The Story of the Trees

In the heart of England, the towering cedar stood as a symbol of both historical heritage and natural majesty. This particular Cedar of Lebanon, planted in the 1800s by Lieutenant General Augustus Pitt Rivers, was not just one of the largest, but also one of the most historical trees in England. Its roots ran deep in the soil of the Rushmore Estate in Wiltshire, and its branches bore witness to the passage of time, standing tall through the ebb and flow of seasons, the births and deaths of eras.

Lieutenant General Augustus Pitt Rivers

However, in 2011, a lightning bolt struck the mighty tree, marking a sudden and tragic end to its centuries-long life. The tree that had seen countless dawns and dusks, the evolution of the surrounding landscape, and the advancements of human society, was no more. But from this unfortunate event emerged an opportunity to immortalise the cedar’s story, to transform its physical end into the beginning of a new narrative, this time as a source of inspiration for my first solo art exhibition in March of 2023, “Struck.”

The Cedar of Lebanon he planted

Drawing from a deep-seated fascination for nature that dates back to my childhood years playing amidst towering beech woods in Bristol, the exhibition was a harmonious marriage of my passions for art, design, and nature. The prints showcased in “Struck” serve as a timeline, both personal and environmental. They're not just visualisations of the passage of time in one tree, but they also serve as unique markers of time for each one of us, struck by time, nature, and place.

Creating these prints has been a journey of slow and meticulous craftsmanship. Each piece began as a vision, inspired by the colossal cedar. For safety reasons, the now-dead tree was felled and reclaimed, yet it still held within it a visual witness statement to the most transformative century in known history. I saw the potential to breathe new life into this tree, to use its story to create something of beauty and significance.

The Felled Cedar of Lebanon

Each impression taken from the relief of the tree's ringed surfaces is a testament to the passage of time. They depict not only the tree's history but also the collective timeline of humanity and nature. They serve as a reminder of the impact of significant moments, some fleeting, others marking the beginning of a longer shift. These impressions tell us where we have been and, ultimately, where we could be heading.

In 2014, a similar event occurred closer to home when a storm felled a tree in my Dorset garden. Seeing an opportunity in the face of loss, I began experimenting with small slices cut from that tree. It was around this time I envisioned creating a large tree artwork that could tell a unique story.

It was this vision that led to a chance encounter with a woodsman who had reclaimed the colossal Pitt Rivers trunk. Despite being initially overwhelmed by the scale of the project, I received several sections of the reclaimed trunk before the lockdown. It took several years and countless trials, but the first prints on Washi paper were finally pulled, each one bearing the imprint of a history that stretched back over a century.

The process of creating “Struck” has been a journey, one that mirrors the life of the tree at the centre of it. It took years of growth, both for the tree and for me as an artist, for this history to be revealed. But here we are, standing at the intersection of the 20th and 21st centuries, with the tree's legacy immortalised in art.

As you browse through my website and observe each print, I invite you to take a moment to ponder the story of the magnificent trees that form the basis of them. The Cedar of Lebanon, for example, may no longer stand in the grounds of Rushmore Estate, but its legacy lives on, struck in time and space, serving as a poignant reminder of our intertwined histories with nature.