REVIEW: THE TREE PROJECT With different eyes and different feelings we will convey our curiosity, awe and respect for the tree. -From The Tree Project artists' statement This exhibition is well worth the drive to Whitby. It's impossible to do this show justice in 600 words, but I hope to entice you to see it for yourselves. If you would like to see thoughtful, thought provoking artwork created with integrity and passion, you'll be in the right place. In her statement, Carol Kapuscinsky promises (and delivers) to "create moods of serenity, revealing transition between the visual and spiritual". The translucency of her oil glazes make the passage of light an important element in her work, alluding to the concept of transcendence. Because the tree forms are simplified, without foliage, without tiny twigs, the branches fraction the expanse of sky, framing new shapes and making the viewer aware of "looking through", simultaneously seeing new shapes. Even in the paintings with very blue skies there is no evidence of sun, no significant shadows, no reflections in water. This allows for the rich colour saturation of an overcast day and creates the quiet, reflective, mood and mystery that are integral to such days. Kapuscinsky keeps you from floating away and getting lost by painting trees that are substantial, grounding. She hasn't missed a step or an opportunity to create the environment in her paintings that she promises in her statement. Before leaving her work, be sure to step back so that you can see several pieces at once, a small forest, what an impact! In her relief prints, Judith Welbourn explores tree metaphor and symbolism, mantras, rituals, oracles, ancient societies, ancient history of language, the five elements embodied in the Tree of Life...a rich brew. Now you might be tempted to think that this will be a dry, science/history lesson, not at all. With Tree Alphabet I - VI, Welbourn creates lovely multi layered prints mounted in shadow boxes which allow her "leaves" to float, cast shadows, be alive. They are simultaneously leaves (pages) of books and leaves of trees. Printed on Japanese Tamura Gampi paper, each translucent layer of image and colour has a specific and intentioned exploration. Nothing is "by accident". As she invited the viewer into the mystery and beauty of her inquiry, one cannot help but enter into a visual conversation with the work, to come to the threshold of a deeper understanding of and curiosity about the nature of the world, humanity and of language. Be sure to stop often and back track while moving along these works, there's always something new to discover. You leave pondering and appreciating the door she has left ajar for you. MeeAe Song is interested in how personality traits are revealed through drawings and how these drawings create a window to better understanding the friends she invited to draw trees for her. Her works explore the results of her observations of the collected drawings and of her reflections on her relationship to the contributors. One of her pieces is comprised of four individual drawings of cross sections of tree trunks. At first glance, four drawings of growth rings....at closer examination, they are as individual as fingerprints and the friends that inspired them. The darker, denser areas in each tree cross section is evidence of times of stress and siege. Nothing is left to chance, even the background colours and textures carry information. The four friends came to the opening and without prompting, each seemed to know instinctively, which drawing was "their's". In the piece A Scar Doesn't Have to Be Obvious, also a cross section of a tree trunk, we can see old scars that have been incorporated into the fibre of the tree, have become part of it's core, without being revealed at the surface, the bark, the skin. Her works invite the viewer to a deeper understanding of life, and an examination of our position within and responsibility toward nature (including human nature). Her titles are important and helpful to the understanding of her work. Be sure to look at a piece, then read the title, then step back and look again. Review from surface and symbol Vol 15, No. 8, October, 2003 By Clarissa M. Lewis