ROT: The Afterlife of Trees | 2015-2016
Location: H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest and The Arts Center
Spring Creek Project hosts the Long-Term Ecological Reflections residency program at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest. When writers and artists arrive, we invite them to visit a few “Reflection Plots” as they begin to familiarize themselves with the forest and the research. One of the most popular Reflection Plots is the Log Decomposition site, where Mark Harmon, Richardson Chair and Professor in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University, has been studying decaying trees for decades.
In 2015, Harmon received a prestigious Opportunities for Promoting Understanding through Synthesis (OPUS) grant from the National Science Foundation. The OPUS program is targeted to individuals, typically at later-career stages, who have contributed significant insights to a field or body of research over time. The grant gave Harmon the opportunity to revisit and synthesize his lifetime of research into a unique, integrated product useful to the scientific community. As Harmon worked on the synthesis of his scientific research, he also had a vision for creating an artistic synthesis of work.
In collaboration with Spring Creek Project, Harmon developed the idea for “ROT: The Afterlife of Trees” — an invitation to artists, writers and musicians to engage with and respond to his research by touring the Log Decomposition site multiple times throughout 2015. The visitors learned about the dynamics of trees, forests and decomposition and spent time exploring and gathering inspiration. They ultimately created a large body of works across genres and mediums, offering new ways of seeing the ecosystems that long-term researchers study.
The Arts Center, in Corvallis, Oregon, hosted the exhibition “ROT: The Afterlife of Trees” (Jan. 14 to Feb. 25, 2016). The exhibition then moved to the World Forestry Center in Portland, Oregon (Mar. 11 to May 1, 2016).
A Catalog of the Work
Writing and work from the exhibition was featured in the “ROT: The Afterlife of Trees” catalog.
The catalog features:
Essays
- Mark Harmon
- Leah Wilson
- Charles Goodrich
Poetry
- Alison Hawthorn Deming
- Vicki Graham
- Joan Maloof
- Jerry Martien
- Robert Michael Pyle
Art
- Joey Azul, Decomposing (ART), collage, mixed media
- David Paul Bayles, Decompose, photography (3 pieces)
- Julia Bradshaw, Experiments and Research, photography
- Michael Brophy, Driftwood 9, oil on canvas, courtesy Laura Russo Gallery
- Kathleen Caprario, DecComp Study 1 and 2, watercolor
- Carol Chapel, Carabidae, etching
- Karen Clark, Log Rot Landscape, acrylic, mixed media
- Jeanne Drevas, Moon Map, bark, mixed media
- Sally Finch, Site 1–4, watercolor
- Deborah Springstead Ford, Reality of Its’ Presence and Riveting Itself to the Presumed photography
- Andries Fourie, Andrew’s Web, sculpture
- Sara Anne Graham, Elemental Patterns of the Life Cycle of a Tree, mixed media
- Jane Anne Herbst, Pitcher and Cups, ceramic
- Lee Imonen, Picket Fence, sculpture
- Bob Keefer, Tree 2015.55 and Tree 2015.55 6, hand colored bl/wh photography
- Kristin Kuhns, After the Fall, sculpture
- Gabriel Liston, Fresh Corpse, oil on panel
- Bill Marshal, The Way In, acrylic on canvas
- Kathee Moore, Changing of the Guard and Circles of Life, photography
- Jeri Oswalt, Moss Box 2, fiber, mixed media
- Breanne Sherwood, I Owe a Great Deal to Prevailing Western Winds, fiber, installation
- Sara Swanberg, Fast Water in the Owyhee River Canyon and Icelandic Landscape, wood, ceramic
- Leah Wilson, Sustaining More Life in its Death, mixed media
- Kaitlyn Wittig Mengüç, WAKE, performance
Learn More About “ROT: The Afterlife of Trees”
Watch “WAKE,” a performance by Kaitlyn Witting Mengüç for the "ROT: The Afterlife of Trees" exhibition at The Arts Center, Corvallis, Oregon, Jan.–Feb. 2016.
Watch a short field recording of Mark Harmon giving a tour of the Log Decomposition site on a rainy March day.
Top image: Fresh Corpse, Old Growth Douglas Fir. Oil on panel. 8 x 10”. Photograph by Jim Lommasson. Courtesy of the artist, Gabriel Liston, and Froelick Gallery, Portland, Oregon.