EDITORS: Photo available on request.

ANN ARBOR—An Eastern cottonwood in the University of Michigan’s Nichols Arboretum caught the attention and artistry of Gerry Moll, a master of fine arts degree candidate in ceramic sculpture at U-M. Attracted by the deep crevices in its bark and the grand stature of the tree, Moll set about to venerate it through a collaborative site-specific project.

“My work is guided by an exploration into opportunities in connecting as individuals and in community with the natural wild systems where we live,” Moll says. “I seek out place specific relationships, internal and external to celebrate our cyclical, rhythmical orientations.”

Moll constructing the sculptureMoll took 6-by-8 inch slabs of clay to the tree, pressed them against the cottonwood to get several impressions of the bark patterns, and then made plaster casts of the patterns. He used these casts as “press molds” for texturing slabs of clay, which were assembled to create the finished form for his “Tree Veneration Project.”

The ceramic form was created in pieces from clay specifically mixed for outdoor sculpture. At about eight feet tall, the piece weighs close to 400 pounds. After painting the form with his formula of glazes, Moll moved the pieces into the kiln where the temperature was brought to 1,940 degrees before beginning a cooling period. The firing process took about 48 hours.

The sculpture will be installed in the Arboretum in time for Arbfest 2001 and the blooming of the nearby Peony collection May 31-June 10. An opening reception will be held at the Washington Heights entrance to the Arboretum May 31 at 7:30 p.m. during which Moll will present a lecture followed by a walk with the artist to the sculpture and the Eastern Cottonwood being venerated. The reception and lecture is free and open to the public.

[Map of arboretum]

The Tree Veneration Project is the result of collaboration between the Nichols Arboretum, the University and the artist and has progressed with the support of the Scholarship and Citizenship seminar, an interdisciplinary program offered by U-M’s Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies.

“It is my belief,” Moll says, “that the creative cooperative process of collaboration brings forth a powerful and abundant harvest on which to feast our hungry bodies, minds, and spirits.”

Nichols ArboretumPeony collectionMap of arboretumHorace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies