I Am Seeing Trees

I Am Seeing Trees, 2026
Three flags, two with anaglyphic 3D images of American Elm trees; 3D glasses

Three flags representing the American Elm tree are installed in the forest. The flags are a playful way to help people visualize or manifest this devastated species back into the local environment.

American Elm trees used to be common in American cities and towns — many have an Elm street. In the 20th Century, Dutch Elm disease mostly wiped them out. Initiatives to bring them back are underway, particularly in the Connecticut River area, near the site of the exhibition.

Surviving members of the American Elm still greet people in Central Park in NYC, most notably along the famous Mall and Literary Walk, planted in the 1860s. I reverently photographed the American Elm tree canopy and grove in Central Park and turned them into anaglyphic 3D images. A third flag includes an American Elm icon over a red and blue background that mirrors the colors of the 3D lenses. Installed, the trio of flags becomes a kind of American Elm embassy, or a memorial.

A visitor looking at the piece, Tara Verheide, recalled how sad she’d been, as a kid growing up in Schenectady, when the trees were all cut down. She shared this poem written in about 1966.

Mourning Elms

On the edge 
    of
        THE
              F I E L D
THE  CHILDREN  
                    sat   in 

W
       O  
            N
                D
                    E
                         R
       THE  
ELM TREES
w h i s p e r e d 
...to  each  other we
    have
          lost
               another
B R O T H E R . . .

---

The piece was made for the exhibition:

Wood: material, object, environment and idea

Stream Chapter 8
August 22^nd & 23^rd 2026, 12-5 PM
South Windham, Vermont

The open field at Old Cheney & Kibby Camp Road, just before the small bridge over the stream