Apple of my eye

July 2019 / Out of the Woods, Bleddfa Arts Centre, Powys, Wales
Douglas fir, birch plywood, stainless steel mirror, birch log, 100 x 30 x 95 cms 

Birch is a pioneer species, ‘able to sustain harsh conditions with casual indifference’. It is not highly prized as timber in the UK. This birch tree was grown and felled for firewood, possibly the lowest value end use for a tree. I wanted ‘rescue’ it and present it as an object worthy of reverence and wonder. I intend this on every level from sheer pleasure in the beauty of its bark, to the scientific imperative of carbon capture, which is embodied in both living trees and intact felled timber.

Apple of my eye spent three months outside in the orchard. By November, the mirrored surface was mottled with windfalls and snail trails; a whole new artwork.