Trees in the Arts

Trees in the Arts is a joint venture between WDVTA and Wokingham Art Society to celebrate our local trees during National Tree Week 2024.

Some years ago we joined with Wokingham Literary Society for a very successful Trees in Literature evening. Strengthening ties between active groups in our borough will hopefully raise awareness of the work we do to protect our wonderful woodlands, hedgerows and our greenways.

Do take a few minutes to enjoy the very different interpretations below. The Art Society members who took part were given the brief to choose a tree from our survey record and represent it through their preferred medium. We will also play a part in an ongoing nationwide project called Forest of the Imagination and will display the actual artworks at our AGM. Ongoing discussions are underway for some of the works to be displayed or used by local libraries within the area.

The Tree Council has included some of these pieces in their social media feeds.

We are hoping to follow this up in 2025 with a workshop where interested members from both our societies can join with a local artist / artists to create a work of their own.

Thanks go to all who have submitted their work but especially to Charles Gallagher from the Art Society who has worked with us to ensure this project came together.

The project comprises paintings and drawings, embroidery and carvings.

Where a painting's title or description contains an MRN then clicking or touching the number takes you to the map entry for that tree.

Gallery

 

The next group of 8 paintings are by Emma Major.

Emma has been painting her local trees in Earley for several years and here she shares eight from the WDVTA tree map. Emma is almost entirely blind and uses a wheelchair meaning she rarely gets to see these trees in person any more, but remembers them well and loves to imagine them anew. She paints using the Procreate drawing app on the iPad incorporating bright rainbow colours to reflect the colours that her brain has generated as she has lost her sight.

You can find Emma's art and poetry online on her website LLM Calling or on social media @emmuk74.

The paintings below are by the WDVTA Treasurer, Derek Oxbrough. Derek describes his work here:

"I used to draw and paint as a child and did an Art O-level when I left school at fifteen. I did a small amount of sketching in my early 20’s, but a demanding job, marriage and children came along and that was the end of my art until I retired at 65.

"I then decided to pick it up again and went on two years of art courses to refresh and re-learn about the different forms of art. That led to me joining a local art group in Barkham that meets in the local Village Hall. Initially I had some instruction and then it became a group of friends where we could learn from each other.

"I mainly enjoyed painting landscapes in acrylics and preferred brightly coloured scenes as I am partially red/green and blue/black colour-blind and cannot see the pastel shades such as pink etc.

"My painting of the tree trunk in the Coombes, Barkham with the bluebells was inspired by the shape of the strong tree roots clinging to the mossy bank. The second painting is a view across a very calm Heath Pool in Simons Wood Finchampstead. I had to go back several times to get the light right and painted it from my photos."

Steve has had a love of wood since starting work as a tree surgeon over 30 years ago, when he dissected fallen trees to explore the grain patterns and figuring. Throughout this time his carving and turning output was limited because of full time employment and other interests, though he competed at local and national level with some success.

Since becoming self-employed he has concentrated on larger turned items – vases and bowls – and has been commissioned to produce a number of large carvings for schools and playgrounds. These have included storyteller's chairs, giant badgers and the 'Friendly Lions'.

His interests are increasingly towards less conventional, more abstract work, both carving and turning. All the wood is locally sourced from 'waste' timber: from trees that have been felled for some reason other than his use of them.

 

The Embroidery Collection

 

These embroideries are by Hilary Jenkins.

Holt Copse

These pieces are inspired by the Holt Copse local nature reserve.

Holt Copse is a small area of semi-natural ancient woodland in Wokingham adjacent to Joel Park and a housing estate. It has a wide range of flora and fauna including many birds and spectacular bluebells.

Holt Copse volunteers assist with its management – clearing brambles, coppicing hazels, tree planting and hedge laying, mainly in the autumn and winter before the bluebells emerge. WDVTA have surveyed and recorded veteran, ancient and notable trees in this area.

Following early retirement from teaching, Hilary joined the midweek group, participating in activities as above. As she had always been interested in photography and had taken up embroidery at this time, it made sense to combine these pastimes.

She started by working on two pieces - winter tree tracery and frosty leaves – and in time decided to do one image for each month, based on her own photos, reflecting the seasonal changes. She used many different techniques – paint, dye, collage, stitch, 3D work – more than 20 in all! After a year or two, the Holt Copse series was complete.

Veteran Trees

Hearing about the 'Trees in Art' project Hilary chose nine of the veteran trees in Wokingham town area, where she did surveying. She then made a related piece, showing the leaf associated with each specimen.