This is not another discussion about minimalism. Rather, it’s a quick look at the process of creative subtraction, something that I think arborists definitely know a thing or two about. Removing things is a common task in arboriculture practices, namely the art of pruning, one of the major mechanical cultural practices that we offer as prescription. So it is with tree removal, crane work, stump grinding, leaf/tissue sampling, soil sampling, air-spading and the list goes on. These facets of arboriculture illustrate how the trade is many times a process of creative subtraction.

In fact, this topic was inspired again from that little book I referenced the other day, Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon. Chapter 10 titled Creativity Is Subtraction offers some wonderful insight into the creative process:

“Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat with only 236 different words, so his editor bet him he couldn’t write a book with only 50 different words. Dr. Seuss came back and won the bet with Green Eggs and Ham, one of the best selling children’s books of all time,”(138).

The idea of being limited is many times the cause of anxiety: not enough money, not enough crew members, not enough gear or machinery, not enough drop zone, not enough room in the driveway for the truck, there’s not even a sufficient lateral to cut back too, not enough crown left from the last arborist to make anything worth saving…

Being limited can offer an inspiring challenge to arborists everywhere. Especially when we consider our limits in the light of experience: the experience we don’t have. Becoming a master in anything, let alone arboriculture, is a never ending journey of acquiring experience. New experiences-jobs, trees, colleagues, homeowners-are all part of the fun. Therefore, limited experience doesn’t necessarily mean that we lack the tools to handle a new situation. Limited experience is an opportunity to demonstrate the versatility of those important tools we’ve acquired in our past experiences. The few tools we decided to hang on to. And sometimes a few good tools is all we need.

“The artist Saul Steinburg said, ‘What we respond to in any work of art is the artist’s struggle against his or her limitations,” (140).

This quote reminds me of a recent job I just worked on: reducing two mature Norway Maples with many over-extended limbs, lions-tailed from some previous pruning dosage. It was an artistic struggle. All of the growth was clustered at the very ends of the branches, old shear plane cracks sealed over with response, vertical cracks on the main stem. In my eyes, the architecture of the tree was compensated, and it caused a great deal of anxiety in me because I was both limited in my options for pruning cuts and also in how I could climb, taking great precaution to not load-stress any of the long leverage arms of the branches, inadvertently causing any more damage to the tree’s structure.

I was forced into a process of creative subtraction, methodically boiling down the options for pruning cuts and climbing systems to what worked for what I did have in terms of tree architecture, suitable anchor points, lateral branches to prune to and client expectation. These decisions were supported by my past experiences, research, conversations and current philosophies. By focusing on what was available, I could then settle into the physical process of climbing and cutting, the true meat and potatoes of the artistic process, for me at least.

I didn’t have a bucket truck, or a chip truck, or a crane, or fantastic ground person, or the perfect weather, and on top of that, the river was flooding just down the street due to major ice-damming. So I didn’t have much time either.

Pruning provides a wonderful metaphor on the discussion of creativity as subtraction: a healthy process of removing what isn’t necessary in order to benefit the entire system.

Having limitless resources sounds like a good situation, but it is typically not a realistic situation-wishful thinking if you will-nor would it make us any stronger as arborists or as artists. With a few great tools, a few great mentors and few great learning experiences, we can multiply our creative output both in quality and quantity.

That’s the principal of subtraction, I guess.