Wide angle shot of the Transitions sculpture lying on a white pedestal in front of a white wall. The sculpture is made of a part of a pine tree with parts of the bark and some branches remaining while most of it is carved away in organic flowing forms.
Same setting as before, but this time we see the Transitions sculpture from the other side and and also turned on it's back.

Transitions

Death and Change

Our neighbour in the woods had to cut several large pines after the extremely hot and dry summers of 2019 and after.
They had simply died.
Fungi grew on them, bark beetles gnawed, bluing and mould weakened them, woodpeckers had built nests in them, they had lost all their needles.
Climate change in all it's devastating brutality.

When I started this piece, I selected a log that from the outside looked pretty good, but when I began to work on it, I found more and more "flaws".
And somehow this sculpture became essential for me in realising, that to me, these are features, not “bugs” as we say with software.
Like people, trees carry their history with them.
And I won't apply cosmetics or plastic surgery to cover it.
That isn't who I am, nor my intent.

In later sculptures I explicitly welcomed and integrated whatever the tree had to offer and had lived through. In this piece this was not that clear to me yet and I struggled quite a bit.

Like the life stage where we stop trying to be somebody else and accept and embrace who we really are.
That can be awkward at first, scary even, but ultimately it's the only direction worth going.
And there is a very deep beauty to be found when we become ourselves.

And all that is in there:
Beautiful areas where the form is really flowing and in resonance with the features of the tree, areas where it's not really clear where things are going - and everything in between.

Fittingly, the sculpture rests in several positions and shows different forms and structures in each. In above pictures I hanged it from the ceiling, which I somehow prefer.

Full view of the Transitions sculpture, hanging from the ceiling. Pine wood with partially remaining bark in front of at white wall. This gallery shows different angles of the very smooth and organic, flowing forms.
Another angle of the Transitions sculpture in the same setting as the previous image.
Another angle of the Transitions sculpture in the same setting as the previous image.
Another angle of the Transitions sculpture in the same setting as the previous image.
Another angle of the Transitions sculpture in the same setting as the previous image.
Another angle of the Transitions sculpture in the same setting as the previous image.
Another angle of the Transitions sculpture in the same setting as the previous image.
Another angle of the Transitions sculpture in the same setting as the previous image.
Another angle of the Transitions sculpture in the same setting as the previous image.

Details

Close up view of a part of the Transitions sculpture. Wood grain and year-rings follow the smooth organic form of the sculpture and in the center some of the remaining bark is shown in focus.
Macro of an inside part of the Transitions sculpture, showing year-ring patterns from the cutting of the smooth flowing forms. In the foreground some parts of the sculpture are extremely blurred by depth of field and become almost transparent, like a fog.
Macro of three wood knots inside the Transitions sculpture, showing strong wood grain and year-rings flowing with the organic shape of the carving.
Macro of a little broken-off branch in dark brown surrounded by sculpted pine wood showing strong year-rings and some woodworm holes on a flowing surface.
Another Macro shot inside the sculpture with strong depth of field and year-ring-patterns.
Close up of a sawed off branch, saturated with pine resin, dark red-brown. On the right side there is smooth carved surface, on the left there is bark that shows some kind of mould as small black dots on the warm brown spotted surface.
Close up view on a knot in the Transitions sculpture in a smoothly carved channel, surrounded by bark.