New works keep getting added to the sculpture garden at Turtle Hill.
Here’s a site tour:
The artists are active at night. Steve set up a cam so that we could watch them carve.
Each tree sculpture is unique and possesses its own beauty, but they are all pieces of a bigger art project. What the beavers are creating is an intricate design. A stunningly beautiful landscape.
This diverse, dynamic wetland wouldn’t exist without the beavers’ ongoing commitment and attention to carving trees and moving their sculptures to new sites. Criss-crossing the bottom of the pond are deep channels that they’ve dug so that they can move the trees. Many creatures rely on those cool, flowing water pathways. Tucked away in that marsh are a couple of lodges where the artists live and store their supplies. Those, too, are essential parts of this landscape. A marsh without beavers is a far less vital place than one with these rodents. However, artists are not always welcomed by all of their neighbors. Art can be disruptive. Literally world changing. This marsh flows into a public water supply. The beavers are in the process of blocking the water from reaching the reservoir. When that happens, humans will dismantle their mud and stick mural that they are installing on the culvert. The humans would like a truce. Keep your art within the confines of the marsh and we’ll leave you be. Unfortunately, that’s not a concept that beavers understand. How that’s dealt with is fodder for another blog. For now, I’ll appreciate the evolving sculpture garden on our property and enjoy having those artists in residence.
