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Lee Tracy |
RED TREES HISTORY ©2002 Edition of 6 A 8.5" x 12" cardboard book outlining the beginning of the Red Trees Project. 16 pages are held together with a Japanese binding using Red Trees ribbon. A swatch of Red Trees adorns the front. THE HISTORY OF RED TREES A resident of the northwestern United States bought land that had first been sold for its logging rights. In August 2000, he made this land available for the installation despite having reservations about revealing what is less disquieting when concealed. In phase I of Red Trees, fabric is laid and secured over approximately 300 tree stumps razed for consumption. The bright red fabric elicits the memory of the forest's lost grandeur by positioning each tree in the imagination. It also acts as a shroud for the deceased or a protective cloth for a wound. The red coverings signify loss as well as life blood. The tree stumps remained shrouded for one year, August 2000 through 2001. During that time, the fabric ages through exposure to the elements, especially the sun's rays. In August 2001, over 300 shrouds, altered by natural occurrences in varying degrees of decay, are returned to Chicago. Each piece of fabric is imprinted with the unique impression of an individual tree, making visible that which was invisible. In phase II of Red Trees, the shrouds are exhibited on the walls of my studio, which accommodates an abundant amount of them. Each shroud, fastened at the top, bellows in subtle currents of air that create a gently moving room. The moving room of shrouds contains records of death, yet breathes with life. Destruction and loss are poignantly transformed into beauty and hope. The vulnerability and value of all life, including human life, is elicited metaphorically. In phase III of Red Trees, the shrouds again are exposed to the elements, especially the wind. For ten days the fabric is softened by the breeze while hanging on a public structure several stories high. A fully functioning metal water tower stand outside my studio door is used as the installation structure. Itself an icon, as most others have been dismantled, it lends new meaning and purpose to that which is thought to be exhausted. In the fall of 2003, phase IV of Red Trees, the shrouds are exposed to the element of water. A pristine lake in Maine provides a scenic and serene environment to cleanse the fabric and honor historic rituals of purification with water. The shrouds were laid over the warm rocks to dry in the morning sun. Again, we are reminded of that which is wounded and of that which can be startling in our natural landscapes. In phase V of Red Trees, in the spring 2004, shrouds that are weakened and torn are offered to the element of the ethereal. The pieces of Red Trees are placed in a public garden, in a grove of bamboo, so to dissipate over time. With each thread unraveling in the breeze it returns to that which it came. With it carries the thought, the hope and the prayer, that the passerby, the viewer, is touched to become more aware of protecting our living environment and their own unique power to bring forth change. | PAINTING 1991-1995 1996-2000 2001-2005 2006-2010 2011-2014 MINI-SERIES 1990 Peppers, Seeds, and Rotting Vegetables 1996 What I painted when I could not paint 2005 For the Birds 2007 Butterflies are free 2011 The Year The Permafrost Softened WORKS ON PAPER 1988-1989 Chairs 1989-1990 Umbrellas 1991-1998 1997 The Chase 1998 Dismantled Sketchbooks 1999 Ragdale Series 2000-2004 Collage Art 2002 Charcoal 2000-2004 Figure Drawing 2000-2005 Project Art 2000 Spinning Plates 2002 Fan Collages 2001 Screaming In Places Where I Can't Be heard 2004 Wonderscapes 2005-2006 The Story of the Universe 2008 Buddha Was Here 2009 Life On Hold (NFS) 2010-2016 The Demandments (NFS) MIXED MEDIUM 1995-1998 Sectioned panels 1997-1998 White Paintings and Furry Work 1998 Red Dot Series 2001-2009 Wax, Wire, Gold, Globe, and Glass 2001 How Things Pile Up 2002 Retablos, oil on metal OBJECT ART 2002-present Project Items Historic-present Fane Items 1550-1560 Ancestral Figure Drawings INSTALLATION 2002-2016 Paradise 2006 Negative to Positive 2007-present Four walls* 2008 Found 2010-present Teacups for Reading Tea Leaves 2011-present Waterworks* 2000-present My Crates PERFORMATIVE 2004 White Sands 2006 Blue Clouds LIBRARY OF BOOKS 2000-present Painting Inventory Book of Days Whitewash The Ragdale Book Brain Book Ransom Magazine Box of Tears Pocket Full of Cries Europe Mongolia Flower Book Retablos: How I Got From Here to Here The Fane Pamphlet Scroll of Influence The Story of Red Trees Red Trees History Red Trees Chronicle Red Trees Prayerbook Red Trees Kakemono Book of Leaves Elemental Communion Found: Journals from the future Symbol Book Books of Sense Organ Origin The Wedding Program The Wedding Book I Must Go Ladder Book* Book of Stairs* The Studio Visit Playbill* Flower Book 2* ...continued STUDIO PRACTICE Studio 1: Dayton and Blackhawk Studio 2: Hubbard and House Project scouting and on location Works in progress Exhibits, happenings, homes Studio clippings and announcements Artist WORLD RIVERS PROJECT overview World Rivers: Curtain World Rivers: Participants World Rivers: Rivers World Rivers: Cloth Visit the River Log TEXT ARCHIVE Artwork Installation Books * documentation is forthcoming This archive is a creative history spanning two decades. The documentation is comprised of many technological formats ranging from slides, 4x5s, photographs, and straddles the introduction of digital formatting of the time. The goal was to preserve images, whether high or low resolution. |
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Lee Tracy |
