In my time I have seen many shifts in the manmade and natural environment in the local surrounding area. Encroachment of the built world, the displacement and resiliency of the natural world, and the innate human desire to commune with nature are in constant dialog.

Prompt:
With “staying home” and social distancing, many of us are spending more time outside and in the forest. How do you look at trees through the lens of COVID19?

Judith Hoyt, a teaching artist at The D.R.A.W. studio, describes the narrative in her work as depicting the conflict of people vs nature, with an eye to how each navigates this unfolding history together.

I am from many generations of people living in the Catskill Mountains. I have lived in the Hudson Valley for 40 years. I create images incorporating reclaimed materials manufactured from natural resources from another time. Akin to traditional folk art, my work is influenced by my immediate surroundings. It tells the story of a particular geographical location through its refuse.

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Learn More About Judith and Her Inspiration:

Judith Hoyt has been making art from found metal and paper collage for over thirty years. Judith’s process is a dialectic one, between her and the materials she collects. This material is discolored, corroded and misshapen by the random process of history and intuitively arranged to take shape as a composition. It has been said about Judith’s work that it, “...looks as though in the melding of collage elements, the alchemy of art transmuted the individual parts into a new whole.”

judithhoyt.net

Instagram @judithhoyt77

More Artistic Inspiration:

Tree Paintings by Paul Klee

Tree Sculpture by New York Artist Roxy Paine

Literary Inspiration:

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries From a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben

“In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware. Much like human families, tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, and support them as they grow, sharing nutrients with those who are sick or struggling and creating an ecosystem that mitigates the impact of extremes of heat and cold for the whole group. As a result of such interactions, trees in a family or community are protected and can live to be very old. In contrast, solitary trees, like street kids, have a tough time of it and in most cases die much earlier than those in a group.

Drawing on groundbreaking new discoveries, Wohlleben presents the science behind the secret and previously unknown life of trees and their communication abilities; he describes how these discoveries have informed his own practices in the forest around him. As he says, a happy forest is a healthy forest, and he believes that eco-friendly practices not only are economically sustainable but also benefit the health of our planet and the mental and physical health of all who live on Earth.” - Excerpt from GoodReads post

A Brief Interview With Author Peter Wohlleben About His Book “The Hidden Life of Trees”

Why Trees Are the Most Reliable Historians of Early America