THE LIVING TREE 1

Bonnie Gale has just completed her first large-scale Living Art piece. It is entitled The Living Tree 1 and is the first in a series of living tree expressions. It has been developed specifically for the Central New York Blooms Flower Show in Syracuse from March 4-7, 2010. It involves 60 5-gallon pots of willow and over 1700 willow rods, approximately 10 feet tall. Each pot contains over 25 willow rods that cover a bent metal pipe representing a limb of a tree. The pots, placed next one another, radiate from the central straight pot in circles of increasingly bent limbs. The whole piece will be over eight feet in diameter. The pots will be covered with mulch to represent the forest floor. The willow pots are being forced in greenhouses and so will be displayed with full leaf coverage. The aim of this living piece is to deconstruct the tree form and provide a different perspective on the nature of living trees.

TREE 2: SPRING UNFURLING

Following on the motif of Living Tree 1, Tree 2: Spring Unfurling, built in 2011 for the CNY Blooms Flower Show in Syracuse, New York, uses greater bends in the piping and the covered willow is then painted. The individual poles are freestanding and can be arranged in any manner. They were coated with a waterproof sealer for eventual installation outdoors.