Speak For The Trees

by Andria Friesen, Dorothy MacLean (Foreword), Gordon Wheeler (Foreword)

Seventy-six painters, sculptors, photographers, glass and conceptual artists from Ireland to Argentina, Korea to the United States, have come together in an inspiring book to answer a call by Dr. Seuss (in his 1971 classic, The Lorax) "Speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues." The artists in this powerful new book, Speak For The Trees, include both young and emerging artists, and such world-renowned figures as David Hockney, conceptual artist Yoko Ono, pop-surrealist Mark Ryden, international-environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude and the beyond categorization Starn Brothers. Each artist contributed artwork, which has been showcased on a two-page spread together with the artist's thinking on his or her work in relationship to trees, and with a quotation each selected from writers as diverse as Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso, Abraham Lincoln and Henry David Thoreau, William Shakespeare and Ogden Nash.

200 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book on Arbor Day. It is signed by one of the featured artists, Lynda Lowe. What follows is a quote from her out of the book:
"I come from a tree-planting, tree-naming family, and I am never far away from the urge to plant another one. I often have the experience when I am among trees that I am not only beholding them, but that I am beheld. In the twining of sky to earth, trees speak of integrating our greatest reach while remaining firmly grounded. Within the pulse of seasons, growth, and dormancy, trees address time in a different tempo, reminding us of the natural cycles of like and loss."

Every artist featured in this book, coupled with their writing, gave me pause for reflection. I see trees as grounding as well as uplifting. They serve practical, natural purposes but at the same time give the gift of beauty, comfort and at times, inspire reverence.