This summer, artist Anthony Heinz May traveled to Rhode Island to give new life to a dying tree, by spending weeks transforming it into a piece of public art. Originally from Oregon, Heinz May specializes in this kind of work. He was brought in by the Weaver Library in East Providence, whose lawn is home to the roughly 150-year-old copper beech tree.
The artist is coming back to the library this weekend for a talk about this project and his approach to tree sculpture, as well as a workshop where participants will get to make art out of remnants of the tree.
Afternoon host and arts and culture reporter Mareva Lindo spoke with Heinz May, as well as Meredith Bonds-Harmon, the Director of the East Providence Library.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On how the project came about
Meredith Bonds-Harmon: So this sculpture project has actually been coming for years, it has felt like. Our amazing copper beech tree was slowly dying over the past five years or so, and it became very clear that such a majestic and meaningful tree couldn't simply just go away. So we endeavored to transform it into a sculpture, and after many years and months of kind of getting to that point, Anthony was on site this past summer and transformed our tree into a sculpture.
On the significance of this copper beech tree
Bonds-Harmon: So, this tree we estimate to be upwards of 150 years old, and it has served as the backdrop to so much activity on the library lawn. It's really just stood watch over us and provided so much shade and beauty, and just a large presence to generations of families and users of the library, and now the sculpture is new and separate and its own thing, and people are interacting with it in a new and a different way. It's not so much a backdrop anymore. I almost think that now we're looking at it, and everybody has their own feelings about it.
On what attracts Heinz May to the work of transforming fallen or dying trees into public art
Anthony Heinz May: There's something very magical about trees. There's something very mysterious and very complex. I think I already recognized that when I was a child growing up around them. And as I got older, I started to look at them in new ways. And it took me leaving my home state of Oregon in order to understand the relationship that I really had with them and that they have with all of us. ... I believe the work is a shared authorship. I think that we all have this tuning or this sort of connection with trees, and I believe that sometimes we forget that. And so I think for me, it's trying to re-harmonize our connection with nature and our connection with trees as being so important for not only our present, but our growth, as it is historically. … So I think that trees are all-encompassing and they're really a source of inspiration throughout my life.
On what drew Heinz May to this project
Heinz May: I've never worked with a tree of this size before. The scale of it, and the scope of the project, and the connectivity of the community, and the library, and everything in place, it really seemed to kind of call out my name in many ways. So, I know that the tree has been measured to be a certain age, but it feels much older than that. Not only when I saw it, but also working on it, because there's this nostalgia that I think Meredith hinted on or even spoke about as far as community and what it means to the community. ... I took it as an honor to be able to try to do something with this tree, but still give honor and praise to the tree and to the nostalgia in the tree. And I think that's really kind of overarching in my work. So this presented itself, and I — seeing it through pictures was one thing, but when I showed up and saw how enormous and beautiful it was, I was almost, you know, rocked on my heels. And I think that that in itself proved to me that it was the right choice to get involved with the project, and to be able to do something creative with it that celebrates the tree, but also the community, and also the ultimate degradation of the tree itself.
Both events take place Sunday, Nov. 8 at the Weaver Library in East Providence. The tree sculpture workshop is at 12 p.m. and requires registration. The artist talk is at 2 p.m., no registration required.
