#NationalTreeWeek 2022 – Day 2 : Land Art -> Trees

I really enjoy the different perspective that Land Art brings to bear on the natural world. It is a creative, inviting and challenging art form. I’d love to make some myself … and maybe, one day, I shall. (Although, no doubt, it will be a borrowed idea. You’ve got to start somewhere after all!)

Anyhow, I thought that, as a Day 2 post for National Tree Week, it would be nice to share some more Tree Art. (If you are interested, here’s a link to a previous selection I posted about a few years back).

My first choice is L’arbre aux échelles, an installation by François Méchain that was displayed in the park of Chateau Chaumont-sur-Loire between 2009-2011. It’s a invitation to look at the world from another point of view … “from further away, from higher up”. Ladders, were attached to the tree canopy so that they hung, suspended just a few meters from the ground. The idea was that they move slightly in the wind to create a living structure that evolves according to the seasons.

L’arbre aux échelles by François Mechain

I’ve not been able to track down the artist name* for my second choice, so if anyone recognises it, I’d be grateful to hear. I only know that this picture of the piece was taken by professional photographer Jérôme Galland. There’s something very cosy and inclusive about the work. It’s evocative of camp fires and camaraderie. It looks like something Andy Goldsworthy might have done, but I can’t find it in his portfolio.

*Happily, I can now attribute this work to Malin Holmberg. It’s titled ‘I will stop loving you’ and was shown at The Wanås Foundation in Sweden (2010). Many thanks to Jérôme Galland, who quickly supplied this info.

Photography by Jérôme Gallard

My third selection is definitely an Andy Goldsworthy creation, built in the Presidio park of San Francisco as a ‘permanent’ sculpture. It is called Wood Line and is made from eucalyptus wood. The eucalyptus was recycled from areas of maintenance or necessary clearance in the park. In the 1880s, cypress trees grew in and out of the rows of eucalyptus, but slowly their numbers have dwindled until … ‘there was a need for art to fill the resulting gap’.

Wood Line by Andy Goldsworthy in Presidio, San Francisco

My fourth choice is Reservoir by John Grade. High up, in the boughs of a pine forest, in Borgo, Valsugana, Italy (the Arte Sella Sculpture Park). It is an exploration of the patterns of forest rainfall. A huge net structure is suspended across a clearing amongst the trees, with 5000 heat-formed, rain-catching droplets hanging below. When it rains or snows the precipitation accumulates in the clear droplets and the position of the net and individual droplets changes, swelling or lowering, depending on the amount of precipitation. At its fullest, Reservoir can weigh ~800 pounds, but as water evaporates, the sculpture lightens to its 70 pound ’empty’ state.

Reservoir by John Grade

Number five is a piece by Dr Anna Popowa (Academy of Fine Arts in Lviv) called ‘Schody do Nieba‘ or ‘Stairway to Heaven’. It was created in the Arboretum Bolestraszyce, Poland. I’m a big fan of birch trees and like the lightness and simplicity of this work.

Stairway to Heaven

My final choice is by Swiss artist Sylvain Meyer. It was apparently an exceptionally ephemeral sculpture, made from string. The artist managed to get a few pictures of the structure, but then says that a storm forced him to disassemble everything in a hurry.

Couloir blanc by Sylvain Meyer

I hope that you enjoyed this selection of Tree Art.

Take care!

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