We’re not sure how you say it but the Pooktre artists are playing God with trees; shaping them, taming them and forcing them into designs of their own conjuring. Merge enjoys the natural beauty and grace of wild trees, one of our favourite places on a warm afternoon are the Botanic Gardens but these contortions of nature are pretty special.

 

Using mostly wild plum trees (Prunus myrobalan) the process takes years. The larger works, like the tree people, take 8 to 10 years to mature into recognisable shapes. While the owners and operators of Pooktre, Pete and Becky, aren’t leading classes in tree-shaping presently they are in the process of developing design and consultation services. “We want our knowledge to be passed on a built upon” says Becky.

 

 

 Even if 10 years seems like too long to wait for your finished art-tree, the Pooktre couple believe that is only a fragment of the time the tree will then take to enhance and amplify your work. “Twenty, thirty, fifty or maybe a few hundred years from now people will be able to see a tree shaping that you did today,” the couple says, “whether or not you choose to shape a tree, the time passes.”

 

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