08-17-2004, 04:19 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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The sky calls to us ...
Super Moderator
Location: CT
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Real Men of Genius: Today, we honor your memory, Mr. Inventor-of-the-Artificial-Tree
Quote:
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Bennett Abrams, who created artificial trees of steel, foam and mulch that decorated hotels and shopping malls around the world, has died at age 72.
Abrams, the co-founder of NatureMaker in Carlsbad, died Aug. 3 at his San Marcos home from complications of lung cancer, said his longtime friend and business partner, Gary Hanick.
A self-taught artist and naturalist, Abrams referred to his virtual flora ranging from five-story oaks to tiny bonsai pines as "eco-art."
Among his projects were an Amazon rainforest for a Legoland in Windsor, England, a redwood forest for the American Wilderness Experience in Ontario, and a Vietnamese jungle commissioned by the First U.S. Army Division Museum in Wheaton, Ill.
While plastic plants were common in the 1970s, Abrams strove to fabricate trees so lifelike they could pass for the organic versions from as close as 2 feet away. He first experimented with faux plants in the 1980s and developed a technique using welded steel frames coated with wet mulch that was molded to resemble bark and painted in natural colors.
His creations, he often said, would last as long as real trees.
"No one will remember me, but these trees - they're non-biodegradable - will still be here in 200 years," he told the Los Angeles Times in 2001.
Born in Belvedere, Ill., Abrams was raised on a dairy farm in Rutledge, Minn. He moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s and worked as an artist before teaming with Hanick to start California Country Trees in 1984.
The company's name was changed to NatureMaker in 2000. It has grown to a multimillion-dollar business with nearly 50 artists and other workers.
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http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/sto...11317065c.html
I think I speak for all of us severe allergy sufferers who still like to see natural-looking foliage when I say, make a toast to this man today! |
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