Art exhibit gives loving homage to trees

by Dennis Dalman

news@thenewsleaders.com

Tree huggers will likely love an art show now on exhibit at the Paramount Center for the Performing Arts in downtown St. Cloud.

The exhibition, entitled “Among Trees,” features the works of award-winning Sartell photographer Carol Weiler and two St. Cloud women – fiber artist Jeri Olson McCoy and fiber-and-encaustic artist Donna Kuhl.

“Among Trees,” which includes 26 art works all in rhapsodic homage to the beauty of trees, opened in May and will run through June 29. The show can be viewed, for free, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. The art works are available for purchase. The exhibit is showing in the Gallery Saint Germain on the Paramount’s main level.

One of Sartell artist Weiler’s works, entitled “Red Road, Hawaii,” is a brambly, tangled, twisting tree, its gnarly limbs reaching every which way in a swirl evoking frantic motion. The black-and-white photo was taken by Weiler on what’s known as “Red Road” in Hawaii, a road lined by over-arching, tangling, twisting tree limbs.

An example of Olson McCoy’s art work is “The Rust-Colored Tree.” It is seven vertical woven strands of fiber, with fluffs of springtime green on the bottoms and little tightly-woven tufts of darker green on the tops, suggesting clumps of leaves. And then there are the intimations of tree trunks in earthy tones of brown, tan, birch-white and rust-red.

One of Kuhl’s art works, named simply “Trees,” is a joyous burst of five colors (tree tops) above highly textured light-tan tree trunks. Kuhl used textured fabric and wax (encaustic) to achieve the striking abstract symphony of shapes, textures and colors (purple, orange, light green, browns, blue and pink-red). The colors shout and sing from a black background.

All three artists featured in “Among Trees” have been inspired, comforted and made happy by trees all of their lives. That deep love and reverence runs deep and infuses every one of their art works.

Here are some of their comments:

Weiler

“I was taught at an early age to love trees. My hometown was full of huge chestnuts and elms, and when they died off, we all suffered.

“I have wandered through many environments enriched by trees – curving cedars in northern Ontario, fertile orchards in Minnesota and ancient olive trees in Italy and Spain.”

Kuhl

“I now sew by hand and by machine, layering various fibers and mediums. I alter the surfaces of fabric, I quilt with intention, I stretch the limits of traditional embroidery and I work with layers of wax in encaustic style. I see composite layers in all living things.

“Inspiration for my work comes from both the beauty and the struggle in nature and in the everyday lives of us all. I cannot imagine a world without trees. In some way, they are woven into the layers of almost everything.”

Olson McCoy

“I grew up in Duluth, with beautiful trees everywhere and woods within walking distance in several directions. My family vacations were usually spent camping in any wooded area that my Dad could find. The more remote the better – up the Sawbill and Gunflint trails, northern Wisconsin and Michigan, in Canada and the Rocky Mountains. I loved the solitude, the sound of the wind in the leaves, the birds and rushing water in the creeks. The feeling of quiet, peaceful coziness.

“While weaving over the last few years, playing with different mediums and techniques, always trying to come up with something different, trees felt like the natural way to go – my favorite being birch trees. I feel like I’m creating my own forest and love to share it with others.”

Sponsorship

Among Trees” was made possible by grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Clean Water Land & Legacy Amendment, both funded by a Minnesota Legislature appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Foundation.