Endangered Tree Series
Marguerite Elliot, Liz Baxmeyer
The Journey
In the 1800s, explorers sailed wooden ships across vast oceans, discovering the giant sequoias of California. Captivated by their grandeur, they brought seedlings back to France, planting these symbols of aristocracy in front of rural chateaus.
A Modern Pilgrimage
Almost two centuries later, I traveled from my home in Northern California to Lessac, France. Here, in front of the Domaine de Boisbuchet, where I was an artist in residence, stood a solitary sequoia. The Domaine spans 300 bucolic acres in the heart of rural France. As I foraged for local plants to craft handmade paper, I meandered through the woods, recording the melodies of birds.
The Solitary Sequoia
This solitary sequoia drew me in, a majestic tree slowly succumbing to the excessive heat brought by our changing climate. Sequoias thrive in the mountains and coastal regions of California, yet here it struggles. An urge arose within me to return a remnant of this majestic tree to its homeland in California, inspiring my Endangered Tree series.
A Collaborative Installation
I invited sound artist Liz Baxmeyer to collaborate on this installation. I created four large steel trees that represent specific endangered trees in the United States. She composed a poem and a sound piece for this tree, as well as sound poems for the other endangered trees in the series.
To experience her evocative poems and beautiful sound pieces, please scan the QR Codes provided.
Liz Baxmeyer is an interdisciplinary sound artist, music composer, researcher, and writer based in Sacramento, California. Her work, whatever the medium, is often centered around themes of ecology, feminism, trauma, folklore, and voice--especially where these things intersect.
Liz Baxmeyer, Sound Artist:
For Elegy for a Solitary Sequoia, Baxmeyer brings together poetry and sound to texturize and contextualize the liminal spaces between the tangible and imaginary: the voice of the sequoia traveling thousands of miles from its homeland; the sounds of the inner acoustics of trees, not usually audible to the naked ear; the atmospheres that hold these finite, endangered species, both below and above ground: all inhabitants of deep time; all connected by the same Earth.
Liz’s sound has been showcased at the Health Humanities Consortium, the London Arts Based Research Center, The Crocker Art Gallery, and various theatres across Sacramento and the SF bay area. Her debut hybrid chapbook and accompanying immersive audiobook will be out this July with Finishing Line Press. Liz holds an MA in acoustic and elecroacoustic composition from Bangor University, UK, an MFA in writing and contemporary media from Antioch University, Santa Barbara, and is currently undertaking a PhD in Creative Research at Transart Institute/Liverpool John Moores University, where she researches ecology, trauma, and sound. She has been the recipient of TBA and SFBCC awards for sound design. @lizbaxwrites
Acknowledgments:
Thank you to the following people for their contributions to the audio:
Kathryn Hohlwein: Voice of Mother Tree in Elegy for a Solitary Sequoia.
Ken Burnett: Guitar on Elegy for a Maple Leaf Oak
Brynn Baxmeyer: Voice in Elegy for a Rocky Mountain Maple Leaf
Marguerite Elliot: field recordings—additional birds in Elegy for a Virginia Round Leaf Birch, and river sound in Elegy for a Solitary Sequoia