When Trees Become Art (8 Photos)

The tree completes the idea.

Living trunks become hair, doorways and the starting point for a forest spiral. Willow and recycled wood become figures of their own. In each of these ten works, the tree is part of the artwork—not just the setting.

More: See 40 Ways Street Art Meets Nature

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✂️ “Pruning” — By SMOK in Berchem, Antwerp, Belgium 🇧🇪

SMOK titled this mural “Pruning”. Painted for Berchem’s Fake Views project at Turkooisstraat 16, the portrait aligns with the real tree from one viewing point, making the scissors appear to cut its branches—or the cables crossing the wall. Photo by Ferdinand Feys.

💡 Nerd Fact: SMOK identifies the subject as Kabinet van Gezonde Zaken. A profile of the Berchem business names Elke Urbain as its manager and describes its work as food coaching and custom catering.

More: See 10 Clever Murals by SMOK

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🌪️ “Twisting Tree” — By Jon Foreman & Layla Parkin at Waddesdon Manor, England, UK 🇬🇧

Jon Foreman’s official post identifies “Twisting Tree” as a 2025 collaboration with Layla Parkin for Art in Nature at Waddesdon Manor. They extended the roots with mud and arranged yellow leaves around them, carrying the tree’s natural turn outward into a broad spiral across the soil.

💡 Nerd Fact: Foreman says the pair spent three days making the work. They used mostly laurel leaves gathered nearby and fixed every leaf to the ground with clay.

More: Jon Foreman Uses Nature Like This (10 Photos)

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🌱 “La grandeza de lo pequeño” — By Sabotaje Al Montaje in Calldetenes, Spain 🇪🇸

Sabotaje Al Montaje’s official project page identifies the work as “La grandeza de lo pequeño,” painted for the FACC La Pera festival in Calldetenes, Catalonia, in April 2025. The title means “the greatness of the small”: the monumental figure directs attention toward the living tree below her hand.

💡 Name Fact: Sabotaje Al Montaje is the pseudonym of Matías Mata. Mata explained the name in an interview: montaje is the social “system” or “big lie” he opposes, while sabotaje describes the small acts of resistance he makes with colour and paint.

More: See 11 Ways Art and Nature Work Together

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🧌 Little Nis — By Thomas Dambo at Bernheim Forest in Clermont, Kentucky, USA 🇺🇸

Bernheim Forest’s official page says Little Nis and two other giants were commissioned for the arboretum’s 90th anniversary in 2019 and built with recycled wood from the region. Placed beside the water at the arboretum in Clermont, the crouching figure takes on the same layered texture as the woodland around him.

💡 Nerd Fact: Little Nis belongs to a continuing fictional family. Bernheim’s published fairytale makes Mama Loumari his mother and Little Elina his sister; their father is Isak Heartstone, another Dambo giant who returns to the mountains in the story.

More: 10 Giant Trolls Hiding in Forests, Lakes and Ruins

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💇‍♀️ Marge’s Bush Hair — By EFIX in France 🇫🇷

EFIX replaces Marge Simpson’s tall blue hair with a living bush. Every trim and new shoot changes the hairstyle, so the plant keeps altering the image after the artist leaves.

💡 Process Fact: EFIX’s official site describes his process as drawing and pasting street art. Here, the pasted figure is positioned so the existing bush completes the composition.

More: EFIX’s Clever Art (9 Photos)

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🎊 The Colourful Tree of Mitla — At Museo Ervin Frissell in San Pablo Villa de Mitla, Oaxaca, Mexico 🇲🇽

Inside the courtyard of the Museo Ervin Frissell in Mitla, a real trunk anchors concentric waves of red, blue, yellow, green and purple decorations. Seen from below, the installation makes the tree look as though it has grown an enormous festival canopy.

💡 Place-Name Fact: Mitla’s names reflect its historical association with death. Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History gives the Nahuatl Mictlan as “place of the dead,” while the Zapotec name Lyobaa means “resting place.”

More: See More Photos of the Colourful Tree of Mitla

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🍂 “Horarium” — By Jon Foreman with Layla Parkin in Little Milford Woods, Wales, UK 🇬🇧

Foreman’s official post identifies “Horarium” as a 2024 collaboration with Layla Parkin at Little Milford Woods. Autumn leaves form a gradient that climbs the trunk and spreads across the moss, extending the pattern from the tree into the forest floor.

💡 Nerd Fact: Horarium is an established monastic term. Mount Angel Abbey defines it as the daily schedule of prayer and work followed by monks.

More: 10 Forest Sculptures by Jon Foreman

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🪓 Here’s Johnny! — Unknown Artist in Kaisariani, Athens, Greece 🇬🇷

The hollow already resembles a doorway. The black-and-white face turns it into a visual echo of the famous axe-through-the-door moment from The Shining. The artist has not been reliably identified; the image has been shared from the Kaisariani area on Mount Hymettus in Athens.

💡 Film-History Fact: The phrase predates the film. Jack Nicholson improvised it from Ed McMahon’s introduction of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show; the American Film Institute later ranked it No. 68 among American movie quotations.

More: See Both “Wendy! I’m HOME!” Artworks

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🧚 “Windfee” — By Barbara Jamin Sassmannshausen in Bingen, Germany 🇩🇪

Willow rods are woven into a life-size figure whose open body lets the landscape remain visible through it. In Bingen am Rhein, the natural material and flowing posture make “Windfee” look as though the wind shaped it.

💡 Nerd Fact: Willow used for weaving is commonly cultivated as osier. Loire-Anjou-Touraine Regional Nature Park describes it as both sturdy and flexible, while dried rods are soaked to restore their pliability before weaving.

More: See More Photos of “Windfee” in Bingen

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🌳 “Browing” — By Nuxuno Xän in Les Abymes, Guadeloupe 🇬🇵

Xän’s official post titles the work “Browing,” combining “boring” and “growing.” Created for LE MUR Guadeloupe in Les Abymes, the grayscale portrait sits beneath a living tree whose foliage becomes a full green hairstyle.

💡 Nerd Fact: The mural was designed to be replaced. EWAG describes LE MUR Guadeloupe as a six-metre panel given to a new invited artist each month, with four days to complete an ephemeral work.

More: When Nature Becomes the Hairstylist (26 Photos)

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Which one is your favorite?