62. Faces of Trees

In September I receive an invitation from Rosavita, an old friend of Gabi and me. She is an artist and the show is called “Faces of Trees”.

She lives in a house with a beautiful garden which she has inherited from her grandmother. I know the place quite well. Many years ago when my son Nikolaus was a teenager he used to go there once a week for drawing and pottery lessons and I used to drop him there or pick him up.

It used to be a special place even then, Rosavita being a very creative lady, but – WOW – what a development in the years gone by! I haven’t been there for many years and it really has turned into a place of magic. At the show there were too many people around for taking pictures which do live up to the art objects of the show and the many treasures hidden in this place. Therefore I arranged a special visit to browse with the camera thru the garden and the show.

It is not a big place but there are many different trees. They were planted when Rosavita was young and she has watched them growing to maturity, getting very fond of them. The love and admiration for those trees gave her the idea to make individual clay masks, trying to capture the soul and the spirit of these trees. The result is quite amazing. It happened to me and other visitors of the show that we missed some of the faces because they blend so well with the trees they were made for.

Walking thru the garden at my leisure I had time to discover numerous of the other manifestations which populate the place. There is a surprise at every turn. I wouldn’t shock me, to see the fairies dancing in the twilight of the morning.

As I haven’t written down the name of the trees when taking the pictures, now, when writing these lines, I can’t recognize them all by seeing only their trunks and barks. But I can name a few which will come later, but I think the names are not important anyway.

And here comes the lady of the house just looking, how I am doing. And I can only bow my head in admiration and say: “Thank You, for letting me document the splendor of your garden. Well done Rosavita!”

Here is a tree I can recognize. The one in the middle is a hornbeam. But aren’t the “faces” incredible. So simple and yet so different in their expressions and the mood they are anifesting.

More treasures of the garden, which demand no further comments.

Here now we have a cherry tree on the left and an apple tree on the right. The face in the middle, I think, is the queen of the place. It’s the genius loci of the house and garden. At the opening of the show, there was a little performance enacted by Rosavita, in which this face had a prominent part.

Here, the scene in the middle does not depict a work of art. It just shows that - sometimes – there are children around. But – who ever arranged it – had a good feeling for effect.

The tree on the left might be a pear tree, the one in the middle is definitely a walnut tree and the one on the right is one of my favorites. Some of the faces were sold during the show and I do hope that all of them will find the places where they belong.