TREE HEART REMEMBERS by artist Mark Cantrell

This wood sculpture is a root burl of Turbinella Scrub Oak, 6.5" tall by 3" wide

Mark's son just moved from one chapter onto the next. He remembers being so young, and that moment between. His son and his partner, in their mid 20's, recently left for the northwest. So far away.

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Mark carves and makes creatures that come from the scattered myths, ancient stories, and dark corners of our collective minds.

The wood is the important story here. Each creature he creates is the product of the growth and time of trees and shrubs. All of that conspires with climate, weather, and the accompaniment of beetles, grubs, fungus and parasitic infestation. How the grain of wood records all this drama is an endless fascination.

Mark forages for wood on dog walks and hikes into the outdoors where I lives and where he travels. He has strict rules about only collecting dead and downed wood. If a piece has begun to decompose to the point where it already belongs to the soil and the biota underneath, he leaves it to return to the cycles to which it belongs. He will not disturb or offend the powers that be.

The wood that becomes a creature is Mark's earnest attempt to glorify all that experience of the parent plant, while exalting the spirit that dwells within each piece.

Mark lives and creates in Silver City, New Mexico.

Browse more of Mark's works here: https://cactusgalleryla.com/collections/mark-cantrell-for-cactus-gallery