Note Type
ExhibitedNote
Homage to the Forests, U Wisconsin-Madison, Nancy Nicholas Hall;
Homage to the Forests, House of Welcome Long House, Olympia WaNote
I have had a lifelong fascination with the incredible textures of trees and tree bark, and I
have long envisioned rewilding interior spaces by transforming the pillars that support
buildings into an homage to trees. These column wraps are what I call Tree Skins,
intended to remind us that trees are living beings and that, like our skin, the tree’s skin
is full of complex cellular systems that offer protection.
I’m inspired to use wool and recycled, reclaimed materials to create the voluptuous,
textural essence of tree bark, to heal unnatural spaces in a gesture of restoration,
respect, and surprise, and to honor the primordial forests that have been lost.
Accompanying elements in this UW installation included a series of Woolen Clouds
(also created with wool that was made into light-responsive diaphonous felt) that I
installed in a 2-story lobby. The “trees” (cement columns that I wrapped with Tree Skins)
disappeared into these “clouds”.Note
I suspect all of you know the work of El Anatsui. His metal hangings are flexible
“metallic cloths” that can be draped or reshaped each time they are installed. I
embrace this approach for many of my textiles, especially these Tree Skins, because they are created to be modular and adaptable to the space, speaking to the fact that the skins are alive. I prefer them to be responsive to the environment where they are installed. While I know this challenges tradition and traditional sculptural forms, part of my art is to see it evolving in form that evokes a conversation with the space and involves the viewer.Note Type
Installation NoteNote
These pieces are among my newest work, and the detail images show a few ways they
have been seen. I am exploring several new ways to install them: one of these ideas is
an installation that creates a large ghost trunk - a tree skin hung with an attached rigid format at the top and suspended so that it forms a large semicircle, allowing a viewer to walk inside and feel like they are becoming the heartwood of an elder tree.
