Sacred Roots: the symbolic, scientific, and aesthetic representations of flora in art

April 25 – July 22, 2023 Opening Night: April 25 @ 5:00 p.m.

Exhibit Description

The ties between plants and human life has been a visual conversation for thousands of years. Arboreal imagery is filled with a double valency: not only rooted and sessile, but continuously growing a relationship to human experiences and evolving through time.

Sacred Roots explores the ongoing significance of flora to human life, consciousness, and spirituality. Representations of the symbolic, scientific, and aesthetic relationships to the plant kingdom have served as facets of understanding the importance that plant life has to historical and cultural uses of medicine, food, technology, religion and spirituality, metaphysics, ecology, and climate change. These timeless motifs of flora have provided specific interpretation or mysticism to both the art world and natural world and continues to shape our perception of the cosmos, our beliefs, and our minds.

The relevance of trees to folklore, religion, and culture is a very broad topic drawing on anthropology, history, linguistics, and theology, re-drawn, re-written, and re-conceived over time. Whether we know it or not, we still use tree symbolism in everyday life – family trees, dendritic (root-like) patterns of drainage for streams, dendrites in our brains, even Dollar Trees, or on the reverse side of a dime.

For many people trees are the largest and oldest living things in their lives and also the most inspirational. Trees make us look up. They connect the living and non-living worlds: roots dwell in the underground world, the trunk connects that world with where we live. Trees go beyond, to the heavenly world, appearing by their branches to hold up the heavens. In their seasonal cycles of growth, trees exhibit birth and death, prefiguring resurrection. Put another way, a tree models the universe with its roots, stem, and branches suggesting planes of existence in the nether world, upper, and heavenly realms. Hence, ‘tree of life.’

The concept of a tree modeling our universe is found in many cultures. Just one example is the Norse Tree of Life known as Yggdrasil where the gods cavorted and dragons hung out. For Judaism and Christianity, the Tree of Life is described in the Book of Genesis as being in the midst of the Garden of Eden with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Deeper appreciation of trees—as one easily comprehended component of the ecosphere —could be a bridge between religion and ecology or at least a common point of discussion. One way to express this deeper appreciation is through sacralization of nature. Sacralization is different than worshipping nature but rather seeing the Divine in nature. The value of sacralization is to highlight the appreciation of trees as part of the natural order seen through the eyes of religions adherents.

Exhibit Achieve

Jennifer Pulchinski, Thistles #1, Mixed Media, on loan courtesy of the artist
Jennifer Pulchinski, Roots, Mixed media, On loan courtesy of the artist
Perkins, Untitled, Oil on canvas, On loan from Private Collection
Neltje (1934-2021), Metaphor for Home, 1988, Acrylic and mixed media on jute, On loan from the Yellowstone Art Museum: Purchase in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Jones
Gennie DeWeese (1921-2007), Blue Spruce Companions, 1998, Oil stick on canvas, On loan from the Yellowstone Art Museum: Museum purchase
Max Humphrey, Untitled, Oil on canvas, On loan from Private Collection
Charles Brindley, View of giant Eastern Cottonwood in Open Field, 2018, Graphite on paper, On loan: Private Collection
Barbara Jaenicke, Snowy Pines, Oil on canvas, On loan from Private Collection
Ann Justin, Tenacious Tree, Pastel on paper, Courtesy of the artist
William Reese, Montana Aspens, Oil on canvas, On loan from Private collection
Bob Barlow, Aspens, Oil on canvas, On loan from Private collection
Chris Stoddard, The Ash Tree, 2021 Ceramic and mixed media, On loan courtesy of the artist
Chris Stoddard, Atropos, 2022, Ceramic and mixed media, On loan courtesy of the artist
Luigi Lucioni, Pine in the Birches Etchings On loan from the collection of David & Cynthia Hummel
Luigi Lucioni, Birches, Etchings On loan from the collection of David & Cynthia Hummel
Luigi Lucioni, Dominating Trees, Etchings On loan from the collection of David & Cynthia Hummel
Deborah Butterfield, Aumakua, 2014, Cast bronze, On loan courtesy of the artist
Liz Chappie-Zoller, Tree of Life, Mixed media, On loan Courtesy of the artist
Robert Moore, Aspens, Oil on canvas, On loan from Private Collection
Nic Fischer, Betelgeuse, Oil on canvas, Courtesy of the artist
Suzan W Strobel, Leaf Litter, Acrylic and ink, On loan courtesy of the artist
Suzan W Strobel, Reaching Roots,Acrylic and ink, On loan courtesy of the artist
Suzan W Strobel, By Night, Acrylic and ink, On loan courtesy of the artist
Suzan W Strobel, Sacred Roots, Acrylic and ink, On loan courtesy of the artist
Suzan W Strobel, Spruce Prickles, Acrylic and ink, On loan courtesy of the artist
Morgan Coleman, Untitled, Oil on canvas, On loan from the collection of Mr & Mrs John L Paul
Steve Aller, Untitled, Oil on canvas, On loan from the collection of Mr & Mrs John L Paul
James Poulson, Untitled, Oil on canvas, On loan from the collection of Mr & Mrs John L Paul
Lychee Tree Root, On loan from Private collection
Clyde Aspevig, Aspen Family, Oil on canvas, Courtesy of the artist
Clyde Aspevig, Waiting for Spring, Oil on canvas, Courtesy of the artist
Clyde Aspevig, Winter Light, Oil on canvas, Courtesy of the artist,
Carl Clemens Moritz Rungius (1869-1959), Fall Tamaracks, Oil on canvas, On Loan: Tierney Fine Art, Bozeman, Montana
Jerolyn Dirks, Shelter, Oil on copperleaf, On loan courtesy of the artist
Jerolyn Dirks, Plum Tree, Oil on copperleaf, On loan courtesy of the artist
Jerolyn Dirks, Nightwatch, Oil on copperleaf, On loan courtesy of the artist
Charles Brindley, The Great Osage Orange of Harrodsburg, 2014-18, Oil on canvas, On loan from Private Collection
Charles Brindley, Centuries Old National Champion Osage Orange Tree at Patrick Henry National Memorial, Red Hill, Virginia, Graphite on paper, On loan from Private Collection
Charles Brindley, Centuries Old National Champion Osage Orange Tree at Patrick Henry National Memorial, Red Hill, Virginia, Oil on canvas, On loan from Private Collection
Greg Scheibel, Winter Tapestry, Oil on canvas, Private collection
Jill Carver, First Violets of Winter, Oil on canvas, On loan: Private collection
Carl Zimmerman (1900-1985), Yea, Though I Walk Through the Valley, Oil, On loan: Private collection
Martijn Caspar Swart, Apollo & Daphne, Oil on linen, Courtesy of the artist
Martijn Caspar Swart, The Hunter Weeps for the Bluebird who Cannot Frown, Oil on aluminum board, Courtesy of the artist
Martijn Caspar Swart, Magnolia at Sunset, Oil on aluminum board, Courtesy of the artist
Edward Caret, Untitled, Oil on canvas, On loan from Private Collection
Susan Diehl, Evening Clouds Oil, On loan from the collection of Mr & Mrs John L Paul
Sarah Hill & Ben Strobel, Tree Rings – Red Oak, Ink, On loan from Private Collection
Kevin Noble, Winter Wolf, Yellowstone Feb 2018 Photograph 7/15, On loan from Kevin Noble Photography
Unknown Artist, Botanical Illustration, pencil and watercolor, On loan: Museum of the Rockies
Unknown Artist, Botanical Illustration, pencil and watercolor, On loan: Museum of the Rockies
Unknown Artist, Botanical Illustration, pencil and watercolor, On loan: Museum of the Rockies
Unknown Artist, Botanical Illustration, pencil and watercolor, On loan: Museum of the Rockies
Tom Eversman, The Sentinels (Douglas Fir), Oil on canvas board, On loan from Sharon Eversman
Tom Eversman Autumn Aspen Grove Oil on canvas The Sentinels (Douglas fir) Oil on canvas board On loan from Sharon Eversman
Isabelle Johnson 1901-1992 Untitled (art nouveau pattern) Watercolor on paper On loan from the Yellowstone Art Museum: Gift of Isabelle Johnson Estate
Dennis Voss b. 1948 Morning Walk, 1985 Mixed media On loan from the Yellowstone Art Museum: Gift of Theodore Waddell
Bill Stockton 1921-2002 Lone Pine, 1991 Livestock marker and graphite on paper On loan from the Yellowstone Art Museum: Purchase funded by Miriam Sample
Emily Robison, Pine Cone, Oil on canvas, On loan from Private collection
Roger Bradley, All the Glitters, Oil on canvas, On loan from Private Collection
Jill & Riley Logan, Fantastical Forest pt. 1, washable paint on aspen trunks, 9’x4’x5′