Balance-Unbalance 2015

Trees: The Fifth Season
A creative afterlife for trees.

Chicago Sculpture International has partnered with the City of Chicago and its Park District to transform dead and dying elm, ash and locust trees into works of art. Trees have always been important cultural symbols - symbols of life, death, sustainability, support and protection. The ecological devastation occurring in our city, the death and removal of more than 10,000 of these cultural symbols, creates a sense of loss in our communities. The Chicago Tree Project is an innovative model for a type of site-specific public art project highlighting the effects of climate change that provides opportunities for sculptors to pay tribute to the decades of life trees have offered, creating new symbols, often in an artistic desert, thereby creating The Fifth Season.

The question arises, given the success of the Chicago Tree Project, can artists in Los Angeles transform their dying palm trees? Can the dying aspens of Colorado be sculpted to create new symbols and can dying oaks in Illinois and Wisconsin be used to create art in small towns and rural communities? How do communities and artists partner to make this happen? Can you make it happen?

Please click this link to stream the 37 minute film http://youtu.be/0f8FXFel3UI

Link for 10 minute gallery http://vimeo.com/115735756

We are encouraging delegates to stream this film simultaneously at the programmed time. Please use the hashtags #BALANCE15 and #ChicagoTreeProject on social media platforms.