Jewelry From Official 9/11 Survivor Tree Collection Exhibited at Newport Arts Festival

Pieces from the official Callery Pear 9/11 Survivor Jewelry Collection for the 9/11 Ground Zero Memorial Museum's Visitor's Center will be for sale at the to be held on the harbor front in Newport, Rhode Island later this month. 

Michael Michaud, the designer commissioned to produce this collection is participating in the Newport Arts Festival for the third time. The Newport Arts Festival features the work of national artists exhibiting fine, fun and functional art, in eleven mediums, plus two days of blues, rock, folk and jazz by acclaimed acts.

The jewelry for the Callery Pear 9/11 Survivor Jewelry Collection has been crafted based on a mold of actual cuttings from the 9/11 Survivor Tree. Among the wreckage at the World Trade Center Plaza in 2001, a Callery pear tree was found and taken to The Arthur Ross Nursery in Van Cortland Park in the Bronx to be nursed back to health. Charred and damaged, the tree was eight feet tall in 2001, and now is healthy and stands at thirty-five feet. Last December the tree was planted at the 9/11 Memorial Plaza at ground zero. 

Michael Michaud has been creating nature-based jewelry for more than 20 years. His Callery Pear 9/11 Survivor Jewelry Collection celebrates the spring bloom of the tree, which produces an abundance of small, white, five-petal flowers in the early spring. The jewelry in the collection is cast in hand-patinaed bronze with matte silver plate and enamel highlights.  A portion of the royalties from the sale of these pieces will go to the 9/11 Memorial Fund. 

The Newport Arts Festival was originally slated for the end of August, but due to hurricane Irene, will take place on September 24th and 25th. The festival is produced by and benefits Middletown, Rhode Island-based nonprofit agency, Looking Upwards in its mission of supporting adults with disabilities and children with diverse needs to live fulfilling lives. It will be held at The Newport Yachting Center (4 Commercial Wharf on America’s Cup Boulevard, Newport, RI 02840) on Sat. 10 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. & Sun. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Admission is $8 and children under 12 are admitted for free. For more information, visit www.newportartsfestival.com.