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Essay

'My father talked to trees'

By John Gathright

ウィルマ・アーランドソン(左)の案内で「サーカスツリー」を見学する筆者
Wilma Erlandson's father not only talked to trees but was able to get them to perform some amazing feats! I have just returned from meeting Wilma in California and seeing some of her father's magic!

Trees protect us, they feed us with oxygen, they shade us and teach us many things. Not only do I love trees but I appreciate their ability to change lives and help people. For the past eight years, I have been blessed to have a partnership with trees in my work and my life.

Trees make fabulous friends. They are skilled and accomplished conversationalists because they never tire of listening. They teach through gestures and paint their thoughts against the sky as they dance and sway in the wind. They have also introduced me to some very wonderful people.

The late Axel Erlandson is one of those special people. Axel and his family arrived in America in 1886 and settled in Minnesota. The journey overseas from Sweden was very hard on Axel and they thought he might not make it.

But Axel did make it to America and there he left a legacy of living landmarks in his adopted country. Axel was a farmer, a visionary, a dreamer and a self-educated man. He was blessed with many talents and gifts. One of those was to shape and graft living trees.

Axel had observed trees in nature and noticed that they could bend and graft into unique and interesting shapes. He found these fascinating and with the help of his family started to shape living trees into wonderful growing art.

不思議な形に育った「サーカスツリー」の一つ。このほかにも、ハート型やジグザグ型など、さまざまな形の木がある。
His trees spiraled, looped, and towered, growing into hearts and zig-zags. They even turned into telephone booths and cathedrals. Axel was creating the most wonderful world of unique and strange trees. His family opened an exhibition in California to share the trees with the public.

Wilma, his daughter, came up with the great name of "Tree Circus" and "Circus Trees" and a new art was born. Axel's work was extraordinary but a little bit ahead of his time.

The Tree Circus was a media success but, unfortunately, America was heading in a different direction at that time. Man-made theme parks, muscle cars, and the age of plastic seemed to overshadow the Axel trees.

A year after selling the Tree Circus he passed away. He didn't have an apprentice to keep his work alive. The trees wilted and some died. But fortunately, his dream lived on with the help of a few of those people who saw and loved his work

Some of the trees have been preserved and are now living in the Bonfante Gardens in Gilroy, California. Some of his work is also on display in the Museum of Natural Art in Santa Cruz. There are also a handful of people around the world growing arborsculptures and still learning from Axel's work.

Wilma, too, has compiled a history of Axel's work and guides people on tours of the trees. I had the wonderful opportunity to be guided personally by Wilma as she talked to me about the trees, her childhood and her father

"When children would ask him how he did it, he would say, 'Oh, I talk to them.' We know, of course, that it took a lot more than talking. It took a strong desire to attempt something new, and patience, patience and patience," said Wilma. "As my father grew older it became difficult for him to take care of his trees and unfortunately no one else really knew how."

I later learned that Axel was sad in his later years that he did not have anyone to continue his work. Wilma is the last living link to Axel and her support and help is evident in her devotion to her father's dream

As producer for the Growing Village Pavilion at the World Expo 2005, I am very happy to be able to exhibit his work and also to invite others to create wonderful and unique living sculptures. The theme of our pavilion is "Growing" and "Trees Are Our Teachers." It is also my dream to help make Axel and the Circus Tree legacy eternal.


Shukan ST: Aug. 13, 2004

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