Unbroken Arbor Vitae
(Unbroken Tree of Life)
The Tree of Life is an ancient but eternal symbol of our universal connection to the earth and to each other, and understanding this connection has become ever more urgent in the face of Climate Crisis.
Times4 is four Portland Artists, Anne Greenwood, Diane Jacobs, Shu-Ju Wang and myself (Rachel Siegel), who collaboratively designed and created Unbroken Arbor Vitae for the Suho Memorial Paper Museum. This site-specific installation focuses on reverence and regeneration of our forests. Using native woodlands of the Pacific Northwest as our guide, we transformed the 2nd floor of the Paper Museum into a place for viewers to experience a forest through sculptural paper trees, photographic scrolls, poetry, an artists’ book, a video focusing on renewal and the natural elements, and writings & drawings by community members about their experiences of the forest.
This site specific installation was created for he Paper Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, and was on view from October 6, 2014 through January 3, 2015. Unbroken Arbor Vitae was reconfigured for a second run in Oregon as the featured installation in Chasing Paper, at the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts, on June 24, 25 and 26, 2016.
Social Engagement:
At workshops held in Portland, Oregon prior to the installation, students and community members considered their native forests, their personal connections to the natural world, their part in preserving the woodlands – sharing ideas, drawings and writing.
The workshop took place at Roesway Heights Middle School and the Lan Su Chinese Garden. Artwork created by the Portland participants hung as part of Unbroken Arbor Vitae in Taipei.
Suho Memorial Paper Museum visitors in Taipei shared their thoughts and ideas through writing and drawings, which also become a part of Unbroken Arbor Vitae and was hung in Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Many thanks for support on this project:
Frances Bai – installation support
Claire Carpenter – custom book box
Eric and Ruby Cheng – hosts, extreme hospitality
Ming Hsu – additional documentation
Melinda Kowalska – installation, hydration and documentation
Mauricio Rioseco – studio, logistics and wood in Portland
En-Hsin Wang & Frances Bai, Shu-Ju’s Family – generosity and logistics
Shu-mei Wang – translations
Mrs. Wei – installation support
Daniel, Vic and the Suho Memorial Paper Museum staff
Mr. Gentile and the 7th graders at Roseway Heights, Spring 2014
Lan Su Chinese Garden, their staff and workshop participants, September 6, 2014
Alison Hawthorne Deming - for use of her poem, "The Web"
Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts staff and volunteers
Sandra Kennedy, Marilyn Davis and Susan Bitzer – liaisons for “Chasing Paper,” 2016
Many other generous supporters
And our families
Funded in part by:
RACC and Suho Memorial Paper Museum
Photos and video documentation:
Anne Greenwood, Ming Hsu, Diane Jacobs, Melinda Kowalska, Rachel Siegel and Shu-Ju Wang.