Creative Works About Trees on Display in Mercer County

The Tulpehaking Nature Center will feature creative works about trees inspired by visitor input from start to finish over the spring and summer seasons.

The celebration begins on Friday, April 22, with the opening of “ROOTED,” a visual art exhibit about trees and their relation to plant, animal and human life.

The juried exhibition of paintings, sculpture, photographs and other media celebrating trees and their relation to plant, animal and human life will be on display through Sept. 4.

On Sunday, May 1, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., “ROOTED: the Performance Salon” will showcase performance art with an afternoon of short stories, poems and song.

“The Performance Salon is a unique program resulting from community input at each step of the way,” Mercer County Park Commission Executive Director Kevin B. Bannon said.

In the fall, local artist Joy Kreves collected visitor questions through her interactive art installation “Questions for a Tree” while it was on display at the nature center.

These visitor questions were then sent to creative writers who were challenged to compose poems, short stories and songs inspired by the “Questions for a Tree.”

The works will be presented at “ROOTED: the Performance Salon” on Sunday, May 1.

Audience members will then be able to contribute to the exhibit by composing their own haiku poetry, led by Haiku Mistress Caley Vickerman of the Guerilla Haiku Movement.

“It’s a collaborative effort that very fittingly represents the Friends for the Abbott Marshlands, who work every day at the grassroots level to promote and protect this wonderful marshlands that sits just three miles south of Trenton,” Bannon said.

Admission for the Performance Salon is $5 per person suggested donation, with proceeds for the event benefitting the Friends for the Abbott Marshlands.

Gifts from local businesses will be raffled throughout the event.

Registration is required by calling 609-888-3218 or via e-mailing natureprograms@mercercounty.org.

The attached image was provided by the Tulpehaking Nature Center: “Questions for a Tree,” a community art installation by Joy Kreves, inspired the short stories, poems and songs to be featured at “ROOTED: the Performance Salon” at the Tulpehaking Nature Center on May 1. Photo credit: Joy Kreves.