Skip to main content

When a 200-year-old oak tree died in Whitefish Bay, this family hired a local sculptor to turn it into art

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

When a Whitefish Bay family’s 200-year-old oak tree died, they hired a local sculptor who carved the tree’s decaying trunk into a piece of art.

“Because it was so big and it was so central in our backyard, my wife began to be uncomfortable with all the branches, and the fact that they could break off and hurt somebody,” said homeowner Morgan White. 

White and his wife, Ann, searched for sculpture ideas online and in magazines. They settled on a depiction of a castle-like village surrounded by a snaking staircase. 

White called his friend and art gallery owner Frank Sadler, who showcases Jeremy Wolf's art at Sadler Gallery in the Third Ward’s Marshall Building, 207 E. Buffalo St.

Buy Photo

Artist Jeremy Wolf stands with the castle-like village he carved from a 200-year-old oak tree in the backyard of Ann and Morgan White's home in Whitefish Bay. Visit jeremywolf.com to view more of Jeremy's work. (Photo: Scott Ash/Now News Group)

For Wolf, a Hartford-raised and Washington Heights-based artist, it was an opportunity for him to expand his skill set. 

“Animals have been my trademark ever since I started doing art, so this one was out of left field because it’s architectural,” said Wolf. “I’m used to doing stuff that’s much more organic and nuanced.”

Wolf, 42, used a 16-inch bar chainsaw for most of his work on the project, which has taken about 150 hours of work since early June. He started the project by sculpting a small model of it. Wolf said he carefully used the model to make exact measurements on the tree for each cut.

“Once you remove the wood, it’s gone,” he said. “You can’t put it back anymore, so you actually have to be fairly mathematical about your approach.”

Buy Photo

After a 200-year-old oak tree died in the backyard of Ann and Morgan White's home in Whitefish Bay, they hired an artist to carve a sculpture from it. (Photo: Scott Ash/Now News Group)

The project was also the largest he’s worked on. His canvas â€" the tree’s remains â€" stands about 10 feet tall.

After this 200-year-old oak tree died in the backyard of Ann and Morgan White's home in Whitefish Bay, they decided to hire an artist to carve a sculpture from the trunk. (Photo: Submitted)

The tree fell victim to bur oak blight; a disease caused by a fungal pathogen that slowly kills its host. 

The nearly 90-foot-tall tree started fading last fall. The tree's leaves fell off when it began to bloom this year. 

“With the pandemic and all this other stuff going on, it just seemed like the right time to clear the decks,” said White. “With so many people not working, we were of the opinion that it would be nice to give somebody some work and end up with a beautiful piece of art in our yard rather than just a stump or a hole in the ground.”

Over the Fourth of July weekend, White said, friends and neighbors stopped by and expressed interest in putting art in their own yards.

“Everyone’s like ‘I can’t wait until one of my trees dies,’” he said. “People are just dumbfounded by it.” 

Although White has fond memories of the tree over his 20 years living there, he won't miss picking up acorns and leaves every year, he said.

“It covered most of the yard like a huge umbrella. It was kind of a love-hate thing,” he said.

White said the project has been the focal point of the family’s day since Wolf started carving.

Eddie Morales can be reached at 414-223-5366 or eddie.morales@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @emoralesnews.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Read or Share this story: https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/northshore/news/whitefish-bay/2020/07/22/whitefish-bay-family-hires-sculptor-turn-dead-oak-tree-into-art/5413920002/

Comments

Post a comment

Popular posts from this blog

History of Art Timeline

The historical past of art is usually told as a chronology of masterpieces created during each civilization. It can thus be framed as a narrative of high culture, epitomized by the Wonders of the World. On any other hand, vernacular art expressions can even be integrated into art historic narratives, called folk arts or craft. The more intently that an art historian engages with these latter sorts of low culture, the much more likely it is that they will determine their work as analyzing visual culture or cloth culture, or as contributing to fields associated with art historical past, akin to anthropology or archaeology. In the latter cases, art gadgets may be called archeological artifacts. Surviving art from this era comprises small carvings in stone or bone and cave painting. The first traces of human-made gadgets appeared in southern Africa, the Western Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe Adriatic Sea, Siberia Baikal Lake, India, and Australia. These first traces are generall
Post a comment
Read more

Bob Gibson was not just best pitcher of modern era, but during time of strife, mastered the art of fear

For a lot of successful athletes, winning in competition is about winning their own internal battles between anger and fear. One can be generated by the other. One can also be erased by the other. Those who effectively use anger, even if they must fabricate it, can overcome their fear and simultaneously instill it within the opponent. This statement covers a lot of competitors and a lot of time, so I don't issue it carelessly. But in all my years, I've never seen an athlete channel fear in the opposition more effectively than Bob Gibson. He was the young Mike Tyson of baseball, way before Iron Mike. And unlike him, Gibson didn't flame out in his prime. He was not only the best in the business during a 5-year span in the mid-'60s (1964-68), he won his second Cy Young in 1970 at age 31 and threw a no-hitter the next year against the best hitting lineup – and it turned out, best team – in baseball that season, the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates. I saw an old fan on
Post a comment
Read more

How to Show Art Work when the Gallery Says No Thanks

There are places in the town where you live where you can show your artwork when the big gallery you solicited said, "No, thanks." Other artists may need to find venues other than galleries to show their artworks as well. Visual artists living in art-rich communities where there is a lot of local competition will need to get creative about display opportunities. Or on the other hand, in towns without large art venues, it is important for artists to find smaller and less obvious places to show your art. How to Show Art Work When The Gallery Says No Thanks 1. Show Where You Go The most successful approach to finding a place in your town to display your artwork is to solicit a place that you go to frequently. Make a list of all the places you go to each day, each week, and each month. Make a special trip, or the next time you visit note if the establishment currently exhibits any artwork, if it is local, and if it is for sale. Also note if they have available wall s
Post a comment
Read more