A Blue Tree Grows in Sacramento

Have you ever woken up in a foreign place, stepped outside to look around you, and had a crisis of reality? Thus begins my visit to Sacramento this past November, when I ventured out to do a little exploring and happened upon a row of sycamore trees with bark laminating in electric blue.  Insert double take.  Electric blue?!?!  Normally white bark, in electric blue.  In fact, even the brown peeling parts exhibited the vibrant but hue, and (aside from the normal response of excessive photographing) all I could do was stand there and scratch my head in awe.  Is this Dr. Seuss Land?  Will I round the corner to encounter the Onceler?  Or a talking fish?

Fortunately, I managed to avoid an existential crisis through a run-in with the Sacramento Tree Foundation, who told me what's up.  The trees are not blue.  Well, they ARE blue, but not naturally anyway. (Well of course, I know my tree morphology and know that North American trees are not typically blue).

These trees are a part of an art installation that Sactree.com states is an "effort to call attention to global deforestation, and is supported by several local organizations and businesses because of its ability to call attention to Sacramento's valuable urban forest."  There is no paint involved, and no toxic substances are applied to the trees or anything that would clog lenticels or cause harm to the tree.  The blue color is a non-toxic dye pigment that will last for no more than six months, before it weathers away.

Konstantin Dimopoulos is the brilliant mind behind this project, which he has also taken to Melbourne, Vancouver, Auckland, Seattle, and Gainesville, FL.  Below is a description of the project and the meaning behind it:

"The Blue Trees is a social art action. Through colour I am making a personal statement about the spirituality of trees and their importance to our very survival: trees are the lungs of the planet.

Colour is a powerful stimulant, a means of altering perception and defining space and time. The fact that blue is a colour that is not naturally identified with trees suggests to the viewer that something unusual, something out of the ordinary has happened. It becomes a magical transformation.

In nature colour is used both as a defensive mechanism, a means of protection, and as a mechanism to attract. The Blue Trees attempts to waken a similar response from viewers. It is within this context that the blue denotes sacredness, something reverential.

Trees are largely invisible in our daily lives, and it’s not until it’s too late that we realise how important they are to us both aesthetically and environmentally. Each year an area at least the size of Belgium of native forests is cleared from around the planet.

Yet while we do this we look at whether other planets can be inhabited, so we’ve got somewhere else to go once we’ve destroyed our own.

The colour used on the trees is biologically safe pigmented water. As an ephemeral artwork, the colour will naturally degrade and the trees gradually revert to their natural state."

I love it when nature and art collide.  If given the opportunity, be sure to check these out!

Oklahoma Sunrise in December

Every morning, I walk my dog around the neighborhood before I go to work.  On occasion I am awakened and amazed by the incredible sunrises of Oklahoma.  As someone who loves to document experiences and inspiration, I often find myself thinking "Oh, I wish I had my camera!" so I can capture my viewpoint and share it with others.  I know it's important, though, to take a step back and just enjoy the moment - to take in as much as possible and just be grateful that you were there to see it... and then move on with your day.  This particular morning was exceptionally brilliant.  While I savored my morning walk, I also couldn't help grabbing my camera when we returned to the house since this view was lingering a little longer than usual.  One more sunrise picture never hurt anybody, right? :)

Can't Get Enough of Fall

This is my favorite time of year, by far.  Cooler weather, pretty colors, wearing layers, making soup, entering into holiday season... I hope your season is bright.

Photo Randomness

These are just some recent photos of things that made me happy but didn't fit into a different post.  If you follow me on Instagram, you already know that my sweet greyhound was brutally attacked by two dogs in our neighborhood dog park.  The photo of her above was taken the day before it happened, which is why you don't see the wounds.  She is healing nicely, and will hopefully be all better very soon.  I am so very thankful that she is a fast runner and able to defend herself - it could have been SO much worse.

Already Frozen

 

I was scoping out photo backdrops for finished knitting projects on a recent Saturday morning and came across this ice coated red bud tree.  Normally, irresponsible lawn irrigation tends to get under my skin, but glimpsing the morning light through ice crystals and fall color on one of the first really cold days of the year just softened my heart a little bit and I had to get a closer look.  I still think people should pay more attention to their irrigation scheduling as it relates to the weather forecast, but I'm glad I got to witness something magically beautiful.

Ooze

In the spirit of Halloween, here's some slimy tree ooze for your eyeballs to gaze upon.  This is either sap or some exudation resulting from disease, but it sure looks gross, doesn't it?  Have a spooky October 31st!

Hues || Wichita Wildlife Refuge

Little Wildlife

These are from the Wichita Wildlife Refuge.  We always see the obvious longhorn, bison, prairie dog and deer, but I like to look for the little guys too.  Sadly, I have yet to see a snake here after all the time I've spent in the refuge.  I know some people would count this as a blessing, and I will say I'm glad I've never stepped on one or came too close to one without knowing it was there first.  However, it would be great to see one from afar...and then take a wide route around it.

Little Cacti

 

Hiking is Good for the Soul

We drove down to the Wichita Wildlife Refuge this weekend, which is probably the closest area that has an abundance of hiking trails and gives one a feeling of solitude/remoteness.  The morning was cool, so there really weren't too many people out.  Aside from playing naturalist and observing minute details, my favorite thing about heading out of town like this is the silence.  No vehicles, no industrial sounds or people... all you can hear is the occasional tremble of the leaves... and that odd buzzing sound in your ears which is only apparent when either your hearing is stopped up or when you are away from the sounds of society.  It's funny how silence does, in fact, have a sound.  I drink it up like an elixir that hydrates and refreshes my tense mind.

Texture || Boxelder Bugs

J and I were walking over to pick up some dinner last night when this maple tree covered in clusters of boxelder bugs caught our attention.  At the time, there were clusters twice the size of these at every branch/trunk attachment all the way up the tree, but after the glorious thunderstorm we had yesterday evening they must have been all washed out.  I went back today, and this is what I found.

Through the Light || Zinnias

Bees

You can barely make them out here, but we have some bees living in a giant hackberry tree down the street from us.  J and I periodically like to walk by it to observe their activity, and I would say that today is the most active I've seen them in months.  Apparently I'm not the only one who has emerged from their slothfulness with this 20 degree drop.  It's glorious!  And it's also encouraging to see these pollinators making their way in our paved, urban environment.  Kudos, sweet things!

Texture || Fungi of the Pacific Northwest

Yes, that is my post title.  This gets its own entry because I have so many photos of fungi from our trip last month.  As I was looking through the camera's playback in our hotel room in Portland, I told J that 20% of my photos were of trees, 15% were buildings/landmarks/other scenery, 5% were of food, 15% were from our friend's wedding, 5% were of J drinking beer, 10% were of my fiber art installations, and 30% of my photos were of some type of fungi in the woods.  So here you go, a showing of my favorites.  If you would like to see the rest, take a look at my Flickr stream.

Trees with Heartbeats

As an urban forester and lover of installation art, I would be remiss to not share this installation that coincides with the Olympics in London this year.

Sometimes I think it's difficult for people to really grasp that trees are breathing, functioning beings with intricate processes that somehow come together even though these organisms do not have nervous systems or brains like humans and animals.  This is one of the ideas that drew me to study forestry in the first place, because it's so beyond my understanding no matter how long I ponder it.  I will never stop being amazed by trees and what they are capable of despite how still and static they appear, and I wish people didn't miss out so often in regards to understanding what our communities gain by having trees growing throughout them.

This installation is an educational and artistic perspective of environmental services of trees that was put in place to raise awareness about these benefits.

From RTTC:

"The ‘Breathing Trees’ display is based in Russell Square – one of they city’s best known public areas – and is intended to change a typical city park into a living, breathing organism using light and sound installations.The artwork is a collaboration between Camden Borough Council and digital art company Creatmosphere. It uses a series of multi-colour LED lights positioned within two of the square’s largest trees to visually transform the canopy into the ‘lungs’ of the city, rising and falling to the sound of breathing and a beating heart.

London’s focus on sustainability ahead of the Olympics Games has been praised by NGOs such as WWF and Bioregional.

And Councillor Phil Jones, Cabinet member for sustainability at Camden said the art would help reinforce their efforts to remind the public of how vital trees are to urban areas.

'Breathing trees in not just a visual audio spectacle…it will reinforce our message that our natural environment must be protected,' he said.

'Without protecting our wonderful natural resources we will be unable to tackle the many environmental issues in the years to come.' "

In case you're interested in what services trees do provide, check out the National Arbor Day Foundation's information about tree benefits.

Photo Source

Neukom Vivarium

In one week, we will be in Seattle taking in 80 degree temperatures, great seafood and the culture of the northwest.  One of the sites I am most looking forward to visiting is the Olympic Sculpture Park, an extension of the Seattle Art Museum.  The reason behind this is Neukom Vivarium, an art installation surrounding life cycles and the decomposition process of an old growth log.  Here is a brief description of the installation by Mark Dion from the park web site:

"Neukom Vivarium is a hybrid work of sculpture, architecture, environmental education and horticulture that connects art and science. Sited at the corner of Elliott Avenue and Broad Street, it features a sixty-foot-long 'nurse log' in an eighty-foot-long custom-designed greenhouse. Set on a slab under the glass roof of the greenhouse, the log has been removed from the forest ecosystem and now inhabits an art system. Its ongoing decay and renewal represent nature as a complex system of cycles and processes. Visitors observe life forms within the log using magnifying glasses supplied in a cabinet designed by the artist. Illustrations of potential log inhabitants-bacteria, fungi, lichen, plants, and insects-decorate blue and white tiles that function as a field guide, assisting visitors' identification of 'specimens.' Neukom Vivarium is the artist's first permanent public art work in the United States."

A Pyramid and a Rock

Yes, you are looking at a knitted sculpture in the shape of a giant rock.  The piece is in fact a giant replica of a smaller rock, a fragment of one of the Pyramids at Giza taken by a young boy (the artist) on a trip with his family (he did put it back... eventually).  The backstory on this sculpture is pretty interesting, if you have a moment to read about it << here >>.

Andy Holden created this piece, in addition to some other knitted work shown below.  Can you imagine how long it took to knit all of that fabric?  That's a lot of surface area.  I'm definitely going to keep an eye on his web site, in hopes of seeing more knitted medium used in the future.

(Image Source)

Hannah Haworth

This whale initially caught my eye, but then I saw this beautiful installation and wanted to share it.  (If I didn't think my cat would destroy it, I would love to have something like this in my house). These are the work of Hannah Haworth, a Scottish born artist who now resides in New York.  She has some nice photography on her blog as well.

Woolly Sagas

Is it a flash flood?  A babbling brook?  An erupting volcano?  A lushly green island?  An iceberg?  Oh, nope... it's just wool dyed and manipulated into tiny landscapes and then photographed by Eszter Burghardt.  Amazing. via WATG