Verna Todd: A World in the Bark of a Tree

Walking down the sidewalk near her home, Verna Todd saw a tree with bark of yellow, green, orange and turquoise.  Excited, she dashed home to collect her camera gear, and rushed back to catch this wonder.  That tree with its rainbow of lichen launched this exhibit.

The one square block where she lives became her favorite meeting place with the trees.   All she had to do was slip out the door and open her eyes. The bark was at eye level so it was easy to see up close – her number one way to photograph.  Each tree offered up its secrets as she spent time with it and paid it attention.

Trees have captured the imaginations of folk since humans came to inhabit the earth.  In symbols, ancient cultures throughout the world recognized the depth of their connection with trees. Consider for example the Tree of Life; the World Tree that unites heaven, earth, and underworld; the Cross; and the myths that tell of people who grew roots and bark and became trees. 

It’s easy to relate to a tree.  With sturdiness and style, it offers shelter in the rain or exhausting heat.  It raises its boughs, so much like human arms; it whispers in the wind.  And what other living thing can you stand beside that creates soil, shares food with its neighbors, provides medicine to heal them, and pulls together carbon dioxide and water to form the very air we breathe?

Without the quiet labor of trees, we ourselves would not survive.  And without the protection of their bark, these vital trees would perish.