25 Facts About Richard Reames

Richard C Reames was born on September 20,1957 and is an American artist, arborsculptor, nurseryman, writer, and public speaker.

Richard Reames's writing and artistic practice are grounded in ecological principles of living in harmony with nature and with creating living structures from trees.

Richard Reames has written two books on arborsculpture and tree shaping.

Richard Reames was appointed, in 2005, as the "international arborsculpture coordinator" for the World Expo's Growing Village in Aichi, Japan; his work was exhibited there.

Richard Reames grew up near Santa Cruz, California, which is within ten miles of Axel Erlandson's famed "Circus Trees," known at that time as The Lost World, a mid-century roadside attraction.

Richard Reames's mother showed him the value of working with nature including vegetable gardening.

Richard Reames studied horticulture, biology, botany and log-house building in college, however the structure of the educational establishment did not appeal to him.

Richard Reames traveled the country by hitchhiking or by road-tripping in a 1969 Chevy van for over a decade.

Richard Reames uses basic tools and ancient grafting techniques to produce his works of arborsculpture, furniture and functional objects.

Richard Reames's work involves the time-based processes of bending, pruning, grafting, and multiple plantings that are similar to those used in bonsai but most closely related to espalier.

Richard Reames is interested in ecological advantages of working with trees such as erosion control, carbon dioxide sequestration, food sources, habitat creation for wildlife, and climate change mitigation.

Richard Reames participated as a team member of the Growing Village Pavilion, and in 2005, he was appointed the international arborsculpture coordinator, overseeing the work of artists from several countries.

Richard Reames has lectured internationally on arborsculpture, and gives live demonstrations of bending and weaving a chair at garden shows, fairs and folk art festivals throughout the US.

Richard Reames's arborsculptures have been created in gardens throughout the West Coast.

In 2023, Richard Reames worked with a group of 40 others to plant a Sequoia-Sanctuary a major work of land art in the Pacifica Preserve in Oregon, in the form of a circle of 114 sequoia seedling trees, three-feet apart, in a 100-foot diameter.

In 1995, Richard Reames coined the word "arborsculpture" to describe tree-trunk sculptural modifications as art.

Richard Reames refers to the use of arborsculpture to produce architectural structures or dwellings as "arbortecture", it has been called "arborarchitecture" by Olga O Smolina who has written on arborsculpture and on Richard Reames.

Richard Reames uses arborsculptural tree bending and shaping techniques to create his work and uses the horticultural and arboricultural techniques of ring barking, approach grafting, pruning, and framing, in various combinations, to craft his artworks and functional objects.

When making architectural arborsculptures such as fences, Richard Reames prefers using the diamond pattern, a structurally sound design.

Richard Reames has made gazebos and a Fruit Room; the latter was created by espaliering together apple, plum, cherry and pear trees.

Richard Reames has stated that he believes that the natural environment should enter into the house, and the interior of the building can extend outdoors.

In 1995, Richard Reames published the book How to Grow a Chair: The Art of Tree Trunk Topiary with Barbara Delbol co-authoring.

In 2005, Richard Reames published the book Arborsculpture: Solutions for a Small Planet, that describes the history of tree and woody plant shaping, and elaborates on a selection of practitioners in the field of tree shaping.

Richard Reames' books have been called "reference books" by Vallas and Courard in the journal, Frontiers of Architectural Research.

The authors go on to state that Richard Reames has "inspired many architects,".