Beech Ave

“Arbor Poetics” was inspired like many of our (MASARY’s)  projects - directly from the landscape. Spending time on the grounds at Mount Auburn is always relaxing, reflective and often inspiring. Walking along Beech Ave I was asking myself “what kind of artwork would work here?” and it was almost like the trees just chuckled…. As if to say “we are in concert here, always!” 

When this perspective became more clear to me, the piece quickly materialized - at least in concept. This pathway and these trees, many of which are 75+ years old, are in community, in relation, in expression and in cooperation perpetually. What became the question was how to evoke this idea poetically - and how to keep it about these particular trees - and not about me and my perspective. 

A particular challenge was how to imagine novel ways to express the “song” of this forest without over-personifying the approach. Would trees have each a single note to sing in an arpeggio or melody? Or would they dissolve more into a whole sound that produces layers of texture and harmony? 

Of course any direction is a choice to make, but the choices I ultimately made were to dissolve my perspective as much as possible, and surrender to a sense of “Arbor Poetics.”