Requiem for a Tree
REQUIEM FOR A TREE
MITCHELL COLLEGE 2013
This multi-part project was part of a larger Earth Day celebration at Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut that memorializes a great old old oak tree that was taken during Super Storm Sandy. The tree stood for over 200 years at the center of the campus. I worked with the remnants of the great tree to make a triptych sculpture with the help of Jon Day, shipwright at the Mystic Seaport. The triptych now lives in the campus library. Beyond the sculpture, the larger project included my collaboration with an English professor and her student on a book publication and a poetry box community component.
Artist Statement
I watched the tree just after it was cut and before it was removed. The beautiful cavity I am interested in working with was altered in the move but still enchanting. The loamy dark interior is still there. What I observed of the tree in addition, is the lacelike intricacy of the worm eaten edges of the cavity, the deep orange-brown softness of the interior surface, the arch of the growing tree fibers reaching upward and the port hole on the side, its opening edged with the feel of an old scar, worn smooth and wound tightly around to frame it. Nearby lays the broken singular wing-like branch, immobile and cast aside, its curve locked in position, mid-flight.
I think about the life and age of this tree, older than the human made structures that now surround it, witness to seasons of students passing through, home to animals, beer cans and other trash, silent observer of stolen kisses, graduations, wedding celebrations. This tree had a life of its own, independent of the college, though we like to claim it as our own. It had its own life and we do not know its thoughts.
The Community Project
In honor of the long and prominent life of this great white oak tree, it seemed fitting to offer a kind of memorial. So it needed the voices of the campus community. Through collaborations with the library, faculty, staff and students, a multi-part project took shape.
Michael Bradford worked with Nancy Bombacci’s creative writing class and I worked with Ellen Cummings’ education class to produce writings. I worked with Katie Brossard Nazarian to comb through historic photos looking for evidence of the tree. She then mounted a project site on the web for the pictures and writings. Student Karin Leiper worked with me to assemble and take photographs of the tree and collect writings from students. Katie also had the idea to include a poetry box to install at the tree site for continued collection of memories and drawings. We hope the community participation in the poetry box will assist in raising funds to purchase another tree for the campus. Student Grant Leiper took a section of the branch to make the poetry box that stands at the original tree site.
The Library Sculpture
Taken from the remaining branch of the great white oak, this sculpture tells the interior story of the tree. Large areas of lacey, worm eaten wood covered the interior cavity and the one substantial branch left over from the tree removal. After the lacey portions of the branch were removed, we sliced it into sections. These slices took on the character of pages from a book. The wormholes reveal the decay and gradual destruction of the tree from the inside out, written in the muscle of the wood.
The Future
The triptych sculpture will live in the library.
Katie Brossard Nazarian, has created a website to hold the writings and photographs from this project. The poetry box, located by the original location of the oak tree, will remain there for a while so the cMitchell community may contribute to the project with writings or drawings. The roots of the tree are still alive under the ground though we do not see them. In a way the tree is even still with us.