To Grow A Chair

As a child I had a favorite tree, notched in just such a perfect way that I could perch high in the branches and, with legs dangling, spend the day reading. Yet it never occured to me that I could have "grown" a whole room full of leafing seats, all tucked inside a perfect arbor. Yet arborsculpture, especially chairs, was the peculiar habit of John Krubsack, a prominent banker in the very small town of Embarrass, Wisconsin. (Is that a name for a town or what?) His box elder chair was shown at the 1915 World's Fair. Arthur Wiechula, an agricultural engineer, published Developing Houses from Living Trees in 1926.

But certainly the most audacious and ambitious was Axel Erlandson, a Swedish immigrant, who in 1945 developed the "Tree Circus," a roadside attraction in Scott's Valley, California. He shaped about seventy five trees into remarkable forms and and unique scuptures. Check out the wonderful blog Pruned, which has a nice post with pictures about the famous site.

The movement to create living sculptures and trees continues today. Check out the wonderful  gallery of international photos on arborsculptor Richard Reames' website, where you can find all sorts of interviews, links, and an article on Erlandson's Tree Circus and the history of arborsculpture. You can also purchase tools, and copies of Reames' how-to book, Arborsculpture: Solutions for a Small Planet, as well as How to Grow a Chair. The site also offers advice, such as how to pick the right sort of tree for your sculpture.

It will be enough to keep me dreaming this winter of starting my own little chair in the backyard...and maybe, if I am lucky, in a few years I can settle among the leaves (without the dangerous scramble up to the treetop) in a chair like the one below, created by Lebender Stuhl in Germany.

Comments

[panther]

What a lovely idea !

As for funny place names, i do believe there is a town in-is it Pennsylvania ?- named Intercourse.Can you imagine having to give your address out while trying to keep a straight face ?!