Month: Nov 2020

Tim specialises in large-scale outdoor Sculptural works, his work draws its inspiration from the surrounding landscape and where possible uses indigenous natural materials, in combination with recycled or engineered parts.
Tim has a range of experience in both exhibiting and constructing commissioned work in the landscape. A proven track record of Commissions and Residencies, Including, Artist in Residence at The Irwell Sculpture Trail, The Grizedale Forest, and The National Cycle Network.
Rather than produce solely Furniture or Sculpture he creates inspirational environments for the public to relax, chat and enjoy.
Tim has run a wide range of workshops in many different settings. Working on site with groups, constructing large sculptures to running one-day workshops in schools and Community centres.

The Journey was built for I Park, during my period as an Artist in Residence, culminating in the 2013 Environmental Art Biennale. I Park invites artists to retreat and respond to its unique landscape.

The form is constructed around a welded steel armature built from reclaimed reinforcement bar, ( I Park was formally an Architectural Salvage Yard there remains huge amounts of scrap metal and other materials available on hand.)

The steel armature is clad in a hard shell of Red oak bark, harvested from a 300 year old windblown oak. this surface conceals a soft underbelly of living moss, a luscious soft nest like interior. This layered globe reminiscent of the Earth, evokes ideas of protection or shelter.

The German biologist and philosopher Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) first advocated the concept of a biotope – an area where life lives, a biological community. His beautiful lithographic plates in his book ‘Kunstformen der Natur’ show a multitude of microscopic life forms with astonishing clarity. By magnifying these natural forms, too small to see with the naked eye, Haeckel’s’ illustrations help emphasise our fragile and complex relationship to all living things.

Inspired by modern botanical photographs of Wild Bee Pollen, taken with a scanning electron microscope at Darmstadts University, I wanted to communicate this same sense of awe and wonder. I wanted to record and reveal the complex, and fragile structural characteristics of wild bee pollen as a symbol of Darmstadt’s varied and fascinating flora and fauna and reflect on the symbiotic relationship between the ‘site and the materials’.

The sculptures form, size and materials, is dictated by its surroundings, for example the elevation of the land, the spacing of the trees and the quality of the light. The tough outer shell is made from Birch bark collected from the forest floor. Willow and steel was used to create the structural framework. A circular, woven, willow seat, wraps around the internal wall.

This work is an interactive sculptural ‘Habitat’. A communal ‘Life Place’ or ‘Biotope’ (bios = ‘life‘ and topos = ‘place‘) that allows the viewer/s to wander inside and around the ‘Sculptural Form’. This is a ‘place’ of contemplation or ‘gathering space’, lit by the dappled light of the forest, where one can rest within its shelter before moving on.

The sculpture has been inspired by the fascinating shapes of the Neuron and how it transmits information through electrical and chemical signals.

The work Neural Nature has roots to spread and make connections with the forest. The roots (neurites) encircle the cell with a dynamic motion and create a sense of movement and energy around the cell nucleus. The nucleus can be climbed inside to rest, contemplate and create your own inspirational thoughts and pass on your energy to the network.

The work is created from bamboo and woven into a structure of welded steel bar. This work is part of the exhibition “Flowing Inspiration” on the Yu Lei Mountain path.

The sculpture is open to the public all year round and is curated by the International Forest Art Group.

The ‘Forest Wave Shelter’ is made from branches collected during the thinning of the forest at Mount Yionmi. The shelter takes the form of a ‘Wave’ rising from the ground. Waves (water, sound and light waves) are a powerful force, never static, constantly evolving, and ephemeral – like art in nature – like this work itself. The sculptures form, size, and materials, is dictated by its surroundings, for example the elevation of the land, the spacing of the trees and the quality of the light. The tough outer shell is made from sweet chestnut branches. Steel was used to create the structural framework. The internal space is reminiscent of the inside of a chestnut shell, the inner wall is hand stitched using canvas, sealed with a protective vanish, which wraps around the internal wall. This technique has been influenced by the artists’ own experiments working with wooden canvas canoes. This work is an interactive sculptural ‘Shelter that allows the viewer/s to wander inside and around the ‘Sculptural Wave’. This is a ‘place’ of contemplation or ‘gathering space’, lit by the dappled light of the forest, where one can rest within its shelter before moving on. ‘I invite you to rest a while, contemplate, and take the time to notice of the everchanging world around you.

https://timnorris.co.uk/

Photos by Caryn B Davis

Message from a Tree

One day I was up in the forest walking around and enjoying myself. I noticed a very old tree just up ahead of me. I decided to go visit it. I walked up to this beautiful tree. Most of it’s branches had been broken off by weather. Its trunk was completely covered in moss and it had a soft bumpy appearance to it kind of like a dragon’s skin. I put my hand on the tree and could feel the soft moss. I could also feel my hand starting to tingle as it’s energy was running through me. I said in my head “Hello old friend. Its good to see you today. Do you have any wisdom for me today?”

Here is the tree’s response :

“We the trees really enjoy when you visit. We don’t hardly see humans up here often. Especially ones that can communicate with us. There is a sense of urgency among us as we feel the effect the human race is having on our beloved Mother. As you know we are very connected with her and can feel her pain of what she feels from the abuse given to her by the humans. We urge your species to come back to us and all of nature. We will show you how you are connected to everything. Your people must awaken to the harm they are inflicting. If they can’t see how they are connected to the very Mother that cradles them as they abuse, rape, poison, and plunder her then she will have no choice but to cleanse herself which would mean an end to your species as you know it. Please take our message to your people to hear. The time is now to make a change.”

I thank the ancient one for it’s wisdom and vowed to tell of the urgent message of the trees ~ Mike Bodewitz

One of earth’s largest creatures, born a thousand years before Columbus, now lies in state to give visitors a new perspective on spectacular trees.
For the residents of Dyerville-a blink-and you’ll-miss-it town in California’s redwood country, peace and quiet are the norm. But on a calm evening in March 1991, the stillness of a nearby redwood grove was profoundly shattered by the fall of a monarch. In its last moments the Dyerville Giant, America’s champion coast redwood since 1966, released the energy of centuries of growth as its 500 tons plunged to earth. One local, who heard the impact from half a mile away, thought a train had crashed.

When measured in 1972, the Dyerville Giant stood 362 feet tall and had a circumference of 52 feet four inches and a crown spread of 74 feet. At 1,010 total points, as measured by the American Forestry Association’s scoring system, it was second only to the giant sequoia champion. The Dyerville Giant’s crown is now in pieces, but the tree’s final height has been estimated at about 370 feet, certainly within several feet of having been the tallest tree in the world.

Even for those who saw it when it was still standing, its size is difficult to comprehend. This tree was as tall as a 30-story building, 200 feet taller than Niagara Falls. It weighed more than a loaded 747 Jumbo Jet. If you stand up and look down at a quarter lying on the floor, you will see how small a person lying on the ground would look if you were on top of the once-standing Dyerville Giant.
The domino effect that caused the champ’s demise actually began a week earlier, when a venerable redwood standing 50 yards from the Dyerville Giant finally surrendered to gravity. On the way down it glanced off a second 1,000-year-old tree, causing it to lean. One week later, that tree went down, taking the Dyerville Giant with it in a thunderous finale. The assaulting tree’s momentum carried it to the ground first, and the champion, as if in revenge, collapsed on top of it.
Considering the fate of most old-growth, the Dyerville Giant was lucky to meet a natural end. Germinating 1,000 years before Columbus, enduring centuries of floods, storms, fires, and earthquakes, it was spared the axe in 1926 by the efforts of the Save the-Redwoods League. The League purchased 9,000 acres of redwood forest with contributions totaling $2 million (equivalent to $300 minion today). Two years later the area was designated as the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. In 1931 the League honored its founding members by naming Founders Grove, a small section of the park that included the Dyerville Giant.

It wasn’t until 1966 that Dr. Paul Zinke, professor of forestry at the University of California at Berkeley, recognized the Dyerville Giant for the champion that it was. As part of a long-term redwood ecology project, Zinke needed tree measurements for his studies of redwood “plumbing”-how the trees pump and distribute water and nutrients up a gradient over 350 feet high. Having measured most of the tallest redwoods including the Tall Tree, the previous champion and then tallest tree in the world, he had the data to establish the Dyerville tree as the new champion.

After the tree’s demise, Zinke drove up to make measurements and examine the foliage. Surprisingly, he found that the crown had been quite vigorous, growing at a rate of eight inches a year. So, how could a much smaller tree topple the champ?
Park officials said that heavy rains (17 inches in the month the Dyerville champ fell), which saturated and loosened the soil, may have been an important factor. In addition, Zinke noted considerable root rot once the base was exposed. Add to that the normally shallow root system of coast redwoods and the Dyerville Giant’s lean, and all you need is the proverbial straw-a nudge from a small neighbour was more than enough.
For Tim Young, supervising ranger for Humboldt Redwoods State Park, it was “almost like a loss in the family. It was a very sad day to see that big beautiful tree down on the ground. “
Reaction in the local papers varied from mystical appreciation to indifference (“It’s just a tree”). A few visitors thought it should be cut up for lumber or firewood and made “useful.”
“Absolutely not,” says Young “We’d like to have it standing, but it’s quite impressive on the ground and will continue to be one of the park’s main attractions. “
Most visitors agreed. The tree attracted more attention in its death than it did when alive. Within two weeks visitation shot up to over 50 times the normal rate. Park officials were interviewed by three TV stations, six radio stations, and over 20 newspapers. Scientists and arborists came to measure, sample, and even collect clippings for cloning.
Genetically, the Dyerville Giant might live on, but its throne is up for grabs. I asked Zinke and officials from redwood national and state parks to suggest possible contenders. The resulting list sounded like a roster for an arboreal all-star team: Stout Tree, Giant Tree, Rockefeller Tree, Arco Giant, Flatiron Tree, Montgomery Giant, Bird’s Nest Tree, Founders Tree, and the former champion, Tall Tree.
It is a daunting list since measuring the height of redwoods can be an exercise in frustration, often requiring many hours of patient work. Foresters usually use Abney levels, clinometers, hypsometers, or transits to determine the height. After measuring the distance they are standing from the tree, they wave the magic wand of trigonometry and presto, out comes the tree’s height.
What’s the theory, anyway. To get an accurate reading, it’s generally best to be over two-thirds of the tree’s height away from its base. For potential redwood champions, that means about a football field away with a lot of other trees obstructing the view.
Other difficulties include uneven terrain, trees with a lean, and choosing the highest of multiple tops.
To get around these problems, Zinke tried using a weather balloon with a plumb line but found that the line wasn’t taut enough. He even thought of using a helicopter to position a laser reflector at the tree’s top but feared blowing the tree over with the prop wash. In the end, he had to rely on the tedious surveying methods.
Ron Hildebrant, a postal worker with a background in forestry and surveying, has recently been measuring redwoods for a writer doing a book on the world’s tallest trees. Ranger Tim Young Hildebrant’s data showed that, and the Giant Tree, growing along Bull Creek three miles west of the Dyerville Giant, would now be the biggest by the American Forestry Association’s standards. In fact, Hildebrant nominated it only three days after the Dyerville Giant fell.
Joe Hardcastle, chief ranger for the Eel River District, reported about Big Tree in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Big Tree’s circumference of 21.6 feet is inflated by a large butt swell. But Carl Knapp, the park’s maintenance supervisor, remembered 15 years ago measuring a 250-foot tree on the Irvine Trail with a diameter of 22 feet and no significant taper. A quick calculation gave that one 1,079 points, 63 points higher than the Giant Tree even without the crown spread !

Steve Fisher, a maintenance worker at Prairie Creek State Park, measured the Irvine Trail tree. The height agreed closely with Knapp’s memory, but the diameter fell several feet short and overall the tree scored “only” about 950 points. Close, but no champion.
So for now, the Giant Tree wins out after all. Deborah Gangloff, coordinator of AFA’s Big Tree Program, hasn’t received a nomination to top its 363-foot height, 638inch circumference, and 62-foot crown spread. With 1,016.5 total points, the Giant Tree is the twin of its late predecessor.
As for the Dyerville Giant, even in death it is as important as standing big trees to the health, integrity, and ambiance of old-growth forests. Fallen logs are part of the whole. Carting off the Dyerville Giant from the Founder’s Grove would be like removing the Parthenon’s fallen columns.
It will take centuries, if not millennia, for the Dyerville Giant to decompose and donate its nutrients to lichens, mosses, sword ferns, lady ferns, redwood sorrel, trillium, salmon berry, tanoak, California laurel, chipmunks, squirrels, deer, porcupines, bobcats, spotted owls, thrushes, wrens, warblers, and future redwood giants. Long may it rot in peace.
SORTING OUTING THE GIANTS
As far back as anyone can remember, and then a million years farther back, the range of the redwoods and giant sequoias stretched across most of the northern hemisphere. Today, however, the two ancient species are found only on the West Coast.
The redwood, or coast redwood as it is also known, grows along the Pacific where rain and fog are plentiful. The giant sequoia, needing a drier environment, flourishes at higher elevations.
Sharing a legacy as the largest, as well as among the oldest, life forms in North America, these two noble species can be distinguished from each other by those with a discerning eye. The giant sequoia’s deep-green leaves are pointed, scale-like, and overlap one another. The redwood’s leaves are bright yellow-green, stand out stiffly from the twigs, and remain on the branches for up to five years-slightly longer than the giant sequoia’s leaves.
Distinguishing the trees by their leaves takes sharp eyes since the trunk of the giant sequoia can rise 80 to 225 feet before the first limb appears. Giant sequoias, frequently referred to as “bigtrees, reach heights of 300 to 330 feet, whereas redwoods can grow to 350 feet high. The giant sequoia, however, lives longer. Naturalist John Muir reported one bigtree as having enough growth rings to be at least 4,000 years old.
Because of the vast heights of these two species, the onlooker who wants to know more will have to check the ground-or, rather, the cones that fall there. The bigtree’s cones are more than twice as large as the redwood’s.
In February and March, the tiny pollen-bearing flowers of the giant sequoia appear and then the seed-producing flowers, which take two seasons to mature into the egg-shaped cones. The giant sequoia relies totally on seeds for reproduction-unlike the redwood, which produces sprouts from its stumps and root collar. Also, its flowers mature into cones in only one season.
The fibrous texture of the redwood’s reddish-gray bark sets it apart from the thick, red-brown bark of the giant sequoia. But beware, the textures and coloring inevitably change with age.
The redwood’s strong heartwood is heavier and is used commercially more often.
Over the years, the trees have acquired several names that add to the confusion. Causing the most trouble is the fact that the giant sequoia is also known as the “Sierra redwood.’ An Austrian botanist further muddied the waters when he gave the trees the genus name Sequoia, honoring the Cherokee chief Sequoyah. After years of debate, however, the giant sequoia’s genus name was changed to Sequoiadendron. The change means that the giant sequoia isn’t really a sequoia after all.
The species names seem to describe the trees best-sempervirens for the redwood and giganteum for the giant sequoia, meaning “ever-living sequoia” and giant sequoia. ” What’s most important, these are exactly the qualities that may inspire us to protect the future of two of earth’s most venerable species. -TRICIA TAYLOR

Reference https://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+fall+of+the+Dyerville+giant.

Ferns are one of the most ancient flora on the planet and they date back many millions of years.

They’ve developed a symbiotic relationship with the microbiome of their root systems and their leaves.

If you’re walking or jogging through a forest of ferns, and you take the time to swipe your hand beneath the leaves, breathe the flora and tiny microorganisms coming off of that, you’re tapping into this ancient intelligence of Mother Earth.

If minutes later, you’re running through a meadow amidst wild flowers and thousands of species and by the afternoon or evening, you’re out barefoot in your garden, integrating with soil directly and starting to experience vegetables and fruits, their seed pods and all the pollen that they would produce, that is the intelligence of nature rooting within you.

You can start to see how diverse these ecosystems might be and how they might inform your sinuses, your respiratory tree and your gut back to some sort of biodiversity. You are tapping into that biodiversity and that wireless network comes back on, and you become resilient on many levels.

It’s not only free, nature’s going to show you her most fundamental truth, which is beauty.

And if you have forgotten how stunningly beautiful Mother Nature is around you, you can go out and just look at a pine cone or grab a leaf off the ground.

There’s such beauty in the micro to the macro of Mother Nature. And that’s where Zach Bush thinks we start to really start to accumulate at the soul level where we start to just simply fill back up and we start to find purpose again in the beauty.

This excerpt is from a recent conversation Zach Bush had with @melissaambrosini, which left him feeling hopeful… link in bio @zachbushmd

#mothernature #microbiome #guthealth #nature #gooutside #getoutside #zachbushmd

My work is dedicated to the health of humanity and the planet we call home. It is critical that our pursuit of optimal health and longevity begin with an effort toward a collective rise in consciousness such that we would begin to thrive within nature, instead of fighting that nature that is life itself. My experience as a physician specializing in internal medicine, endocrinology and hospice care with a focus on the microbiome as it relates to health, disease, and food systems led me to found *Seraphic Group and the non-profit Farmer’s Footprint to develop root-cause solutions for human and ecological health. My passion for education reaches across many disciplines, including topics such as the role of soil and water ecosystems in human genomics, immunity, and gut/brain health. My education has highlighted the need for a radical departure from chemical farming and pharmacy, and ongoing efforts to create a path for consumers, farmers, and mega-industries to work together for a healthy future for people and planet.https://zachbushmd.com