[Music]
it’s the fall of 1981 the phone rings in
my little house in North Portland and
it’s a colleague calling to offer me a
job he asked me do you think you could
sculpt trees do you think you could
build trees and I’m like absolutely yes
he said well do you know anything about
trees and I’m thinking no but I say yes
I know everything about trees
Oregon’s covered with them six weeks
later I was on a plane to New York City
I was scared out of my wits and all I
know is I love trees that began a
fabulous journey of my creative
self-expression learning how to sculpt
learning from life how to sculpt trees I
love trees and everything about them I
love their shapes and their forms and
all the magic and the power and the
wisdom that they represent trees can
represent so many things to us they’re a
powerful symbol of life we all know
something about the notion of the Tree
of Life and we also all are part of a
family tree trees connect the realms of
writers poets shaman children dreamers
leaders have all been inspired by trees
and have turned to trees as a source of
strength scientists have studied all the
different processes of trees and have
learned about really complex systems
like photosynthesis
and carbon storage this is a very
important point in our times carbon
sequestration we don’t even really
understand what trees are providing for
us and also as a model for the
collection of material and distribution
of material I love all these different
aspects of trees and the beauty of the
patterns of how they branch the big
large boughs divide and become limbs and
those limbs divide and become branches
and those branches divide and become
branchlets and then twigs and they
adjust themselves so they can hold
thousands and thousands of leaves all
turning to the Sun to collect energy and
know how matter how many trees there are
or how large the forests are there’s
always enough space and there’s always
enough light to go around roots also
tell a gripping story the root systems
of trees just dig into the earth looking
for nutrition and creating balance so
they can grow up and to these massive
beautiful structures and these the roots
go down into the earth they take up all
this decomposed material turn it into
energy and collect moisture while
they’re breaking down rocks into soil
and scientists have recently you know
been all over the fact that trees talk
to each other trees talk to each other
through their root systems so
unbeknownst to us all this time
trees are speaking to each other they
can teach us a lot about communication
about sharing about networking about
protecting and helping each other to
ward off disease
this is the wonderful world of trees
that I live in when I’m doing my
sculptures and no matter whether I’m
building a tropical rainforest as a
immersion habitat for endangered species
or a meditative retreat in an oncology
hospital or a beautiful chandelier in a
wine cellar trees are my inspiration
when I’m sculpting a lot of people might
ask me well how do you do that how do
you how do you make trees and I guess I
start by looking for what I call the
essence of a tree what really tells you
something is a tree or a root system I
spend a lot of time in the woods I walk
in the forest I sit with trees and I
touch trees I photograph trees
everywhere I go and I collect all the
parts of trees and they just sort of
people my world so that I can just look
at them and hopefully absorb all their
beauty and what they’re all about
so if I was saying what is what is the
essence of a root structure of a root
mass is it massive and a sprawling
footprint that digs into the earth or is
it a mostly unseen structure is it this
networked frame system interlocking
system and I might try to put that in a
sculpture roots can be gnarly or
contorted or hairlike and fine and I try
to put that in a sculpture or what is
the essence of an oak I mean can you see
the fortitude in this tree the
sturdiness and how it grows
I mean oak trees can send these massive
boughs out you know 60 feet in any one
direction and then carry tonnage of
leaves at the ends of these massive
boughs
mean that is the most complex a living
system you can imagine that tissue the
living tissue in a tree can carry all
that weight and not fail I mean we
cannot build something like that if we
cantilever some structure out that far
you know gravity would overcome that so
I mean this is all of the fabulous
nature of what is an oak and I try to
put that in a sculpture or what is a
Tori’s pine what is the extreme nature
of this tree that can hang have balance
and hang out over the edge of the world
with these windswept branches that draw
ecstatic lines in space and I try to put
that in a sculpture I move through these
landscapes quietly making sketches and
drawings and that visual conversation
eventually will turn into a 3d model
even for this installation here today
for what you see around you I built a
model models are a bridge between and
the idea world and the built world we
can ask and answer all kinds of
questions like how do people interact
with this space how do how does it fill
the space is it enough and how does it
look from different perspectives and
with the model as a guide this is what I
consider to be basically the crux of the
creative process now that I have know
the nature of the tree that I want to
build and with the model as a guide this
is where creativity happens because on
the one hand you have this idea waiting
to be expressed and on the other hand
you have this pile of raw materials so I
consider it to be alchemy basically you
take these disparate materials metal
tubing
construction and building materials
epoxy urethane foam paint and with them
you breathe life into a fabulous
sculpture that connects us to the
profound majesty of trees and so it
begins
with the model as a guide we build a
durable metal armature we spray that
with urethane foam then I carve that
foam and like release these beautiful
sensuous forms coat the entire thing
with epoxy red resin for structural
integrity and in the case of chandeliers
wire on LED lights then I sculpt epoxy
resin over the whole thing and emboss
with bark patterns and then paint intent
the whole sculpture once you’ve got this
all ready and you take it where it’s
going to be the installation commences
you put all the pieces together check to
see that the sculpture is doing
everything you wanted it to do in situ
that it was doing in that model and then
in the case of chandeliers we hang
crystals on each and every bow branch
root or twig and then what happens then
what happens we turn on the lights
spaces are transformed shadows are cast
where they’ve never been before we are
delighted by patterns of light and color
that dance all over the walls floors
ceilings and mirrors we are transfixed
by what happens with color
there’s unexpected color that delights
us and less light reaches into every
corner of a space
even a sunrise or a sunset can add to
the wonder and the magic that has just
occurred by installing these beautiful
sculptures trees remind us that magic is
everywhere and trees can teach us how to
learn to stay connected to nature while
we reach out and remain grounded in the
world around us we reach up for light
meaning and magic thank you [Applause]
it’s the fall of 1981 the phone rings in
my little house in North Portland and
it’s a colleague calling to offer me a
job he asked me do you think you could
sculpt trees do you think you could
build trees and I’m like absolutely yes
he said well do you know anything about
trees and I’m thinking no but I say yes
I know everything about trees
Oregon’s covered with them six weeks
later I was on a plane to New York City
I was scared out of my wits and all I
know is I love trees that began a
fabulous journey of my creative
self-expression learning how to sculpt
learning from life how to sculpt trees I
love trees and everything about them I
love their shapes and their forms and
all the magic and the power and the
wisdom that they represent trees can
represent so many things to us they’re a
powerful symbol of life we all know
something about the notion of the Tree
of Life and we also all are part of a
family tree trees connect the realms of
writers poets shaman children dreamers
leaders have all been inspired by trees
and have turned to trees as a source of
strength scientists have studied all the
different processes of trees and have
learned about really complex systems
like photosynthesis
and carbon storage this is a very
important point in our times carbon
sequestration we don’t even really
understand what trees are providing for
us and also as a model for the
collection of material and distribution
of material I love all these different
aspects of trees and the beauty of the
patterns of how they branch the big
large boughs divide and become limbs and
those limbs divide and become branches
and those branches divide and become
branchlets and then twigs and they
adjust themselves so they can hold
thousands and thousands of leaves all
turning to the Sun to collect energy and
know how matter how many trees there are
or how large the forests are there’s
always enough space and there’s always
enough light to go around roots also
tell a gripping story the root systems
of trees just dig into the earth looking
for nutrition and creating balance so
they can grow up and to these massive
beautiful structures and these the roots
go down into the earth they take up all
this decomposed material turn it into
energy and collect moisture while
they’re breaking down rocks into soil
and scientists have recently you know
been all over the fact that trees talk
to each other trees talk to each other
through their root systems so
unbeknownst to us all this time
trees are speaking to each other they
can teach us a lot about communication
about sharing about networking about
protecting and helping each other to
ward off disease
this is the wonderful world of trees
that I live in when I’m doing my
sculptures and no matter whether I’m
building a tropical rainforest as a
immersion habitat for endangered species
or a meditative retreat in an oncology
hospital or a beautiful chandelier in a
wine cellar trees are my inspiration
when I’m sculpting a lot of people might
ask me well how do you do that how do
you how do you make trees and I guess I
start by looking for what I call the
essence of a tree what really tells you
something is a tree or a root system I
spend a lot of time in the woods I walk
in the forest I sit with trees and I
touch trees I photograph trees
everywhere I go and I collect all the
parts of trees and they just sort of
people my world so that I can just look
at them and hopefully absorb all their
beauty and what they’re all about
so if I was saying what is what is the
essence of a root structure of a root
mass is it massive and a sprawling
footprint that digs into the earth or is
it a mostly unseen structure is it this
networked frame system interlocking
system and I might try to put that in a
sculpture roots can be gnarly or
contorted or hairlike and fine and I try
to put that in a sculpture or what is
the essence of an oak I mean can you see
the fortitude in this tree the
sturdiness and how it grows
I mean oak trees can send these massive
boughs out you know 60 feet in any one
direction and then carry tonnage of
leaves at the ends of these massive
boughs
mean that is the most complex a living
system you can imagine that tissue the
living tissue in a tree can carry all
that weight and not fail I mean we
cannot build something like that if we
cantilever some structure out that far
you know gravity would overcome that so
I mean this is all of the fabulous
nature of what is an oak and I try to
put that in a sculpture or what is a
Tori’s pine what is the extreme nature
of this tree that can hang have balance
and hang out over the edge of the world
with these windswept branches that draw
ecstatic lines in space and I try to put
that in a sculpture I move through these
landscapes quietly making sketches and
drawings and that visual conversation
eventually will turn into a 3d model
even for this installation here today
for what you see around you I built a
model models are a bridge between and
the idea world and the built world we
can ask and answer all kinds of
questions like how do people interact
with this space how do how does it fill
the space is it enough and how does it
look from different perspectives and
with the model as a guide this is what I
consider to be basically the crux of the
creative process now that I have know
the nature of the tree that I want to
build and with the model as a guide this
is where creativity happens because on
the one hand you have this idea waiting
to be expressed and on the other hand
you have this pile of raw materials so I
consider it to be alchemy basically you
take these disparate materials metal
tubing
construction and building materials
epoxy urethane foam paint and with them
you breathe life into a fabulous
sculpture that connects us to the
profound majesty of trees and so it
begins
with the model as a guide we build a
durable metal armature we spray that
with urethane foam then I carve that
foam and like release these beautiful
sensuous forms coat the entire thing
with epoxy red resin for structural
integrity and in the case of chandeliers
wire on LED lights then I sculpt epoxy
resin over the whole thing and emboss
with bark patterns and then paint intent
the whole sculpture once you’ve got this
all ready and you take it where it’s
going to be the installation commences
you put all the pieces together check to
see that the sculpture is doing
everything you wanted it to do in situ
that it was doing in that model and then
in the case of chandeliers we hang
crystals on each and every bow branch
root or twig and then what happens then
what happens we turn on the lights
spaces are transformed shadows are cast
where they’ve never been before we are
delighted by patterns of light and color
that dance all over the walls floors
ceilings and mirrors we are transfixed
by what happens with color
there’s unexpected color that delights
us and less light reaches into every
corner of a space
even a sunrise or a sunset can add to
the wonder and the magic that has just
occurred by installing these beautiful
sculptures trees remind us that magic is
everywhere and trees can teach us how to
learn to stay connected to nature while
we reach out and remain grounded in the
world around us we reach up for light
meaning and magic thank you [Applause]
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