Reading Forest
Where do ideas come from and why do they persist? How do the structures of society shape environments and create physical and institutional legacies for future generations? This project suggests the cultural process of slow accumulation in the analogy of tree rings — a way to imagine the joint futures of forests and humans.
Commissioned by the National Forest Foundation, the project communicates the work of land managers, forest ecologists and citizens on the future of Lake Tahoe’s surrounding forests. Phrases embedded in these drawings are adapted from science papers, anthropology and religious books, poems and essays, and personal communications from everyday citizens and forest managers.
For the sources of the phrases, click HERE.
For purchase inquiries please contact me HERE.
A public installation at Lake Tahoe is in place through November 2021. For more, see nationalforests.org/readingforest and toddgilens.com/readingforest
Ideas About Nature
Ink and lithography crayon on paper, 22 x 30” 2018
The Future Will Require
crayon, ink and pastel on paper 12.5 x 11..25” 2018
Four Lives
pencil and watercolor on paper 9 x 11.5” 2018
Forest Tales
graphite, colored pencil and watercolor on paper, 9 x 12” 2018
As Life Creates Combustible Fuels
lithography crayon and ink on paper, 22 x 30” 2018
The Scope and Extent
crayon, earth pigments, watercolor and burn charcoal on paper, 11 x 14” 2019
It Speaks the Grammar of Being
crayon, graphite and earth pigments on paper, 10 x 12” 2019
Scar Study (Two Carls)
lithography crayon and ink on paper, 22 x 30” 2018
Scar Study (Intervention in the Environment)
graphite, colored pencil and watercolor on paper, 9 x 12” 2018
Study
pen, colored pencil and watercolor on paper, 10 x 11” 2018
Viewers responding to the exhibition Conversations Through the Smoke, Fire Science Network 2018 (multiple venues, northern Rocky Mountains states.)
Many of Our Present Day Problems
lithography crayon and ink on paper, 22 x 30” 2018
audience responses during the traveling exhibition Conversations Through the Smoke, 2018
The Scope and Extent
earth pigments, ink and crayon on paper, 18 x 18” 2019
This Deed is Still
crayon, earth pigments and burn charcoal on paper, 15 x 21” 2019
Change Often Involves
crayon, earth pigments and ink on paper, 18 x 18” 2019
One Light Ring
crayon, earth pigments on paper, 16 x 18” 2019
Ideas About Nature
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 36 x 36” 2019
Interactions with Nature
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 38 x 38” 2019
Art is Realistic
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 15 x 30” 2019
Responses to Environmental Uncertainties
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 30 x 30” 2019
Two Carls
graphite on paper, 9 x 12” 2019
No Tengo la Sabiduria
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 18 x 18” 2019
Fire Scars
graphite, tea and watercolor on paper, 9 x 12” 2018
Scar Study
graphite, watercolor and pastel on paper, 9 x 12” 2018
What Features of Society
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 18 x 18” 2018
It May Be Helpful to Separate
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 36 x 36” 2019
Are There Deeper Slower Variables
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 24 x 36” 2019
The Look of the Land
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 27 x 28” 2019
Scar Study II
graphite, colored pencil, tea and watercolor on paper, 9 x 12” 2018
homemade pastels
earth pigments and gum tragacanth
Scar Study (Deer Browse)
pen and watercolor on paper, 10 x 11” 2018
La Capacidad
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 15 x 15” 2019
Our Efforts May Have Far Greater Effects
crayon, ink and earth pigments on paper, 18 x 18” 2019
El Futuro Requerira
crayon, ink and earth pigments on paper, 30 x 30” 2019
A More Complex Moral Attitude
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 30 x 30” 2019
If We Leave Future Generations
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 24 x 24” 2019
The Effects of Climate Change are Rippling
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 21 x 21” 2019
Many of Our Present Day Problems
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 24 x 24” 2019
El Alcance y la Magnitude del Esfuerzo
crayon, ink and earth pigments on paper, 36 x 36” 2019
Diversity and Flexibility
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 36 x 38” 2019
El Cambio Supone
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 24 x 36” 2019
Fire scars in a giant sequoia
more models for the work
tests on pavers in South Lake Tahoe
May, 2019
Disturbance Influences
crayon, ink and earth pigments on paper, 18 x 26” 2019
Los Interacciones
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 30 x 30” 2019
The Climate has Changed
crayon, found charcoal and earth pigments on paper, 24 x 24” 2019
Humans Delight
earth pigment and crayon on paper, 18x21” 2019
I Measure Myself
crayon, found charcoal and earth pigments on paper, 15 x 15” 2019
Forest Health
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 18 x 21” 2019
Untitled 1
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 14 x 22” 2019
The Current Pace and Scale
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 15 x 15” 2019
Understanding is Not
crayon and earth pigments on paper, 24 x 24” 2019