Friends in Trees

I am now considering creating a sculpture/ series of sculptures that are full size human figures made from hollow molds of clear acrylic. These would be durable and transparent, and able to be placed outside. I would like to create these molds by using plaster of paris strips on a human body, so that the strips more or less weave in and out to create a form that both encloses space as well as is open to interaction inside. I want eventually for these forms to be placed correspondingly to fit into a tree, so that the space inside is penetrated by the central core of the tree. For a long time I have felt a kinship with trees as living beings, and also with the veinlike structures as reaching out/ groundedness, as the creative endeavor that is always growing, extending out of oneself while seeking calmness in the flow of being and creating. I think, similar to limited fork ideas, that our creative practices can only touch on a tiny bit of what is truly art and at work inside of us and in this universe. But nonetheless those tendrils we extend are what we have, and so we extend them into space, not knowing all that is there but holding faith in this noble act of creation. However, I am interested both in what is tangible as what is intangible, what is visible and what is invisible, what is tangible and what is all really there-- all that that may be. It is meaningful and there, and we are nonetheless reading these invisible things energetically and on subtle levels all the time. So I want to make a form that has open space within as well as the branching, and I want all these emotional and invisible realities to be able to be read by participants through tactile expression. First, there is the reading of the space differently by seeing a human figure there. Then there is the reading of what is seen and what is invisible, the empty space inside that makes you aware of also the air that is living within us and around us always. The correlation of the self with the tree, with the atmosphere, with the entire moving world. And then there will be these nests inside the form that I create, with objects in these nests that represent sacred parts of myself, so people can perhaps reach inside and interact with these nests, but also perhaps the sculpture will have similar objects outside of him or herself, or those objects will reflect the natural world around because there is this similitude between internal and external realities that I am very aware of and interested in. So these are the things in my head, I will continue sketching and making adjustments as I go but I am very very excited! I'm calling this friends in trees because I am also interested in people seeing themselves mirrored in these human forms, just by the same form they take, and becoming aware of the spaces and branchings inside themselves. I think there is a kind of kinship that can be afforded by these relationships in form, that can cause pause to one's day to think about our relationship to the natural world and to one another (when eventually I plan to make many such forms, where interactions will be present and visible). Also, there is a continuity to placing a sculpture outdoors with living things, that one day eventually, this sculpture will become overtaken by the life inside it- the tree- and will literally become it, as we ourselves who live with all this creativity inside us connects us to this life force that is endless and universal, and which when we die we will be wholly integrated into that lifeforce and continue growing as we become finally it- no longer any separation. Oh, the truths in this are expansive and so exciting to me right now!!! Onward! and Upward! Woohoo!