Reflection

Reflection

I come from a long-line of lumberjacks, up in west Michigan my Grandfather and Dad owned and collected hardwoods; cutting down trees was always supposed to be a normal for me. It was hard watching these beautiful organisms crumble to a stump, and it never settled right with me the way they were always left rooted in the ground. This left me inspired to create a piece that truly shows the emotions I feel the trees endure when being left to die. It was a hard pill to swallow, but I know getting the chance to possibly spread awareness about such a heavy topic may bring some ease. Trees play a huge role in climate change, as the continuous decrease in greens impact the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Deforestation causes more than 10% of Earth's global warming, and loss of forests is the effects of releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. What some lumberjack companies have begun to do in response to these statistics, is the take a tree plant a tree process. For every tree that is chopped down for purposes, they will make it a point to plant a new one elsewhere. While this may not solve all of our deforestation problems, it will most definitely slow the process of climate change and global warming. With the use of air-drying clay, I formed a realistic stump formation. I then began to sculpt out a screaming face with the look of distress. My end result was for it to be an old but thriving forest tree with its life cut short. It is in agony with dried blood on it's ever-story telling rings. I hope my clay sculpture inspires others to spread concern and empathy for the ongoing tree genocide resulting in our atmosphere's evolution to resolution.