Tree Planting Project History

In 1985 I began the Bockley Gallery in the warehouse district of Minneapolis, MN. The purpose of the gallery was to exhibit and support local artists and help foster an artistic community. After 11 years in the business I became discontent with my role as a dealer and had a general feeling of frustration with the current state of the art world; I felt that I was not "doing" anything.

While discussing my future plans with Walker Art Center curator Richard Flood, I flippantly replied that if I were to be involved in the art world I would like to plant trees. With the Walker's Joseph Beuys Multiples exhibition, a door opened for me. In 7000 Oaks Beuys created a work which he referred to as "social sculpture" based on the idea that shaping our world is a sculptural event.

The original tree planting project began as a curatorial strategy to make real the idea of social sculpture within the context of my own community. My involvement with social sculpture empowered me to become an active player in addressing issues that previously I felt powerless to do anything about. As I have internalized Beuys message, I have become less interested in illustrating the idea of social sculpture and more interested in simply doing it.

On October 4, 1997 a single cottonwood tree was planted and a basalt stone marker was placed in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN

 

The tree planting projects are the visible focus of the social energy: the true spirit of Beuys is in the creation of the social sculpture. The subject of the work is its own creation. Working within the community is the most important part of the project, an opportunity to burrow into a social structure and to ask for its trust, and then with this power effect change. To me this is the core of Beuys idea of social sculpture.

Tree planting project and related events that happened in conjunction with Joseph Beuys Multiples, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN curated by Joan Rothfuss.

 

Four white cedars were planted at the Veteran Powwow Grounds, Cass Lake, MN

 

Leech Lake Reservation, Minnesota: 1041 trees were planted in the Spring of 1997: wild plum, crabapple, red maple, white cedar. Trees were planted at homes, businesses, schools, powwow grounds, tribal buildings.

On May 16th there was a community tree planting ceremony at Cass Lake-Bena elementary school.

 

On October 4, 1997 a single cottonwood tree was planted and a basalt stone was placed in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Center. The Cass Lake Singers, a traditional drum group from Leech Lake Reservation performed while the tree was planted

During October 1997, with students from St. Paul Central High School 20 trees were planted on the campus grounds: ginkgo, Kentucky coffee tree, catalpa, tamarack, hazelnut, Ohio buckeye, sour pie cherry, white oak, cottonwood.

Todd Pederton family, Cass Lake, MN

 

 

 

Before bio-remediation planting at 19th and Central in Northeast Minneapolis

 

On Earth Day April 22, 1998 working with the Minneapolis Community Development Agency (MCDA) through their Adopt-A-Lot program I initiated a bio-remediation project in Northeast Minneapolis that generated both interest and controversy.

 

19th and Central lot, midsummer

 

 

 

The Joseph Beuys Multiples exhibition then traveled to the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, where I organized a series of projects.

June 26, 1998 a single white swamp oak was planted and a limestone marker was placed on the grounds of the Joslyn Art Museum.

Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE

 

Sanford Neuharth standing among the amaranth

 In the Summer of 1998 a remedial planting was begun involving the City on a petroleum contaminated site. Seventeen large circle gardens were planted with sunflowers, amaranth, and gourds. In the Fall, the plants were composted and trees were planted in the garden areas. 31 trees were planted: bur oak, crabapple, sugar maple, amur maple, Kentucky coffee tree, ginkgo, Ohio buckeye, catalpa, black cherry; shrubbery: hawthorn, false indigo, hazelnut. In the Spring we planted 3 yellow poplars.

 

Planting at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Cornerstone Memorial in North Omaha

October 17, 1998 was the Tree Planting Celebration and Community Tree Giveaway to commemorate the establishment of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Cornerstone Memorial in North Omaha. Three mature sugar maples were planted.
On April 16,1999 I gave a talk on social sculpture for the students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Together we planted a single white swamp oak and placed a limestone marker in the campus outdoor sculpture garden.

 

University of Nebraska at Omaha

 

May 1, 1999, collaborating with neighborhood activist Janet Bonet of the Spring Lake Park Habitat Restoration and Preservation Team, we organized and implemented a community planting event. We planted 33 trees: white swamp oak, cottonwood, red cedar, larch. Four of the oaks were planted together, each in the cardinal directions; next to the tree at the eastern position we placed a stone from Miller Creek Landing, Duluth, MN.

 

Margaret Engstrom in her yard on Spring Lake Park

 

Janet Bonet, Todd Bockley, and friend at Spring Lake Park planting

 

May 8, 1999, with students from the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, we designed and planted tall grass prairie and wild flower garden (Let it Be Garden) on the grounds of the Bemis. We also planted a bur oak and Ohio buckeye on the Bemis grounds.

 

 

April 24, 1999 - Earth Day cleanup at Miller Creek Landing, Duluth, MN in cooperation with Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD) and the Tweed Museum of Art for the museum's Botanica: Contemporary Art and the World of Plants exhibition, curated by Peter Spooner.

 

Earth Day 99' cleanup at Miller Creek Landing, Duluth, MN

 

June 5, 1999 - Community tree planting event at Miller Creek Landing as a work of "social sculpture" for the Botanica: Contemporary Art and the World of Plants exhibition. 27 trees were planted: red oak, tamarack, catalpa, cottonwood, maple, red cedar.

 

October 22nd - 23rd, 1999 a conference entitled Creativity, Community, and Political Change, part of the College of St. Benedicts and St. John's University annual Creativity Conference.

 

 

 

The planting at Brian Klinefelter Park in St. Joseph, MN

 

 

In conjunction with an exhibition and lecture at the conference, a planting was done in a local park which was named in honor of St. Joseph policeman Brian Klinefelter killed in the line of duty. Because this was the tenth anniversary of the abduction of Jacob Wetterling, also of St. Joseph, the planting served to commemorate the event and draw attention to the work being done to fight child abduction through the Jacob Wetterling Foundation.

 

Jerry and Patty Wetterling place a ribbon of remembrance on a newly planted oak