A small portion of the show, with aspen hand-peeled by the artist and poetry and sculpture by Jim Fish.
A theme show in August, 2013, at Anasazi Fields Winery, in the Village of Placitas, NM
Winery is open for free tasting, free tours and wine sales: 
hours Wed. through Sunday 12 to 5pm

THROUGH the TREE

—Bunny Bowen

Several years ago as I started a series about trees, I began looking at them really closely.

Sunlight dancing through a summer leaf canopy invites the muse, as does the shimmer of golden aspen leaves on a shining October day. Then in November, dried cottonwood leaves crunching under my feet remind me that days are getting shorter and bid me to chores of preparing the garden for winter.

Abstract patterns of bare branches against the sky form lattices through which one sees sailing clouds, vibrant sunsets, migrating cranes, and, in a good year, snowfields on the Sandias.

Trees feed us with apricots and almonds, shelter us, warm us with their wood after pruning, tickle our noses during spring pollination. Artists make sculptures from their bodies, and birds make homes in their limbs.

The loss of a beloved garden tree is cause for serious mourning.

For a long time I have used trees to make statements about the continuing drought, the increasing probability of wildfire, and the regeneration of life following fire. This space, today, brings all of that together.

—Bunny Bowen