Tree Museum in NYC inspired by Irish-born artist's love of nature

Katie Holten's interactive Tree Museum a joy for nature lovers

NEW YORK CITY'S TREE MUSEUM/CLICK HERE

Irish-born artist Katie Holten is encouraging New Yorkers to commune with nature this summer through her interactive Tree Museum, a public art project along the four-and-a-half-mile Grand Concourse that connects Manhattan to the north Bronx.

Katie conceptualized, planned, and executed the Museum, which consists of 100 trees along the concourse and was commissioned by the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Wave Hill, and the NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation.

Each tree is numbered and outfitted with a sign that provides, along with the species name in English, Spanish, and Latin, a phone number for viewers to call in order to access recordings of the sounds of the borough: animal and insect noises, local music and, at the heart of the exhibit, the voices of those who live and work in the Bronx.

 The audio guide speaks with the authority of local and global knowledge alike, encompassing the vast history and the everyday present of the area with contributors ranging from architect Daniel Libeskind and urban revitalization strategist Majora Carter to community garden activists and neighborhood teenagers.

Katie met with each of the participants, gaining a plethora of individual perspectives on the physical space and social history of the Grand Concourse.

“After meeting someone and having a conversation it would usually be pretty obvious what their story should be,” said Katie in an interview with Irish America.

“When I met Willie Mae Simmons, Lurry Boyd and the other members of the Townsend Avenue Community Garden, they showed me their peachtrees and said they love to have people pop in and help themselves to peaches and other fruits as they usually have too many for themselves. So, their story was about the history of the garden, and Lurry invites listeners to visit and help themselves to some peaches.”

One of Katie’s favorite specimens is the Amur Corktree growing directly outside All Hallows High School, whose students have collaborated on projects with the Tree Museum and whose headmaster is, coincidentally, from Cork.

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Nster.com