This set of photos honors the efforts of a petition to halt construction on John’s Island, South Carolina that would encroach on an area of land boasting an Oak tree estimated to be between 1,400 and 1,500 years old.
Charleston, SC is proud of its heritage and respected for its commitment to preserving history in the area, so residents hope that plans will not proceed to cut down nearby trees and forest in favor of land development.

On the petition link even if you don’t sign you will be able to read pages of interesting comments and pleas from residents who have fond memories of climbing the branches as children, plus exclamations by tourists who have visited the area specifically to see the Angel Oak, and the tree is so significant to locals, a nearby elementary school carries its’ name. Picnics, weddings and reunions are held to this day in the Angel Oak Park free of charge, including an annual summer Arts event, “Evening under Angel Oak” featuring live music, drama and other activities.
This summer my husband and I drove through South Carolina and took a short detour to John’s Island. We drove through wicked rains at the edge of Tropical storm Faye, so when we arrived at Angel Oak park no one else was there. The tree trunk and lower branches are so immense, they have been propped up with stakes and heavy cables here and there, which is a little intrusive when taking photos, but obviously necessary. Growth is spread outward more than upward, occupying an enormous space at least 150 feet wide.

It occurred to me that this tree has lived through one serious chunk of history, and wondered what was happening on our planet when The Angel Oak was knee-high to an acorn? 1400 years ago it was the year 608 A.D., Common Era. Almost everything we are familiar with; our collective modern identity has been shaped by many of the events and people who lived and died since the Angel Tree established its first roots in the earth.

Angel Oak’s parent-tree was undoubtedly alive for centuries before and during the year 476 A.D. when the last of the Roman emperors died, bringing about the Fall of Rome. Around the 7th Century A.D. an acorn falls from one of the magnificent Oaks on the southeastern shores of a land only known to the indigenous peoples; a land we now refer to as North America.

The acorn sprouts along with many others…but this one will outlive the rest, seasoning hurricanes, wars, and countless generations of playful children climbing it’s branches. The acorn sprouts in conjunction with the collapse of Teotihuacan, one of the major cities in Mesoamerica with widespread influence in central Mexico. The Toltec civilization was unheard of, and would not flourish for another 500 years (1100-1521). Aztecs did not seize power until the 13th century.

When this tree was 300 years old during 901 A.D., the Vikings discovered Greenland. In 1066 “William the Conqueror” and the Norman troups conquered England, altering the English culture forever by bringing French rule and rivalry with France until the from 1789 - 1799. Circa 1100 A.D. the famous Buddhist temple, Angkor Wat in Cambodia is constructed to house the Hindu faith. Around 1275 A.D. Marco Polo, the Venetian explorer and trader visits China via the Silk Road, returning to Europe with new foods and goods from the Orient which impact modern culture, medicine and dietary habits today.

The Black Death devastates Europe around 1348 A.D., while the 740 year old Angel Oak thrives. Columbus and other adventurers would not claim to discover America for another 144 years (C. 1592). Leonardo da Vinci, a man light-years ahead of his time in the field of science and medicine through his various studies. By the time he would paint the Mona Lisa and Michelangelo would paint the Sistine Chapel, the Angel Oak has lived for 900 years. The Tree continues growth beyond the life of Galileo, father of modern Astronomy, and through the life of Shakespeare, who established some of the most famous English literature in our era (c. 1564 - 1616).

Year 1776 - Angel Oak is 1,166 years old when the U.S. breaks free from British rule and establishes the first Independence Day In 1895, and by the time the Angel Oak had already survived for 1,287 winters Sigmund Freud would bring modern medicine and humanity into a new open-minded age by announcing his theories of dream psychoanalysis and studies of the human psyche.

The First World War between 1914-1918 was followed by WWII, 1939 -45/51.
According to after the Category 5 Hurricane Hugo hit the coast of in 1989, Governor Carroll Campbell is reported to say that the storm destroyed enough timber in South Carolina to frame a home for every family in the state of West Virginia. All those trees and forests obliterated, yet The Angel Oak survived. It has since healed injuries inflicted by Hurricane Hugo.

So…have we not evolved this far to empathize with those who live on John’s Island, whose sentiment toward the tree that symbolically links them to family - present and past? Aren’t there enough people who empathize with those who live on John’s Island, whose sentiment toward the tree that symbolically links them to family - present and past? The petition is looking for only 20,000 signatures. If you are interested, here is the petition link.

More links to information listed in this article:

Angel Oak website                               Teotihuacan                   Aztecs                    Vikings             

Norman troopes conquer England        Columbus                      Leonardo Da Vinci         

Michelangelo                                        French Revolution          The Fall of Rome           

Black Death                                          Angkor Wat                    Silk Road  

Galileo                                                  Shakespeare                   Independence Day

Sigmund Freud                                     First World War               WWII                     

Hurricane Hugo                                    South Carolina

Images are powerful, and presenting them in various ways is what I do best, ultimately as a traditional Artist, but also as a casual photographer who increasingly appreciates photography as an Art form since purchasing a Canon EOS 20D in 2006. Photography fits perfectly into my large creative pocket, contributing to the way I see and compose with other media. It’s also beneficial, in fact necessary in this competitive business, to take advantage of anything that will add an edge to writing effective gallery exhibition proposals. Quality presentation is everything, so a good camera and computer scanner are valuable tools for recording decent color representation of Artwork.
Taking photos is a nice change from usual work, and if I’m in between projects. The camera is always conveniently on the kitchen counter and a tripod is by the door, ready for action. When traveling, the senses are bombarded with so many new and incredible things, and taking photos offers an immediate solution for managing all the beauty! Once in a while I’m fortunate to be at the right place at the right time, and some days enjoy searching for it.

The Canon EOS 20D handles varying light situations well, manually and automatically. The manual settings are better for close-ups, and the automatic feature is great for capturing fleeting weather conditions or insects that might fly away. The liberty and practicality that digital cameras offer cannot be compared to “old fashioned” standard film-cameras, not to mention the costs of film and developing. Before taking the digital leap, there was no denying the growing piles of paper photos, three quarters of which were poor quality…and the very last roll of film I took was entirely of watermelon growing in the garden! In fact it was all the activity taking place in the garden that stimulated an interest to produce better photographs.

I still think my old Canon AE1 was the best camera for detailed close-ups of flowers and insects (circa 1983 - the new ones are inferior in my opinion), but despite numerous professional tune-ups and cleaning, the shutter froze randomly and became unreliable.

 About five years ago I finally surrendered to the vast world of digital cameras and computers - it was a huge leap forward for all of my work. I can’t imagine being without these tools now. I still enjoy the old paper photos stored in albums, and from a technical standpoint my recent photos are best, but as resource material for other forms of Art they don’t need to be perfect; from a painters’ standpoint, memory works best. If photos are used as reference they are not copied directly anyway, they mainly serve to stimulate inspiration. To capture a lively likeness convincingly in a painting or drawing, it’s the experiential observations that contribute the most to the work.

While on location with the camera, as an Artist I’m also soaking up as many other details a possible: exploring color and form, memorizing lighting and sensations, studying values as if I were about to start painting or drawing. I call it “Plein Aire Memorization”! The Painter behind the camera interprets a vision the camera cannot. Likewise, there are some things the camera captures perfectly that don’t translate well into paintings. Photos are often best left as photos.

With family all living in eastern and western Canada, travel back and forth between our two countries has become part of my lifestyle. During each trip I marvel at how geography, climates and histories mold very unique lifestyles from state to state and province to province, and how each place is unlike anywhere else, even within short distances. It’s now become a mission to see and photograph as much of North America as possible, in particular the trees, because although they are my favorite subject to paint I’ll never have enough time in this life to paint them all. I love my camera!

I’m still on the fence as far as keeping the nikkiartwork blog exclusively for “traditonal” Art like painting, and having seperate websites for everything else. I consider Art as all-inclusive, and photography is so much an every day interest, some of those daily observations are posted in the nikkiartwork blog, which I consider as my main website. However, to designate photography its own uncomplicated place I developed nikkiphotography.com It is still young as a website, so is temporarily linked to FlickR where I began organizing albums about a year ago. All that work will eventually be transferred back into nikkiphotography.

____________________________ ~ ____________________________

The article Websites for Artists  on my blog, nikkiartwork.com explains the benefits of creating and maintaining blogs and websites. Each photographic series also warranted a website of their own. True Colors and Heart Shapes In Nature collections are independent ongoing Art Projects, and except for upgrading quality and adding new material every six months or so, they are fairly static. 12 and 18-month Calendars of favorite images from both series are available to purchase and can be viewed in the Websites for Artists article:

True Colors - Generic Imagery, 2009 12 months.

True Colors - Generic Imagery, 18 months, Jan. 2009 through June 2010. 

True Colors - Trees of Mexico, 2009 12 months.

True Colors - Flowers of Mexico, 2009 12 months.

Heart Shapes In Nature 2009 12 months.

Heart Shapes In Nature 2009 18 months, Jan. 2009 through June 2010.

“The Majesty of Trees Solo Exhibition is scheduled first for June - July, 2009 at the Nature Art Gallery in The Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, North Carolina. This is an ambitious life-long endeavor and signature show intended to exhibit internationally when it’s cohesive enough. The Majesty of Trees website exists as a place to document and share as many aspects of trees through as many means as possible. It is also an extra venue where all of my tree-specific Artwork can be seen and purchased; work that is too numerous to exhibit in one gallery showing, with a link to view some of that Artwork dating back to 1981.
When the exhibition title first came to mind, as many tree-related books as I own and have viewed, I did not realize there is a popular book out with the same title, so am considering a title change that will describe the entire subject as aptly.”

~

Short Bio - Nikki Coulombe

Nikki grew up in northern Alberta, Canada. Three years of formal education in Calgary and Red Deer with a major in drawing lead to a home-based business as a freelance Artist in eastern Ontario while her children were young. During that time, while working with teachers and within the community she designed and executed a significant number of educational projects with themes of Art History, multiculturalism, and environmental issues.

1989 - 1993 Nikki created, developed and manufactured Original Earthbags, hand-painted pre-shrunk 100% cotton shopping / multi-purpose bags, two registered trademarks, sold at Art and Environmental Shows, via mail order across Canada, some internationally.

After a successful Solo Exhibition in 1993 selling mostly paintings, she determined a future on that route, but the momentum of freelance work dominated her schedule until moving to the United States during November 2002. Commissions included paintings, designing and painting murals, consultation and custom Artwork for clients, Interior Designers and their associates in the Ottawa region. Budgets and deadline parameters extended her creative edge and exercised her capacity for improvisation. Utilizing a variety of skills, she is acquainted with a multitude of media, styles and subjects.

Nikki and her husband now live near Dallas, Texas where she has reestablished her career with an entirely new body of Artwork. Now exploring potential through specialization in gallery exhibitions of paintings and drawings, her creative skills are also offered as commissions or on a sub-contract basis.

~

Artists Statement

“Images and ideas are powerful, and presenting them is what I do best, ultimately as a traditional Artist most comfortable painting or drawing. My approach toward Art emphasizes value in the work process where means to expression are diverse, and despite the outcome, creativity is an attitude toward life.”

I browsed through and organized the leaves, seeds and bark photos that I took specifically for their outstanding design aspects, then drew some designs I’ve had in mind for a couple of years. Here are a few rough preliminary sketches and some digital play with a Paint Shop Pro computer program. I may paint some large one-of-a-kind cushion covers using a few favorites.

Design from Nature

Now available, 2009 12-month calendars of some of my tree-specific paintings and Oil Pastels. All of the pieces in this collection can be viewed larger here. To purchase an Art Calendar:

Also available: 2009 12-month calendars of favorite images of trees chosen from theTrue Colors Photographic Series. Also see trucolors.info for more about my creative tribute to Mexico.  

To purchase the Trees photos True Colors calendar:

The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years.

The Marshall replied, “In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!”

 As told to by John F. Kennedy

________________________________

Quiet Places - Landscapes and Forest

“The true meaning of life is to plant trees,

under whose shade you do not expect to sit.”

Nelson Henderson  

__________________________

Looking Up

“A tree is a tree - how many more do you need to look at?”

Ronald Reagan, former U.S. President 

_______________________

Unidentified trees in Coppell, Texas - Northeastern TX; located in a popular city park near a canal and flood zone. Other similar trees nearby do not have such pronounced zigzag protrusions, possibly because they are younger, that’s only a guess. The first photo shows bark with the most exaggerated texture, almost tropical looking.

The second photo I think might be Hackberry, and it also has a range of nodule shapes…some layered and worty, others varying to smooth with short thorns on them. They are all growing in the same stand of forest, so I wonder if these are all interbreeding species of Hackberry? 

 Any guesses or positive identification?

_____________________________

                                         ~

Eastern Cottonwood Unidentified Growth

Growing alongside the Ottawa River, Ontario, Canada, all of the branches ended with these oddly shaped, hard, glossy growths on Eastern Cottonwood, about 3 x 3 inches. If they appeared more randomly on the branches I would suspect insect galls for sure, but they all look like they belong there, and they are all basically uniform in shape and size. Are they seed heads? I don’t think so. I’ve looked up ID in many different websites and have not found the ID .

Flowers, fruit, seeds? Does anyone know what these are?

________________________________

                                        ~

 The Man Who Planted Trees

Author Jean Giono writes of a quiet man of admirable character who lives alone and quietly plants trees every day in the south of France during the early twentieth century. The narrative, alongside music beautifully orchestrated, and every detail of the animated vignette draws us in to know and believe that we each can make a difference in this world, and it need not be in aggressive fashion or with a motive to attain personal recognition for our efforts.

The 30 minute animated film was illustrated by french Canadian Artist Frederic Back, who won numerous awards for the work between 1987 and 1992 and shown on Canadian television’s National Film Board Vignettes. To see examples of a few of Frederic Back’s illustrations from this film and learn more about his career: http://www.awn.com/gallery/back/overview.html 

Copies of this highly acclaimed film can be purchased online in a set of four of his best known works for CDN $42.99 at:

http://www.cbcshop.ca/CBC/shopping/product.aspx?Product_ID=FTSRC00202&Variant_ID=SRC3-3739&lang=en-CA

School teachers can obtain copies of this short film at a much better rate by phoning (Canada): 

 1-(514)-597-7986   or   1-(514)-597-3761    or Fax  1-(514)-597-3761

or write to:

Gregoria Mundele,    Conseiller, Ventes Institutionnelles,     Sales Consultant,    Education Services educatifs,    Merchandising Division,   Societe Radio-Canada-CBC,  C.P. 6000 , Succursale A, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3A8 Canada

An alternative version of The Man Who Planted Trees illustrated with woodcuts is available as books, audio, video, and cassettes is obtainable through Chelsea Green Publishing: http://www.chelseagreen.com/1995/items/manwhoplantedcd