21 Behrend Beacon I II til TP
April 16, 2010 I II | ,|| | fl
I www.thebehrendbeacon.com \J IAm l/l*-*- v/
SHANNON EHRIN must B et ver y c * ose t 0 see f acial ex- subject of art either. One artist who
Cl . . j,f o . pressions or little wisps of color, utilizes trees in a unique is way is
but Gill’s prints are the exact size Tim Knowles. Instead of the tree
When people think of a work of of the tree, and you see a " °f the being the actual work of art,
they might picture a painting fine details in the tree rings. Knowles has the tree create the art.
sketch. But they probably don’t The trees he has made P rin ts of By attaching drawing utensils to
ink of spreading ink over the top include hemlock, ash, maple and the ends of tree branches, Knowles
a tree trunk and laying paper black locust, and they come from gives the wind creative authority as
ir it. It doesn’t involve a paint the area around his Connecticut it moves the branches in whichever
ish, but this is exactly what residence. way.
.n Nash Gill does when he ere- Gill has been working as an In one piece, a weeping willow
,‘S his tree relief prints. artist since he received his Bache- has 100 pens dangling from its
A Connecticut-based artist, Nash lor of Fine Arts degree in 1984, but branches with a large circular
turned the natural beautv of many people are still unaware of cardboard beneath it. What results
is into art. He brings slabs of his productions. from this unconventional style of
trunks back to his studio, T° many people, these prints artistry is an original masterpiece,
•re he smoothes the surface by ma y seem unexciting, but they are These artists' appreciation for
iding it down until it is ready for the history of the trees, their life trees is shown through their .work.
. The ink is then rolled across stories, and not just silly, wobbly It’s interesting that the oldest tree
surface, and paper is placed circles. is the Methuselah, a Great Basin
_ j r top to capture the design. While Gill doesn’t solely make bristlecone pine, at 4,841 years old
His work is close and intimate, tree prints, a lot of his other work (let that number wrap around your
II has to press the paper down on does involve trees. He uses tree brain), yet people still go about
:h tree ring in order to have the branches, trunk slabs, pine needles their days never thinking twice
nt show up on paper, so his and leaves in his “Installations” about a tree’s age or species or
-k takes time and care. You see and “Bronzes” pieces, featuring cycle. Trees are art, regardless of
f the tree in his prints and them for what they are and not ma- whether or not an artist uses them
to when it was just nipulating them in any obscure as such, and people should pay
way. more attention to the ones around
lewer Trees don’t always have to be the them.
sapling
In a lot of artwork
Clockwise from top right: An ivy dangles a drawing utensil over an easel in Cumbria, England: Weeping
willow sways above a circular disk: Meadow tree resembling the position of a person is directed by the wind.
Visit http://www.timknowles.co.uk/ to view more of Knowles’s art.
Trees are put to work in Knowles’s pieces.