Inspiration behind the collection

Back when I was in seventh grade, I had a wonderful biology teacher, Mr. Anderson. At the beginning of the school year, our class was learning the names and characteristics of deciduous trees growing in my hometown. Knocking on neighbors’ doors, asking permission to claim a sample from a tree growing in their yard, my collection of leaves grew and so did my love of trees, nature, and the science of biology. Mr. Anderson taught us how to press our collected leaves and then went on to teach us the families, genus, and species of other plants, invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals.

I didn’t understand the interconnectedness of all living things until much later. I didn’t understand the true nature of trees until much later either — that trees are social, intelligent, sentient beings. And I realized I had forgotten most of their names, that I couldn’t identify the trees I passed by on my morning walks.

I wanted a method to fix that, to recall their names, their relations, and their histories in a meaningful way. So I went to the trees’ origins, that is their seeds, to create a “sticky visual memory” and inspiration for this small and intimate arbor collection.