Trees- Artist inspirations

 Trees

A beautiful book of photographs by Ansel Adams.

Trees are the subject of much folklore and Ive been gathering lots of branches and drift wood on my travels.  I'm working closely with wood bark and branches I'm really noticing the detail and textures of Trees so I particularly like the photographs of the details of the bark. 

This book of photographs by Ansel Adams is a homage to trees, from the deserts  of New Mexico to Yosemite valley its a a portrait of the trees of the American west.It includes snippets of literature to accompany the images by writers, poets and historians who draw inspiration from the mystical and meditative nature of trees and expands the meaning of the image by pulling together many philosophical musings and environments.

The photographs are all black and white yet catch so much atmosphere that my minds eye sees them in colour, from the dry, heat of he scorched bark of Mexican desert trees, summer canopies in full leaf to winter sunlight on snow heavy branches.

 Its a really varied collection, and makes you think what a huge subject trees are in terms of natural history as well as human history, belief and folk lore a reminder of that long human connection with trees and the tradition and superstition that surrounds them and how we make sense of our own lives through these visible cycles of nature.

Here the artist pulls together his own actual creative vision of the physical tree along with choice texts that express his deeper interest and research into the subject. Its a very accessible outcome for the viewer with space for your own imaginings.


v










Majesty 


In contrast to Ansel Adams this photographic work by Tacia Dean is part of a collection of works based on ancient trees of south east England. This is a enlarged photograph that dean took of one of the oldest oak trees in England and then enlarged and printed over  four sections with the back ground over painted in white gouash to highlight the structure of the tree,
The tree and the work are appropriately named "Majesty" the trees  its formally known as the Fredville oak after the estate where it grows.
The approach is different as this is made to be exhibited rather that as a book and the artist has physically intervened in the image. Also its at home here in England and the subject of ancient oaks is over laps my previous research at the major oak in Edwinstowe which is now propped up by scaffold and sectioned off from the public.
The oak tree is very much centre to English folklore, along with the yew tree which has much connection with death and a guardian of the grave yard.
Yew trees also feature in this collection as the artist is really looking at trees. from the tate website about this work i have lifted this piece of text explaining the artist approach 


"Dean’s methodology is a combination of idea-driven research with an openness to chance, accident, coincidence and poetic associations which she allows to direct her processes. She has explained what drew her to ‘old and deformed trees’ in an interview with the novelist Jeffrey Eugenides:

I made a photograph for an edition for October magazine recently called Fontainebleau Postcard, and I had to phone them up to check the title, and it reminded me that I had found all these old postcards of The Forest of Fontainebleau when I was in Kitakyushu in Japan, and I remember thinking that’s so strange, why would they have so many postcards of Fontainebleau? And then I went onto the internet and I looked up the Forest of Fontainebleau, which lead me to the famous oak of Fontainebleau, which in turn led me to look up old oak trees and then the oldest of trees in England, the yew tree. Before I knew it, the tiny village where I grew up came up as the place where there once was a 1400-year old yew tree. I always need that tiny thread to get myself going."


I identify quite a bit with her approach to interpretation of  historical research and leaving room in her practice for chance, or intuitive exploration.

I think this is a really visually stunning works, and it goes deeper than its surface, looking at a tree as an ancient monument, spiritual reference, physical adapting the image to draw focus on the one character of the visual story.




Comments