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For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Barb DeGroot, 952-443-1459
‘Knot' to be Missed: April at the Arboretum
Arboretum ‘Branches Out' With Bonsai & Wood-Turning Exhibits
Chanhassen, Minn. (March 10, 2009) - Don't expect runways, sultry models and haughty designers at the April 10 opening of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum's "Spring Trunk Show." However, you will see works of exquisite beauty - more enduring than this season's hemlines.
The "Spring Trunk Show," subtitled "The Art of the Tree," will feature 18 large-scale wood turnings created by Edina artisan Virgil Leih. "Large-scale" is an apt descriptor when referring to Leih's medium. He rescues and re-creates whole tree trunks - discards from the "urban forest" that are otherwise destined for landfill wood chippers and power company burners.
Even after he trims and carves away up to 95 percent of the original tree mass - sometimes as weighty as a ton - Leih's artworks are monumental, some reaching 7 feet high; others 3 feet in diameter. The works are created by turning an entire trunk of a tree, revealing a grain rarely seen by most people.
"Dimensional lumber, used in furniture, is sawn parallel to the trunk, showing side grain only," says Leih. "Turning the entire log shows the end grain inside to outside, revealing the tree's history."
The "Spring Trunk Show" - Leih's first public exhibit - will include works in Minnesota ash, elm, walnut, box elder, cottonwood and maple. To create these massive masterpieces, Leih uses heavy-equipment tools, including his pride and joy - a 7,500-pound circa-1917 lathe for turning. To address issues of cracking and splitting (common is such large carvings), he lubricates the wood and finishes it with shellac. He also uses a super-size microwave to dry the wood, thus greatly reducing spoilage.
It's all a labor of love for Leih. "As I begin to peel away the decades of growth, the inner beauty begins to reveal itself. The heartwood's texture and color is very different than the lighter new growth located near the bark. A sphere or dome piece will show the full life of the tree, with its hidden beauty wonderfully preserved. At the very center of the heartwood are the earliest years of its life, with each ring adding to its history, size, unique color and beauty. What beautiful contrast the rings produce, moving from dark to light, the old growth to new," says Leih, 63, whose earlier careers included the ministry and executive recruitment. He has been a woodworking enthusiast all his life, having grown up in a family of woodworkers. At age 4, he was cleaning up worksites; by 8, he was running power tools. It was a childhood visit to the grand lodge in Yellowstone National Park that introduced him to the "scale, beauty and majesty" of log construction. "I was totally smitten," he recalls.
"Every object of art I produce is already hidden inside the tree trunk waiting to be revealed and enjoyed," Leih says.
"The Spring Trunk Show" will be on display in the Great Hall of the Oswald Visitor Center from April 10 through May 3. Leih will be on hand to discuss his artwork with visitors on Sundays, April 19, 26 and May 3, from 1 to 3 p.m. The exhibit is free with Arboretum gate admission.
Kevin Oshima Bonsai Retrospective
Creating an interesting counterpoint to Leih's tremendous timbers will be the fascinating, diminutive bonsai (dwarf tree) display by Kevin Oshima, also running April 10 through May 3 in the Great Hall of the Arboretum visitor center. Bonsai is the art of cultivating dwarf trees, derived from the Chinese practice of growing miniature plants and developed by the Japanese more than 1,000 years ago.
For this display, bonsai master Oshima will present a selection of deciduous specimens from his own collection, plus several bonsai developed by his students over the years. Oshima founded his bonsai garden in Afton, Minn., 40 years ago this year . He has amassed an impressive collection of hundreds of bonsai, including some started from the seeds of a 350-year-old tree in the imperial garden of Japan. Oshima will give demonstrations on Saturdays, April 25 and May 2, from 1 to 3 p.m.
‘The Long Zoom' Held Over in Reedy Gallery
"The Long Zoom," an engaging exhibit of watercolors by Jeanne Long and Sandra Muzzy, has been extended through June 28. (It was originally scheduled to close in March.) Long and Muzzy take opposite but complementary approaches as they explore the Arboretum through the seasons. Long takes the long view, capturing the Arboretum's beauty in award-winning landscapes while Muzzy zooms in close to examine the small details of natural life - feathers, nests, stones, flowers, tiny critters. There's also an "artists' cabinet" showcasing nature's specimens and journals and personal artifacts of the artists.
Other Arboretum Offerings in April
MNLA Awards Exhibit: If you're looking for home landscaping ideas, head over to the Arboretum's Snyder Building where you'll find displays showcasing the award-winning landscaping designs by members of the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association. Through April 26.
Weekend Family Fun: "Knot in the Kitchen- Pretzels!" Turn the crank, twist the dough - over and out for a homemade snack. While the pretzels bake, learn all about Minnesota's grain and milling history. Saturdays & Sundays in April, noon to 4 p.m. Andrus Learning Center. Free with admission.
The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, the largest public garden in the Upper Midwest and a premier northern arboretum, is part of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Minnesota and developed as a community and national resource for horticultural and environmental information, research, and public education. It is located 9 miles west of I-494 on Highway 5 in Chanhassen. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity employer and educator. The Arboretum is disability accessible; the buildings are smoke free. -END-
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