Trees & Other Ramifications: Branches in Nature & Culture

Credit
March 5 – June 7, 2009

Central Court, Natural History Museum, and The Commons @ Spooner Hall

Exhibition Description
Trees and other Ramifications offers an open-ended look at some of the many ways that trees are meaningful to humanity and important in the natural world....
Trees Inspired—Tell Your Tree Story
Trees and other Ramifications at the Spencer Museum features works of art and artifacts inspired by trees. Do you also have a tree inspired story to tell? Post an image or a description of the tree/trees (literally or figuratively) that touches your creativity and tell us about it!
Community Exhibitions
In addition, several community exhibitions have been planned in association with the Spencer's exhibition.
Public Programs in Conjuction with the Exhibition
The Spencer offers a wide range of engaging and educational programs for the community. These programs are all related to the Trees and other Ramifications exhibition.
Tracing Trees and other Ramifications
In fall 2008, Prof. Michelle Heffner Hayes and students in her Dance 150: Improvisation course spent two weeks in Marvin Grove developing a structured improvisation inspired by the "branching" activity explored in the Spencer's Trees & Other Ramifications exhibition. Concurrently, graduate students from American Studies, Communication Studies, and Film in Prof. Sherrie Tucker's American Studies 998: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Music as Culture seminar recorded these experiments through sound and film, took ethnographic notes, interviewed the dancers about their experiences, and combined these elements in an interactive wiki—a database of Web pages which class members could edit live. Students in the parallel courses then added their own commentaries, and made choices about which photos, videos, sound recordings, and writings to include in different places on the wiki.
Sponsors
This project was made possible by the generous support of Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund of the Douglas County Community Foundation, GouldEvans and Arthur V. Neis.
Trees Catalogue
This companion catalogue to the Spencer's spring 2009 exhibition Trees & Other Ramifications: Branches in Nature & Culture is the Museum's first full-length electronic book.

Back to TopExhibition Description

Trees and other Ramifications offers an open-ended look at some of the many ways that trees are meaningful to humanity and important in the natural world. The exhibition, predominantly of prints, drawings, books, and photographs drawn from University of Kansas and area collections, is not limited to works of art that were inspired by trees, but also includes images from the arts and sciences in which trees have served as a metaphor for real and imagined branching systems (ramifications). For example, you will find works about family trees, the tree of knowledge, and Darwin's evolutionary tree of life.

In alliance with other spring exhibitions and programs concerning climate change, the Natural History Museum/Biodiversity Research Center has contributed research on the species of trees seen in some of the exhibited works that allows us to predict the future geographic distribution of those species under different climate change models. The Biodiversity Research Center will also be sharing new research documentation of the remarkable Bowerbirds of New Guinea. As part of their courtship behavior, bowerbirds make elaborate structures that incorporate tree elements and that are sometimes built around saplings.

Trees is organized by Stephen Goddard, Senior Curator of Prints, working in cooperation with KU's Biodiversity Research Center and the Spencer Research Library. The exhibition is made possible in part by the generous support of the Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund of the Douglas County Foundation, Arthur V. Neis and Gould Evans Associates, LC.

The last month of Trees & other Ramifications will coincide with the arrival of world-renowned sculptor Patrick Dougherty. Hosted by the Spencer Museum in cooperation with The Commons, Dougherty will be an artist-in-residence during May, when he will create a tree-branch sculpture outside The Commons @ Spooner Hall. Dougherty has gained an international reputation for his structures and has created hundreds of monumental, site-specific sculptures around the world. His work is constructed from saplings gathered from local sources and shaped into massive, swirling forms as high as 40 feet. Dougherty's residency is made possible in part by the generous support of Reed and Stacey Dillon, the KU School of Architecture and Urban Planning, the Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund of the Douglas County Community Foundation, and corporate sponsor Capitol Federal Foundation.

Trees & other Ramifications: Branches in Nature & Culture has inspired several similarly themed shows, on and off campus. The Spencer Student Advisory Board will present Technology/Nature, a juried student art exhibition opening April 2 in the Kansas Union's SUA Gallery.

As well, two installations are planned at the Natural History Museum: the NHM Student Advisory Board will present Branching Systems, also opening April 2; and a new fossil tree display, tentatively titled Paleotrees, will open March 5. Paleotrees is curated by Bruce Scherting of the Natural History Museum with KU paleobotanist Rudolph Serbet.

In addition, several community exhibitions have been planned in association with the Spencer's exhibition, including:

Back to TopCommunity Exhibitions

3.6

Happy Tree Friends (or Standing: Tree as Agent, Index, Object of Desire) - Part I

Curated by Kate Hackman for the Charlotte Street Foundation, La Esquina Gallery, 1000 West 25th Kansas City, MO
Opening reception: March 6, 6-9pm
First Friday April reception: April 3, 6-9pm; talk with curator & artists at 6pm
Hours: Thursdays + Saturdays, 12-5pm and by appointment

March 6 - April 23 www.charlottestreet.org

Press Release (785KB)

3.7

Hugh Cameron: Tree Hermit, Philosopher, and Civil War Veteran

Curated by The Watkins Community Museum of History, Lawrence,

March 7 - May 24 www.watkinsmuseum.org

3.14

Trees I Have Known

Curated by the Lawrence Corporation for the Advancement of the Visual Arts at the Lawrence Percolator,

March 14 - May 3 www.lcava.org

3.14

Trees

Curated by Sally Piller for 6 Gallery, Lawrence,

March 14 - April 17 www.6gallery.net

4.17

Happy Tree Friends - Part II

Curated by Kate Hackman for the Charlotte Street Foundation, Paragraph gallery, 23 East 12th Street Kansas City MO
Opening reception: April 17, 6-9pm
Third Friday May reception: May 15, 6-9pm
Hours: Thursdays + Saturdays, 12-5pm and by appointment

April 17 - June 4, 2009 www.charlottestreet.org

Press Release (785KB)

Schedule a Tour

Public Programs in Conjuction with the Exhibition

3.5: Reception: Spring @ the Spencer; 6:30 PM / SMA Galleries & Central Court; A celebration of the Museum’s spring exhibitions.
3.27: Town & Gown: Perspectives on Nature & Art; 10 AM-12 PM / SMA Auditorium; Focusing on the exhibitions Climate Change at the Poles and Trees & other Ramifications: Branches in Nature & Culture, KU Professors Andrew Torrance, law; Michelle Hayes, dance; Simran Sethi, journalism; and John Hoopes, anthropology, will discuss the natural environment, offering new perspectives for understanding its meaning and impact on our lives / Co-sponsored by the Hall Center for the Humanities
4.2: Opening Reception: Technology/Nature; 7 PM / SUA Gallery, Fourth Floor, Kansas Union; An SMA Student Advisory Board juried art exhibition. / In conjunction with Climate Change at the Poles and Trees & other Ramifications: Branches in Nature & Culture
4.18: It Starts With Art: Children's art appreciation classes for ages 5-14 / Tree Personalities; 10:30 AM & 1:30 PM /; See how artists make trees unique in the Trees & Other Ramifications: Branches in Nature & Culture exhibition, then depict the special ’personalities’ of trees in your own work. / $ / To enroll, contact SMA Education Department, 785.864.0137 or smakids@ku.edu, or visit the Spencer's website to enroll online.
4.23: Special Event: Spring Student Night; 6-8 PM /; Sponsored by the SMA Student Advisory Board / In conjunction with Trees & Other Ramifications: Branches in Nature & Culture and Climate Change at the Poles
5.2: Arts & Culture Festival:; 12-4 PM / SMA Galleries and Front Lawn; Co-sponsored by SMA Student Advisory Board and Student Union Activities / In conjunction with SMA spring exhibitions
In case of rain, all activities will be held either on the 4th floor of the KS Union or indoors at Spencer Museum of Art.
5.6: Music Performance: Makoto Nakura, marimba, on The Wood and Forests Project; 7 PM / Central Court; Accompanied by Matthew Herren, cello, and KU Associate Professor of Music David Fedele, flute / Born in Kobe, Japan, Makoto Nakura moved from his native Japan to New York City, becoming the first marimbist to win First Prize in the prestigious Young Concert Artists International Auditions. He has performed with orchestras such as the New York Chamber Symphony and appeared in recital at prestigious concert halls including Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall and the Kennedy Center. In conjunction with Trees & Other Ramifications: Branches in Nature & Culture.
5.21: Artists Talk: Visiting Artist Patrick Dougherty on his work; 5:30 PM / SMA Auditorium; In conjunction with Trees & Other Ramifications: Branches in Nature & Culture