When Character Designer Dave Creek died in a tragic skydiving accident in 2021, his sister, Aleasha Ramsay, received the audio recording from an interview he did for Keyframe magazine two years earlier. The article had been about the intricate bonsai treehouses Creek created, and in the interview, he described his dream of using them to bring art, imagination, and comfort to ill children.
“Hearing his voice and his clarity gave us a roadmap,” says Ramsay, who spearheaded the nonprofit Dave Creek’s Traveling Treehouses with Brett Coker, COO of Bento Box Entertainment where Creek had worked.
Through this project, Creek’s treehouses have been exhibited at Shriners Children’s Southern California and the Pacific Bonsai Museum, and they are currently anchoring a year-long installation at Shriners Children’s Portland. Complementing the exhibitions is Dave Creek’s Traveling Treehouses, a children’s book written by Ramsay and illustrated by TAG member Devin “DVO” Roth.
Roth met Creek at CalArts in the early 2000s, and he says they hit it off instantly, sharing a cubicle for the next few years. “He was one of the only guys who made me feel comfortable and at home when I felt so alone amongst other super talents,” Roth says. When Creek was hired to develop some characters for the series that would become Bob’s Burgers, Roth happened to be looking for a new job. Roth came on to design characters, as well, and “from there on out it was history for the beginning of a deeper friendship,” he says. “We spent many years enjoying creating silly and memorable characters for the show. Dave was a teacher and a brother to me.”
After Creek’s devastating accident, Roth connected with Ramsay. “She mentioned that Bento Box was going to help her to create this nonprofit initiative to share Dave’s expression of art with the world and support children in need,” says Roth. In addition, Ramsay asked him about potentially illustrating what he calls “a wonderful little tale about our beloved Dave.”
Roth had already painted his friend just a few days after his passing—an illustration of Creek enjoying a sunset with his dog, Chop, in the tallest tree in a made-up forest. “Perhaps what I imagined he would be doing in the space beyond,” Roth says. He knew that working on the book would be emotionally challenging but “ultimately beneficial to help me grieve the process of losing a friend. [Art] always helps me mentally understand what is going on around me and in my world.”
Despite his sadness, Roth approached the project with joy. “Dave was a very funny and wild guy, which always made me smile,” he says. The two had shared so many good times and personal experiences together that Roth found it easy, over time, to create art for the book. For the style, he says, he followed his heart, “which is how I think Dave would have wanted me to do it, rather than copying his style.”
With both the exhibition and the book, the goal has been to share Creek’s dream and inspire people with his unique passion. The projects have also been a way for Ramsay and Roth to keep him close. “What it’s meant to me is that I don’t have to live without him,” says Ramsay. “The entire journey, every piece of it, has allowed me to feel an indescribable closeness with him, even while existing in two different worlds, like we’re doing this together.”
Learn more about Dave Creek’s Traveling Treehouse project and book at davecreekstravelingtreehouses.org.
