Nature Unframed New exhibit to open at Morton Arboretum

If gorgeous landscapes could sculpt, weave, or paint, imagine what beauty they'd create.

A new art exhibition will reveal how trees at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle inspired artists to develop a diverse and surprising set of creations.

“Nature Unframed: Art at the Arboretum” will open May 19 with 11 striking and sometimes towering works of art. Renowned artists from around the world designed their pieces specifically based on how they “read” the unique landscape “galleries” where the works will be displayed.

The art will complement the beauty at the arboretum at 4100 Route 53, which features the largest collection of flowering, ornamental trees in the Midwest.

“The works will also highlight trees' beauty, vulnerability and intrinsic value,” said Anamari Dorgan, arboretum head of visitor experience. But the pieces also will allow visitors to explore their own emotional connection to trees and derive their own meanings from the art.

Philippa Lawrence says she is “revealing through concealing” in creating “Bound, V-57,” referring to the tree she will wrap at the V-57 grid location on the arboretum map. The internationally recognized artist will use bright yellow cotton fabric in forming bandages to bind an entire dead tree — trunk and limbs.

She says her work will draw attention to the tree as a sculptural form, increasing the viewer's ability to appreciate it. Lawrence also says the creation reflects her own concern about the erosion of natural habitats that support trees and other forms of life.

Juan Angel Chavez, who has won the prestigious Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, the Richard Driehaus Individual Artist Award, and the Tree Arts Chicago honor, will present “Jimshoe.”

The well-known Chicago artist says his art form “is a comment and an observation of nature as it overcomes modernity” using ingenuity to survive. His piece will feature a series of abstract forms surrounding a tree trunk and branches.

Artist Letha Wilson's unnamed creation will feature a 20-foot-tall “canvas” with tree branches protruding to create what seems like a living, 3-D painting.

“My work creates relationships between architecture and nature, and the gallery space and the American wilderness,” Wilson said.

The highly innovative, “Lichen It!” will feature yarn in multiple colors crocheted into small pieces that are in turn crocheted into larger pieces that encase a tree trunk like a sleeve.

The crocheted pieces represent lichens: fungi and algae that live closely together and help each other survive. The work, pronounced: “liken it,” is “an analogy for people's symbiotic relationship with trees and nature,” artist Carol Hummel said.

A series of 4-by 8-foot mirrored letters spelling out “You Are Beautiful” will offer multiple intriguing opportunities for interpretation. Do they aim to highlight the arboretum's natural beauty, the viewers' own beauty, or should one interpret the words in another way?

An anonymous collective created this work, which is similar to a large You Are Beautiful sculpture that appeared previously on State Street near Macy's department store.

Glen Ellyn native Larry King says, “saving our endangered trees should be the highest priority for everyone.”

To drive home his point, the artist created “Celebranch” out of bamboo, which he says is environmentally sustainable and renewable. The graceful, brown-and-tan striped branch will shoot more than 25 feet into the air; its wispy offshoots able to bend in the wind.

Five other works round out the exhibition; all will be situated a short walk from the arboretum's Visitor Center. The exhibition will run through Nov. 27 and is free with arboretum admission.

The project is sponsored by Sara Lee Foundation and the Lisle Convention and Visitors Bureau.

For details, visit www. mortonarb.org.

If you go

<b>What: </b>“Nature Unframed: Art at the Arboretum” features 11 outdoor art pieces

<b>When:</b> Exhibit opens May 19 and runs through Nov. 27

<b>Where: </b>Morton Arboretum, 4100 Route 53, Lisle

<b>Cost: </b>Free with arboretum admission

<b>Info: </b>mortonarb.org