Two Ways of Looking at an Elm Tree, I and II by Carolyn Webb is part of the Amherst Biennial which took place in October and November 2012.
Two Ways of Looking at an Elm Tree, I and II is also part of the “Museum Without Walls” program at UMCA, a series of temporary public art projects.
The work on two 12 x 24 foot banners is mounted on the south façade of the Fine Arts Center on the UMass Amherst Campus. It is intended to energize this public space and to spark the thinking of the UMASS creative community about the nature of public art and to articulate those ideas in the context of the UMASS Campus. It was selected by jury from a number of entries.
Carolyn Webb, an abstract sculptor and UMass alumna, used both digital technology and traditional printmaking techniques to create Two Ways of Looking at an Elm Tree, I and II. The image is based on an Elm tree near the Campus Pond – one of the ‘Gift Trees’ on campus. Both the tree and the creation of the work are metaphors of intellectual growth. The tree serves as allegory for higher learning with its roots in a localized place, nourished by the academic environment, and finally flourishing in the student community. Simultaneously, the work by Webb symbolizes a creative process where disciplines cross-fertilize. Traditional knowledge and time-honored practices are applied in conjunction with the latest scientific and technological advances to give rise to new expressions. The organic nature of the tree is at once organized and random – just as the experience of learning so frequently is.
