Harvest the Wind - Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden · I wanted to enliven the fragment of a destroyed tree with images of g\൲owth and regeneration. I also wanted to retain as
Hurricane Andrew struck south Florida on August 24, 1992 during the night. It was the worst disaster in south Florida’s history and remains so even today. 140mph winds and torrential rain destroyed 90% of the garden’s tree cover with the hardwood tropical tree Arboretum among the worst hit. As seen in the picture below, not many trees were left standing in the Arboretum. Palms were felled too but eventually many of them were uprighted and survived due to the unique and numerous root system of palms. The Garden was closed for 6 weeks during the extensive cleanup operation. Scientists came from around the USA and the world to take advantage of the rare opportunity to investigate the vascular and root systems of hardwood species that had never been available for scientific study on the North American continent.
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Pandanus Lake with Lowlands parking field to the left are shown here. The area of mangled trees, the Arboretum, is to the right of Pandanus Lake. Nearly every tree was destroyed or was toppled.
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“It all began with a walk, a few days after Hurricane Andrew. Everywhere we looked – tragedy. Hundreds of rare tropical hardwoods, completely ravaged. But then there was a magic moment, a real epiphany: If we couldn’t save what had already been destroyed, we could at least keep these trees alive through art.” Statement from William Klein, Director, Fairchild Tropical Garden “Some of these trees had never been cut into on the North American continent,” Klein recalls. “When we saw the ‘soul’ of the wood, the reds and greens and swirling striations, we were dumbstruck by the beauty.”
Harvest the Wind • Fairchild Art Exhibit
– Sponsored by City National Bank • Leonard & Jane Abess, Garden benefactors
• 20 local artists – Selected from 80+ submissions
• Given honorarium by City National • Choice of tropical hardwood planks
– From fallen trees in Arboretum – Milled with WoodMizer sawmill
• Mandate: Take a year to create beauty out of devastation – Harvest for us this ill, dark wind
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An open call to artists of all disciplines was issued throughout Dade County, inviting them to bring new life to the fallen trees. More than 80 submissions were judged by Laura Cerwinske, art writer; Richard Duncan, Professor of Fine Arts, Florida International University; Helen L. Kohen, Art Critic, The Miami Herald; Mark Ormond, Director, Center for the Fine Arts; and Helene Pancoast, artist. The 20 selected artists each received an honorarium from City National and only one mandate: Select a log, a plank, the leavings of the storm. Take a year to create beauty out of devastation. Harvest for us all this ill, dark wind.
Harvest the Wind
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October 1992 – full day auction of planks cut from fallen tropical hardwood trees; raised $32,000 to help fund clean-up operations Garden issued an open call to artists throughout the Miami-Dade area to submit proposals on what they would create if given an honorarium and selected hardwood from Fairchild’s fallen trees. 80 artists responded; 20 were selected, given an honorarium from City National Bank and were given a year to create their works. The works were exhibited at the Center for Fine Arts. 9 pieces were displayed in the Garden House glass cabinets until 2012 In the abpve picture, the 20 selected artists were choosing the tropical hardwood planks for their sculpture creation
Stephen Althouse • LYSILOMA LATISILIQUUM • Wild Tamarind
– Lysiloma latisiliquum
• White Pine & Paint – Pinus strobus
• 58”h x 27”w x 18”d • Braille inscription
– Pulvis et umbra sum • I am dust and shadow
– Vanitas, vanitatum, onia vanitas
• Vanity of vanities, all is vanity
M. Kate Borcherding AFTER ANDREW, PALM SCENES No. 9
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After Andrew, Palm Scenes No. 9 Wood block prints, ink on Okawara paper “After moving to Florida, I became fascinated by palm trees, but I could never get close enough to study a palm unless it was very young. Andrew gave me the opportunity to make drawings and studies of trees up close. The first prints in the series were representational. As they developed, they became more abstract and emotionally evocative as I expressed my response to the situation around me.”
Les Cizek • A BRIEF HISTORY • Australian Pine
– Casuarina equisetifolia • Mahogany
– Swietenia mahogani • Brass • Quartz clock movement • 4’h x 2’w x 14”d • “the 24-hour clock – a
metaphor for the slow passage of time before the storm hit”
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“My imagination was as badly damaged by Andrew as our house and trees. For months after the storm, I felt creatively and spiritually numb. ‘Harvest the Wind’ brought me back. I used the 24-hour clock as a metaphor for the slow passage of time before the stom hit, the excruciating hours as it destroyed us, and the cruel waste of days while we recovered. The pedestal mimics the shape of the tornados that bedeviled us, and the concentric circles of the clock suggest the hurricane’s movement. Days of handiwork put my mind at rest. Although many still suffer the consequences of the storm, I am healing”
Eliose Cook
• OPEN HEART • West African Mahogany
– Khaya senegalensis
• Woman’s Tongue – Albizia lebbek
• Graphics • Found objects • 58”h x 20”w x 1’d
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“When it grew light enough to see, we stared outside. My son gasped, ‘The climb tree is gone!’ As we stared at the trees roots protruding upwards toward the sky, a crash of memories struck my heart: swings, bird feeders, forts and children’s laughter. That was the beginning.”
Maggie Davis
• HURACAN DANCER • Hand colored relief print • Japanese paper • 6’h x 2’w • “Language of Hurricanes”
– Eye – Path – Circulation – Tracking
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“The relief monoprint pulls together influences from meteorology and Aboriginal cultures. The language of hurricanes - eye, path, circulation, tracking – blends with the language of ritual art (Celtic, African, Australian) to create images that suggest a ritual appreciation for the power of nature manifested in the ‘big wind’”
Dan Dawes
• RESURGENCE • West African Mahogany
– Khaya senegalensis
• Oil paint • 5’h x 2’w • “I wanted to enliven the
fragment of a destroyed tree with the image of growth and regeneration”
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“I was interested in the synthesis of wood and painting. I wanted to enliven the fragment of a destroyed tree with images of growth and regeneration. I also wanted to retain as much of the character of the original piece of wood as possible. The images of vines reaching into the sky symbolize the regeneration process of life. This field of images moves in and out of the field of wood. The old and the new become one.”
Reva Freedman
• SNAKE CHARMER • Lancewood
– Nectandra coriacea
• Palm parts • Fiber • Found objects • 4’h x 3’w
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“I was happy to be accepted for ‘Harvest the Wind’ because, since I am not a sculptor, I hoped the project would lead me to develop in a new way. It has done that. In the beginning the piece was difficult to assemble, but I learned to score the wood, adhere pieces to it, and design it with my usual painting space. I’ve now branched into more of these pieces and have bought tools for wood cutting. A wonderful learning experience.”
Beau Gillespie
• BENCH • Jamaica Dogwood
– Piscidia piscipula
• Royal Palm – Roystonea regia
• West Indian Mahogany – Swietenia mahogani
• 3’h x 5’w x 2’d
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“Lessons to be learned, so a bench to school with. An immodest student may prop one leg up to one side. My questions, humiliating and melancholy, were of missed opportunities, sights and elements vanquished in a day, my own perpetuated waste, and how to retrieve and atone for any part.”
Casimer T. Grabowski • MEDIEVAL POISON CUP • Logwood
– Haematoxylon campechianum • Silver; Amethyst • 8”h x 3”w • “This tropical wood has been
a source of the prized dye … for centuries. The freely soluble brownish dye was mordanted with ammonium alum, which converted the wood to a rich purple.”
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“The cup is patterned after a museum piece. Amethyst has long been considered to have magical properties, including the ability to neutralize poisons. A ring of seven amethyst stones mounted in silver is inside the cup, which is made from a log of Haematoxylon campechianum.This tropical wood has been a source of the prized dye, Haematoxylon, for centuries. The freely soluble brownish dye was mordanted with ammonium alum, which converted the wood to a rich purple.” “Mordanted” means “rubbed”
James Herring • UNTITLED • West Indian Mahogany
– Swietenia mahogani • 25”h x 14”w • Here I step outside my
usual medium of clay. I tried to maintain a similar respect for the material, by letting the process speak. As for the image, … I asked a question and this was the response.”
Jewell
• WIND • Podo
– Podocarpus sp.
• Silk Oak – Grevillea robusta
• Natural materials • 4 ½ ‘h x 4’w
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“Weaving naturally dyed plant life around water and earth to create the motion of wind renewed the strength of greater forces and empowered me as I worked with these various ‘finds’ left in the wake of the tempest.”
William Noel Koch
• WIND-BLOWN • West African Mahogany
– Khaya senegalensis
• Haitian Yokewood – Catalpa longissima
• Laurel Negro – Cordia allidora
• 34”h x 34”w x 18”d
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“I began this piece with an idea in mind, but when I saw the grain and color of the wood, the idea changed. This grain had to be fully seen and appreciated. The toughest part was making the first cut. This wood (and we) had been through a lot to arrive at that moment, and my subsequent woodworking needed to be worthy of that sacrifice. It was a holy moment.”
Barry Massin
• LITTLE THRONE • Black Palm
– Normanbya normanbyi
• 17”h x 10”d • Why a throne? The
hurricane was overwhelming. I needed to sit down.”
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“My approach is as a primitive: If a primitive had access to contempoirary tools and machinery, perhaps he would have created something like this.”
Rhonda Maria Morton (Untitled)
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Timbo (Enterlobium contortisiliquum) 9’h x 2 ½ ‘w “My piece attempts to alter the wood without robbing it of its essence or history.”
Nancy Richter (OPPOSITION)
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Zombia Palm (Zombia antillarum); fabric; 24” h x 70” w x 24” d “The outside of the trunk of the Zombia Palm is like a woven spiral of extremely sharp and remarkably strong needles. It can be brutally difficult to handle. The synthetic fabric looks delicate and is transparent. The two were equal opponents – the fabric did not break the needles, and the needles did not easily pierce the fabric. Beyond the associations its appearance and obvious method of construction may provoke, it can be seen as a metaphor for other oppositions: nature/humanity, strength/delicacy, brittleness/flexibility, etc.”
Karen A. Rifas
• UNTITLED • West African Mahogany
– Khaya senegalensis
• Brazil Beauty Leaf – Calophyllum calaba
• Handmade paper • 75”h x 52”w x 12”d
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“I was drawn to this wood by the beauty of its grain and bark, as well as the wonderful gesture, gentle curve and stance which it suggested. My challenge was to keep the integrity of the wood intact. I wanted to preserve the marks of its journey from Fairchild Tropical Garden through Hurricane Andrew and the milling process, to my addition of its evolution.”
Neil Smith
• STORM SURGE • Wild Tamarind
– Lysiloma latisiliquum
• Cuban Belly Palm – spines
• 9”d x 8”h
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While examining the pieces of wood offered to the participants, I kept coming back to one piece with the exposed stub of a decaying branch. Its shapes and swirls reminded me of the satellite photos of Andrew – but how could I relate it to the rest of the object? The solution was to utilize the natural contours of the wood to create the surge, and the texture of the cambium layer, below the bark, to suggest land mass. The vertical palm spines join the two hemispheres and emphasize fragility.”
Frank Verrili
• SUN TOTEM #4 – Study for 18-foot Totem
• Indian Elm – Tectona grandis
• Teak base – With carving waste
• 6’h x 7”w x 4”d
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“The sculpture was conceived with the intention of some day realizing it at three times its scale. It is important for sculpture to have life in it. The subtle emanations of an organic material, working with hand tools, polishing certain areas and allowing tool marks to show in others contribute to the aliveness and spontaneity of the work. I wanted to charge this piece with an ascending motion while conveying a sense of striving to a higher level.”
Stacy West • BURGEONING • Texas Ebony
– Pithecellobium flexicaule
• Silver • 18”h x 12”w • “Symbolic of regrowth,
… human hands work to bring order from chaos while nature replenishes her beauty.”
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“Symbolic of regrowth, this sculptural piece celebrates the strength of the life force and the human spirit. As the struggle to rebuild South Florida progresses, human hands work to bring order from chaos while nature replenishes her beauty.”
Brenda Whittaker-Ramsey • A-FRAME • West African Mahogany
– Khaya senegalensis • Concrete • 6’h x 3’w • Consisting of both natural and
industrial materials which need each other to stand, the piece asks that we nurture a cooperation between these forces – perhaps an essential step toward complete recovery.”
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“Andrew served many of us as a catalyst for spiritual awakening. I have chose to represent this ascension through the sculpture, A-Frame. Consisting of both natural and industrial materials which need each other to stand, the piece asks that we nurture a cooperation between these forces – perhaps an essential step toward complete recovery.”
