nash first began work in the early 1970s on an "Ash Dome" tree sculpture. Nearly 30 years later, the work is now taking on the domed form that he had planned for and intended when he first began.[23]

Dan Ladd

Dan Ladd started shaping trees in 1979. A current project incorporates eleven trees grafted next to each other to form a long hillside stair banister. He uses glass, metal and stone as inclusions for live wood to grow around and hold in place.[21][24][25]

Nirandr Boonnetr

In 1983, Nirandr Boonnetr began his first shaping project, a guava tree.[citation needed] Originally intended for his children to climb and play on, the piece evolved into a live tree chair.[26] In fifteen years he created six pieces of "live art," including five chairs and a table.[citation needed] The Bangkok Post in 1996 referred to him as "the father of Living Furniture."[27] One of his chairs was exhibited in the Growing Village Pavilion at Expo 2005, the World's Fair, held in Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

Pooktre

Artist Peter Cook Chair grown by the Pooktre method
A tree person in 2009, planted by Pooktre in 1998

Pooktre was coined by, Peter Cook and Becky Northey.[4] According to the artists, Cook had the idea to grow a chair in 1987 and started that same year but nothing grew as expected. [4][28] and in 1988 he planted a wattle intended for harvest as a potted plant stand.[4] Northey moved in 1995.[4] In 1996, after nine years of Cook's experimentation and, according to the artists,[29] isolated from awareness of any other tree shapers,[4][30], they coined the word pooktre[4] and used it to name their partnership, Pooktre,[4] their shaping methods,[4] and their works of art,[4]. They crafted the first known examples of trees trained to grow in the shape of human beings,[citation needed] which they call "people trees."

Their methods involve gently guiding a tree's growth along predetermined design pathways over long time periods. The tree species they most often choose for shaping is Myrobalan Plum (Prunus cerasifera).[31][32] They shape trees both for living outdoor art and for intentional harvest. Examples of their functional artwork include a growing garden table, a harvested coffee table, hat stands, mirrors, and a gemstone neck piece.

Cook and Northey exhibited eight of their art pieces, including two people trees, in the Growing Village Pavilion at the World's Fair Expo 2005 in Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The artists were contacted by Ripley's Believe It or Not and provided three photos which Ripley Entertainment, Inc. later published in their annual book series.[33]

Richard Reames

An arborsculpture by Richard Reames entitled Peace in Cherry, depicting the CND logo

Richard Reames began his work with trees in 1992.[34] He was inspired by the tree shaping of Axel Erlandson[35][36][37] to begin his first experiments[38] with shaping trees into chairs in the spring of 1993.[39] In 1995, he wrote and published his first book, How to Grow a Chair: The Art of Tree Trunk Topiary, and in it he coined the word arborsculpture. The word has since become nearly synonymous with the art of tree shaping itself, having been used in media around the world to refer to the works of various tree shapers, including Axel Erlandson.[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]

Christopher Cattle

A sycamore stool grown by Dr. Chris Cattle

Dr. Christopher Cattle started his first planting of furniture in 1996.[48] According to Cattle, he developed an idea that came to him in the late 1970's, to build furniture using less energy by training and grafting trees to grow into shapes. [49][50] Using various species of trees and wooden jigs to shape them,[51] he has grown 15 three-legged stools to completion.[citation needed] Cattle has multiple plantings in at least four different locations in England.[49] He participates in woodland and craft shows in England and at the Big Tent at Falkland Palace in Scotland. [49] He exhibited his grown stools at the World's Fair Expo 2005 in the Growing Village Pavilion at Nagakute, Japan. [49]

He aims to encourage as many people as possible to grow their own furniture. [50] He refers to his works as grown furniture, but also calls them grownup furniture, suggesting a more environmentally mature alternative to traditional furniture.[21][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59]

Mr. Wu

Mr. Wu, who lives in China, has successfully grown a harvested chair and has six more growing in his garden. He uses elm trees, which are pliant and do not break easily.[60] He says that it takes him about five years to grow a tree chair.[61]

Comparison with other methods

Tree shaping is related to other horticultural practices such as bonsai, espalier, pleaching and topiary, though a number of distinctions may be identified.

Bonsai

Bonsai is an art of growing trees in pots and containers using pruning techniques to keep the trees at a miniature size and copper wire to shape the tiny branches. Bonsai avoids woven branch patterns or branches bent to resemble identifiable shapes. A bonsai project is intended to appear as if a human had not shaped it, like a representation of a miniature tree, if one could be found in the wild. Shaping trees is almost the opposite concept, because the project shapes visually "announce" that a human has shaped them.

It is possible to make a miniature shaped tree in a bonsai pot and keep it reduced to miniature size, but if it were to resemble a pretzel, for example, that would not be the true nature of bonsai. It would just be a miniature shaped tree in a pot or container.

Espalier

Espalier is the horticultural technique of training trees through pruning and/or grafting to make formal two-dimensional, or single-plane, patterns with branches of trees or shrubs. Shaped-tree projects are not limited to a flat single plane, nor to a pattern. Either technique may use species of trees that produce fruit, but espalier-trained trees are not known to be shaped into benches, mirror frames, table pedestals or woven pillars.

Pleaching

Pleaching is more similar to shaped trees than topiary or espalier, but pleaching is limited to flat planes and hedges, and, therefore, it is not a three-dimensional tree shaping. If a person chose to weave and graft several trees into a flat hedge, that hedge would be one individual shaped-trees project.

Topiary

Topiary may include the manipulation of stems but is primarily the art and skill of producing shapes with leaves (foliage). By contrast, tree shaping is primarily the practice of manipulating stems and bonding trees together by grafting. Shaped trees may include some topiary effects, but topiary is not the primary feature and consideration of the practice as a whole.

Although it is possible to use grafting for topiary, its use is rare. Shaped trees include furniture and items that were constructed exclusively using plant growth and grafted plant tissue. These items can be severed from the roots or removed from the ground, no longer being living organisms, but topiary is virtually limited to live organisms (plants) with leaves.

Topiary almost always involves regular shearing and shaping of foliage, whereas shaped-tree projects can easily be formed without shearing.

Alternate names

Among some tree shapers, there is disagreement as to whether certain names are generic or whether they are specific to an artist or technique, and also as to which terms should be capitalized. [citation needed] Other names for tree shaping include:- [62][63]

  • arborsculpture[1]
Richard Reames coined the word "arborsculpture" in his first book How to Grow a Chair.
  • biotechture
Biotechture is also known as Earthship,[citation needed] which is sustainable living that incorporates passive solar heating, rainwater collection, greywater reuse, greenhouse gardening, composting toilets and recycled materials into the living area. [64]
  • botanical architecture
Planting of evergreens to provide accommodation for outdoor theatrical entertainment.[65]
Mark Primack, who rescued many of the trees from Erlandson's Tree Circus and is the leading authority on those trees, lectures about Erlandson and his work as a visionary pioneer of "botanic architecture,"[66]
Marcel Kalberer's experiments with "botanical architecture" [67]
Growing a cover of plants vertically up exterior walls of buildings. [68]
  • eco-architecture[1]
Used for the concept of using trees and other plants as walls in sustainable buildings.[69]
  • green design architecture/eco-construction [70]
Living wall systems for buildings and the built environment wherein plants are grown vertically in modular panels.[71]
  • grownup furniture
Dr Chris Cattle calls his shaped trees "grownup furniture."
  • tree trunk shaping
  • tree trunk topiary
Christoph and Myriam de Cock own and manage Tree Trunk Topiary, a nursery that specializes in shaped trees. [72]
Peter Cook and Becky Northey coined the word pooktre in 1996. [4] They use the word to distinguish both their art and their methods from those of other artists.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Eco-architecture Could Produce 'Grow Your Own' Homes". ScienceDaily; adapted from materials provided by American Friends of Tel Aviv University. August 21, 2008. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
  2. ^ a b "Published Patent No 7,328,532". Patft.uspto.gov. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  3. ^ "Circus Trees by Axel N Erlandson". www.treeshapers.net. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l http://www.treeshapers.net/peter-becky.html. Accessed: 2010-05-05. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5pVaujskD)
  5. ^ "Living Root Bridge in Laitkynsew India". www.india9.com. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
  6. ^ "Cherrapunjee". www.cherrapunjee.com. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
  7. ^ Neil Kamil, Fortress of the soul: violence, metaphysics, and material life in the Huguenots' New World, 1517-1751, Volume 2004, pp 384-385. JHU Press, 2005, ISBN 0801873908. Retrieved 2010-02-22. {{cite book}}: horizontal tab character in |publisher= at position 22 (help)
  8. ^ Arborsculpture Solutions for a small planet page 172
  9. ^ Arborsculpture Solutions for a small planet page 178
  10. ^ "Garden Symposium 2008". Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  11. ^ "How to grow your stool". Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  12. ^ "Living Trees, Living Art". Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  13. ^ http://publications.cirad.fr/une_notice.php?dk=536258
  14. ^ "Live Art" Society Interiors Magazine September 2009
  15. ^ a b c d "Architects building with trees". Bio-pro.de. 2010-02-04. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
  16. ^ a b c "Artists shape trees in Furniture and Art" Farm show june/august 2008
  17. ^ How to Grow a Chair p.56-57
  18. ^ Arborsculpture Solutions for a Small Planet p.193
  19. ^ "Wisconsin Historical Society's copy of Shawano Leader Newspaper in 19th October of 1922, [2]
  20. ^ a b c d "The art of Tree shaping" Culture Newspaper 11th May 2009 by Hao Jinyao Chinese Newspaper
  21. ^ Turlock Journal p. 15, (Obituary) April 30, 1964
  22. ^ "David Nash's Ash Dome". Coetirmynydd.co.uk. 2004-09-25. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  23. ^ "Dan Ladd's home page". Danladd.com. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  24. ^ EXTREME NATURE: The Sculptures of Dan Ladd at Putney Library October 10, 2006.
  25. ^ Arborsculpture Solutions for a Small Planet page 91
  26. ^ Bangkok Post. January 16, 1996
  27. ^ Magazine Smart farmer Oct nov 2008
  28. ^ Wired New Uk edition Dec 2009 "Pooktre Furniture", page 86, Publisher:- The Conde Nast Publications Ltd, Vogue house.
  29. ^ [3]
  30. ^ "Interactive Agricultural Ecological Atlas of Russia and Neighboring Countries:Economic Plants and their Diseases, Pests and Weeds". Agroatlas.com. Retrieved 2010-05-04. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  31. ^ "UConn Plant Database of Trees, Shrubs, and Vines". Retrieved 2010-05-04.
  32. ^ "Branching Out" Ripley's Believe It or Not Seeing is Believing page 32 ISBN 978-1-893951-45-7
  33. ^ Hicks, Rosenfeld. Tricks with Trees, (2007) p.123, Pavilion Books, ISBN 1-86205-734-6
  34. ^ Reames, Richard. Arborsculpture Solutions for a Small Planet. p. 150.
  35. ^ Reames, Richard (1995). How to Grow a Chair: The Art of Tree Trunk Topiary. p. 16. ISBN 0-9647280-0-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  36. ^ Okenga, S. (2001). Eden on Their Minds: American Gardeners with Bold Visions. Clarkson Potter. p. 110. ISBN 0-609-605879.
  37. ^ Reames, Richard (1995). How to Grow a Chair: The Art of Tree Trunk Topiary. p. 57. ISBN 0-9647280-0-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  38. ^ Reames, Richard (1995). How to Grow a Chair: The Art of Tree Trunk Topiary. p. 85. ISBN 0-9647280-0-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  39. ^ Cassidy, Patti (April/May 2006). Art to Grow. Acreage Life (Canada). p. 17. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  40. ^ Cassidy, Patti (August, 2008) "A Truly Living Art". Rhode Island Home, Living and Design, p. 28
  41. ^ Cassidy, Patti (January/February 2009) "Planting Your Future", Hobby Farm Home, p. 74
  42. ^ Fore, Joshua. (Issue #20) "How to Grow a Chair". Cabinet, p. 27]
  43. ^ May, John (Spring/Summer 2005) "The Art of Arborsculpture" Tree News (UK), p. 37
  44. ^ Nestor, James (February 2007). Branching Out, Dwell p. 96]
  45. ^ "Tree Stories", Fantasy Trees show #103
  46. ^ "Offbeat America" #OB310 (First aired Dec. 4, 2006)
  47. ^ http://www.treeshapers.net/chris-cattle.html
  48. ^ a b c d http://www.grown-furniture.co.uk/
  49. ^ a b http://www.reading.ac.uk/about/newsandevents/releases/PR13170.aspx
  50. ^ Cite error: The named reference GrownUp was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  51. ^ "Grown Furniture site". Grown-furniture.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  52. ^ 'Grown up furniture ?' Woodland Heritage Journal Spring 2001 picture and article by Christopher Cattle (further follow up at approx 1 year intervals)
  53. ^ "Art News Blog". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |pubdate= ignored (help)
  54. ^ "How does your garden grow" August 3, 1997 Sunday Telegraph picture & interview with Catherine Elsworth
  55. ^ "Grow-it-yourself furniture" The Futurist February 1999 Visions picture and short article by Dan Johnson
  56. ^ Davies, David. "Plant your own furniture. Watch it grow". The Independent. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |pubdate= ignored (help)
  57. ^ Fairs, Marcus. Grownup Furniture. Carlton Books. p. 102.
  58. ^ Radio interviews about Grownup Furniture
    • BBC radio 5 live CC with David Davies. Transmitted in "the Magazine" March 1996
    • BBC radio Wales CC with Rebecca John. Transmitted in 'Good morning Wales' September 12, 1997
    • CBC radio 1 CC with Arthur Black. Transmitted in "Basic Black" November 6 & 13, 1999
    • Radio Deutsche Welle (Colne) CC with Paul Chapman. Transmitted in English language service "Science & technology" November 16, 1998
    • (Sky News in their general interest news syndicated to USA on November 17, 1999, with Lucy Chator and November 3, 2002, with Jonathan Samuels.)
  59. ^ "Article: Five year deliveries.(China Morning Business View)(Brief Article)". AccessMyLibrary. 2005-02-11. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  60. ^ [4].WEIRD BUT TRUE New York Post Feb 3 2005 page 23
  61. ^ "treehugger.com".
  62. ^ "Google map of shaped trees".
  63. ^ http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/ezines/ezine1.htm
  64. ^ Britannica
  65. ^ The museum of Jurassic Technology.
  66. ^ [5]
  67. ^ [6]
  68. ^ [7]
  69. ^ [8]
  70. ^ [9]
  71. ^ http://www.treetrunktopiary.be/eng/
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