tree of life heraldry

LIONS HAVE  been widely used in heraldry to symbolize bravery, valor and strength. This particular bas relief plaque is a reproduction of a fire mark from somewhere in England. It is unusual in that the rampant and regardant lions flank a tree of life. Often heraldic symbols have local significance or a historical link, but fire marks displayed on a building would symbolize protection by a particular company that insured the building.

AFTER THE  Great Fire of London in 1666 devastated one-third of the city, there was a turning point in attitudes towards the hazard of fire. Like-minded property owners pooled resources to provide their own insurance protection with organized teams of fire fighters. Few streets were named and the buildings were not numbered, so some method of identification was necessary. Fire insurance was born. The plaques with either the logo of the insurer or the county's coat of arms (most likely the case here) were attached to buildings, indicating the group or company that insured the building. Most fire companies were financed this way and protected buildings marked with their fire mark, with any uninsured fire damage paid for by the individual. This practice continued for 250 years until fire stations were  publically-funded to protect the public from all fires.

YOU'LL ALSO  see plenty of lions depicted in sculpture and architectural statuary, evoking a sense of majesty and awe, especially around public structures. A few notable examples are the Great Sphinx of Giza; Patience and Fortitude, the regal stone lions outside the main branch of the New York Public Library; and lions used in traditional Chinese architecture. In the ancient city of Beijing, flanking male/female statues are seen in almost every door entrance. The Chinese people believe that lions protect humans from evil spirits. The Chinese New Year Lion Dance is performed during their celebrations to scare away demons and ghosts. 

WHATEVER  the specific origin of the fire mark shown here, I will always cherish it as a thoughtful and symbolic gift from Jon, however our lives continue together. Ever-thoughtful and romantic in his gift-giving, he personalized the gift with a card that contained a drawing of a beautiful tree, along with a terra cotta bird representing his urge to "nest within the heart of [my] branches." After all, birds and trees, just as humans are dependent on each other for a place of refuge. And I'll always be surrounded with the magical wisdom of cats. Few animals compare to their grace, beauty and courage. It's good to have all of this combined in a significant marker from someone I care about deeply. It serves as insurance for the fire of the soul and protects the refuge found by both of us in this (decorated) tree of life.

What sort of philosophers are we, who know absolutely nothing of the origin and destiny of cats?

—Henry David Thoreau

HERALDIC BEAUTY | (Above, right) This plaque, a reproduction of a fire mark from England is sold at Atlanta Water Gardens and from a North Carolina company, Unique Stone. The copper stand was bought at Flax Art and Design. The table is from the Charlotte Collection at Pottery Barn. (Above, left) A hand-drawn interior of a card by Jon Chavez, card (exterior not shown) by Papyrus. Terra cotta bird from Atlanta Water Gardens. 

©2010 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

photography and styling by Darryl Moland, tree drawing by Jon Chavez

valentine tree of hearts

A FAR CRY from making lackluster cakes in my childhood neighbor's Easy-Bake Oven, the chemistry of seeing flour and sugar and other ingredients morph into a baked confection was our first exercise in creating for ourselves what our mothers and grandmothers so deftly concocted with expert confidence. There is nothing else like cookies, cakes and pies. Sometimes, I wonder if we shouldn't just have dessert first, instead of saving room for it as an afterthought. It's no wonder Valentine's day has become a day to give sweets to loved ones.

MY MOTHER,  a consummate homemaker, was seemingly always in the kitchen cooking, canning something from the garden, or washing dishes. She always preferred to make cakes and pies over cookies. A good Southerner wasn't worth their salt if they couldn't bake a decent cake or lighter-than-air biscuits. It's not that way anymore. I think she liked to bake cakes best because of their scene-stealing grandiosity. Biscuits with butter and homemade preserves or with peppery milk gravy are another story altogether. Maybe growing up surrounded by cakes is the reason I obsessively collect cake plates, just as sweet memories of the holidays drive collecting the ornaments which are the raw material for this blog. Growing up in the American South, there were always cake walks, birthday cakes, fruitcakes, and even pancakes and potato cakes. This would sometimes coalesce across the community with fundraiser bake sales full of homemade goodness. Who could resist contributing to a cause that way?

EVERY YEAR  at Christmastime, I remember going out to the back porch to drive nails into the eyes of a fresh coconut, drain the milk into a glass, and crack the shell with a hammer. I would bring it to mother in the kitchen and we would peel off the thin outer layer of the slightly sweet meat. She would grate the coconut, toss it with confectioners sugar and press it into the the icing of the tallest layered cake she could make that would stand upright, even if it was held together inside with toothpicks. It was always quite a sweet spectacle and was the first thing everyone in the family would devour from a counter laden with other treats like pecan pies, a wine-soaked fruitcake, date-nut rolls, and even a competing German-chocolate cake. Nothing else seemed to compare to that stately white beauty layered and dressed in fresh coconut. It was mouth-watering deliciousness.

A VALENTINE TREE  (above) began with the idea for a tree full of hearts of one sort or another. An Easy-Bake light bulb went off and cookies came to mind. Immediately, I thought of my friends Brandon and John and their venture in becoming professional bakers. They agreed to collaborate with me by baking the cookies along with my initiation to the art of decorating them. We decorated the cookies they baked with colored icing, nonpareils and several types of brightly-colored sugars. The result of our combined creative efforts hang on the tree created from a tree branch painted white and glued at the tips with vintage paper leaves — all directing their attention with curve of the branch. I wanted the tree to match the ethereal and magical fairy-dust quality of Bear Maker Bakery cookies, along with the absolute exuberance and passion Brandon and John show in their baking efforts.

THEY TOO discovered baking in their respective childhood Easy-Bake Ovens, and they never forgot the power of a homemade confection. After they found each other, they ventured out on a limb together with a dream and a goal of making the most delicious cookies possible. While growing their passion for baking into a full-time creative endeavor, they jointly set out (even with separate childhood memories of providing treats for their families and friends) to create cookies "too beautiful to eat," but at the same time delicious enough to make resistance futile! It's not often that decorated cookies taste as good as they look. Labored over in their spare hours with love and care, their attention to flavor and texture along with a keen sense of visual detail has begun paying off. Like a fairy sighting, if you blink, their cookies might disappear. Even in reminding yourself of a growing waistline, if you are to truly enjoy any treat for what it is, both Brandon and John understand that sweetness and goodness in baking always shoot straight for the heart.

CHILDHOOD experimentation with Easy-Bake Ovens may have served as a starting point, but my friends at Bear Maker Bakery have gone way beyond those formative days to perfect their craft by coming up with unexpected ways to combine the right ingredients in making something that is beyond the ordinary. They haven't reached the point of quitting their day jobs either, so it is truly a labor of love [like The Decorated Tree (of life)]. All it takes is a loving tenacity of spirit to begin to realize the sweetest dreams.

TREE OF HEARTS | This Valentine cookie tree (above), made from a painted branch with handmade vintage paper leaves is decorated with cookies (above, right) made in collaboration with Bear Maker Bakery. The Valentine candy boxes by Johanna Parker and "Be Mine Cat Boy" original design spun cotton figure by Crystal Hanehan (left) are from Bayberry Cove (he was hand spun using techniques similar to those of the early German artisans who created cotton ornaments for Christmas). The German glass glitter lovebird ornaments perched in the branch are from Pottery Barn. The ceramic urn holding the branch is from Smith and Hawken. The cake plate from my collection is the Martha Stewart Limited Edition 2009 Cake Plate from Macy's. A cardboard heart box from Michaels is painted chartreuse and sits behind a silver-beaded pocket holding a heart love token (from Bombay Duck London) at the base of the tree. 

COOKIE COLLABORATION | (Right) Brandon Tidwell (top, left and middle) and John Price (top left, top right, and bottom left) from Bear Maker Bakery were gracious (and elfin) enough to put their hearts into cookies for the tree, along with giving me lessons on decorating them (that's me, bottom right, grinning with childlike glee).
 
©2010 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, collecting and styling by Darryl Moland, tree photographed by Harold Daniels Studio / assisted by Shawn May, cookie making collage photos by Darryl Moland and Brandon Tidwell

tree fairies articulated

THERE SEEMS to be a place for every special interest in our web-connected world. If you're passionate about something, there's a good chance you can find a group of like-minded enthusiasts. This blog is a case-in-point. There are plenty of real-world people that share my enthusiasm for the decorated tree. I think people that are most interested have resonant childhood memories of the things that drive their passions. My friend Odette says she'll never forget her mother bringing a huge tray of alternating red and white, heart-shaped petit fours to her class one Valentine's Day in her youth. "That's my mom!," she was proud to say to everyone that day. Valentine's Day remains her favorite holiday probably due, in large part, to that unforgettable bit of joy her mother supplied that day. It's memories like these that stick with us and become a way to connect to the free-spirited passion of our younger years. Mine was obviously centered around the holiday tree with my mother encouraging my creativity in my childhood. In collecting ornaments and ideas to assemble into bits of visual magic for special occasions, this blog holds evidence of those enduring and simple gifts of love.

THE RESPONSE, both through actual friends and followers of my posts here is enough to keep my creative spark ignited. If my particular passion and point-of-view can capture someone's attention just long enough, there is a defining moment of recognition. Blog-savvy friends tell me I need to write in shorter snippets, enlarge the typeface or make the pictures bigger (one click on most photos and you're there). Well-considered points, but I'm the sort who would rather read a book on the sofa (or under a tree), than online. And I'd rather read a chapter than a page, so you'll have to bear with the long-winded nature of my expression and squint your eyes for the details. The rest of the world can distract themselves with text messages (I have them blocked on my cell phone). And, I won't be going out to buy a Kindle, an iPad or even a laptop anytime soon. But if you see me with one, I'll try to disguise it with a Bookbook. How ironic. This blog is directed toward the subject I explore with the intent that it eventually does become a book—something you can hold in your hands and turn the pages with your fingers. Who knows what tactile experiences will follow from that? Even though the digital age certainly has its shortcomings, it has also brought subcultures together—in this attention-deficit-disordered world.

THAT SAID, it's great fun to make connections with friends and even strangers that "get" what you're doing. One of my blog followers, "Catrita" expressed to me her interest in the little-known world (to me) of BJD's (ball-jointed dolls) in relating to me that she had a few that would make perfect tree fairies. Being an actual flesh-and-blood friend, she entrusted me with two dolls from her collection to photograph (they can be quite expensive). This is what can happen in 3-D (well, 2-D, at least from your view). I haven't played with dolls since my childhood next-door-neighbor, Fran and I played long hours together with my G.I. Joe dolls and and her Barbie and Ken dolls (way before the internet of course). And if playing with dolls had anything to do with me becoming a "tree fairy" myself, then I stand here before you. I had the gleam in my eye for glitter as early in life as I can remember and I've been known to actually hug a real-live tree (the energy can be incredible). There is a certain wisdom to be found in what sparks the eye and connects you to the earth.

WITH CUPID  in flight again this Valentine season (and two BJD's in my hands), it seemed to be a fitting time to explore the mythology of tree faeries. Catrita's doll (above) is Puki Cupid made by Fairyland of Korea. With pointy cupid ears, she's an impish sort. The larger of the two dolls (top) is Lilac Fairy, a OOAK (one-of-a-kind) doll by Berdine Creedy. She’s not as mischievous as Cupid, but she’s just as happy absorbing the world around her.

CELTIC mythology is rich with fairy lore. Many trees found in Celtic countries were thought to have magical powers. They served as homes to fairies, demons and all sorts of woodland myths and beliefs that hold a certain resonance to this day. Oak, ash and thorn trees figure most prominently in this myth-making. But, it depends on what part of the Celtic world you might be exploring as to what trees were most significant. For instance, elder grows abundantly on the Isle of Man in the Irish sea and it is commonly thought of as the ‘fairy tree’. Many elder trees in Ireland were thought haunted by fairies or demons. See what happens when people hold time in their hands? They fashion whole new worlds. Who's to say they're not just channeling stories from an alternate reality? 

I LIKE  to think, that if anything is home to mythological creatures, trees would be the most likely place to find them. It's fun to imagine all sorts of fairies, cupids, nymphs, fawns, gnomes, trolls and leprechauns living in a vast networked subculture right under our noses, only for us to discover when we're ready to step away from the computer screen. It wouldn't hurt to direct our attention back toward the natural and metaphysical world, even for a concentrated moment. We might tap into something we've lost that is just as powerful as modern technology. The mythology passed down through history has a way of bubbling back to the surface to remind us we're a part of something larger than ourselves. Whatever catches the corner of your eye, if you focus your attention long enough, can bring the fuller view back into focus. That's where the surprises of the mind's eye can meet your vision.

THOUGHT BUBBLE | (Top): Lilac Fairy, a one-of-a-kind (OOAK) ball-jointed doll by Berndine Creedy peers gracefully from within an open glass globe I bought at Bungalow in Atlanta (my favorite furniture store) a few years back.

BUBBLICIOUS | (Above): Puki Cupid, made by Fairyland of Korea is ready for the Valentine season. She sits with outstretched arms looking for affection. A glass votive globe from Pottery Barn, dotted with little nibs is a perfect bubble from which an imp can view the world.

©2010 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

photography and styling by Darryl Moland

hindsight is twenty-"ten"

LOOKING BACK as one is wont to do at the beginning of the first decade of the second millennium, it's always the practice to resolve to not make mistakes of the past. As for the future though, superstitious beliefs abound. In the American South, eating collard greens for prosperity and black-eyed peas or Hoppin' John for luck is part of the New Year's ritual. I had some of each, although on New Year's Eve at an early dinner at the Collonade. Maybe by doing that, it only helped me through the last few hours of 2009. It has not been an especially easy year for anyone (that I know, at least). Our vision is not always perfectly clear in looking back. We have to "be in the now" to really find that elusive moment of clarity. That is a resolution for anyone—to be aware of and in the moment when conducting daily life.

IT WAS THE SECOND year that I've adopted the Spanish tradition of consuming “las doce uvas de la suerte” (or the 12 grapes of luck) at the turn of the clock at midnight, along with a glass of bubbly (or wine, as we did this year). Each grape represents a month in the new year—some sour, some sweet—as I'm sure they will be. We're ushering in a new decade and have that chance again to make this the decade known for something. I'm not sure what label we'll stick on the decade that began with a two and three zeros. With the word "Twitter" being the top word of 2009 (in the English language at least), I wonder if anyone can sum up the decade in 140 characters? It has been quite a time of upheaval and limbo in many ways. 

IT'S NOT ALWAYS what we say but what we do. The following quote from one of the most notorious people in the last decade really sums up what unsettling and contemptuous rhetoric the decade has brought:

"As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say, we know they're some things we do not know. But there're also unknown unknowns; the ones we don't know we don't know."

Did you get that? That quote was from U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on February 12, 2002. No matter whether it effectively explained why the U.S. government had no idea what it was doing by invaded Iraq—in taking it out of context it points not so succinctly to many unsure missteps we have made collectively. 

ALL I CAN SAY is that I still believe in and wish for peace in the world. As time continues to tick away, the planet is getting smaller every day technologically and the people of the world are understaning and reasoning with each other in more civilized and succinct ways.

HATS OFF | Toasting 2010, Jon and I had a glass of wine with a skewer of 12 grapes, representing each month of the year—a Spanish tradition (above, right). The 2009 top hat ornament is from Martha Stewart Everyday Modern Celebration line at Kmart. The 2010 headband is from Target. 

TIME FOR PEACE | A delicate hourglass from Target (above, left) sits next to a past season's top-hatted Dee Foust licensed snowman figure produced by Bethany Lowe Designs that resembles an iconic New Year's image. It all overlooks a mercury glass globe ornament from my personal collection atop a glass-glittered peace sign ornament from Pottery Barn.

©2010 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

collecting, photography and styling by Darryl Moland

REAR VIEW | This surrealist image (above) of an uprooted fir tree as car air freshener was found on a Catalonian blogger's site that commented on my blog this past August from French photographer Cédric Delsaux. I'm sharing the smile of irony it gave me. Hindsight is not unlike a rear-view mirror.

tree of treats

AT HALLOWEEN, the usual distinctions between the living and the dead, children and adults, fun and fear are mysteriously blurred. The magic of the season lies in the progression of summer to fall and the onward march to winter. Autumnal colors brighten the landscape with a blaze of color, but eventually turn brown and fall to the ground to nourish the soil. It's all part of the continuous circle of life and death with the promise of rebirth in the coming spring. The Halloween tree is a recent phenomenon and is fast becoming a holiday fixture. It's fun to transform a traditional Winter/Christmas concept. 

THIS HALLOWEEN treat tree (above) is made of black crimped wire formed into a trunk with spiked branches creating a spindly silhouette. It is decorated with large metal cones painted to resemble candy corn which are filled with Halloween candy. Similarly, the first modern Christmas trees were hung with fruits, nuts, cookies and pastries. Blown glass ravens with black feather tails perch precariously and glittery wire spiders hang and crawl about—to represent the circle of life and death and pay homage to the natural world. Ravens are incredibly intelligent birds and have the ability to mimic many sounds. Because of this, they are considered wise and to possess powers of prophesy. A small autumnal tableau of pumpkins and gourds are at the base of the tree and Halloween candy is scattered about. The two pumpkins below the base are carved with a folk art tree of life and a black cat, it's back arched in classic Halloween style. The metal crow to the left is pecking at a bowl of candy treats. "Happy Halloween!" letters are strung together behind, along with a witch flying across the moon.

THE MOST CREATIVE public display of an autumnal tree I've seen was a fifty-foot tall pumpkin tree artfully composed with vines and artificial pumpkins of every shape and size. It appeared at Stone Mountain Park in the Crossroads area a few years back. I went back this year expecting to get pictures of a similar tree, but it wasn't to be found. Rarely do I see a commercially decorated tree of this size with such a magical natural-looking quality.

I JUST DISCOVERED Ray Bradbury's book, The Halloween Tree  and although I haven't read it, I'm intrigued. Below is the Amazon.com review of the hardcover edition:

. . . Eight boys set out on a Halloween night and are led into the depths of the past by a tall, mysterious character named Moundshroud. They ride on a black wind to autumn scenes in distant lands and times, where they witness other ways of celebrating this holiday about the dark time of year. Bradbury's lyrical prose whooshes along with the pell-mell rhythms of children running at night, screaming and laughing, and the reader is carried along by its sheer exuberance.

Bradbury's stories about children are always attended by dread—of change, adulthood, death. The Halloween Tree, while sweeter than his adult literature, is also touched at moments by the cold specter of loss—which is only fitting for a holiday in honor of the waning of the sun.

This is a superb book for adults to read to children, a way to teach them, quite painlessly, about customs and imagery related to Halloween from ancient Egypt, Mediterranean cultures, Celtic Druidism, Mexico, and even a cathedral in Paris. (One caveat, though: Bradbury unfortunately perpetuates a couple of misconceptions about Samhain, or summer's end, the Halloween of ancient Celts and contemporary pagans.) —Fiona Webster

FRIGHTFULLY FESTIVE | Decorating this "Halloween treat tree" (top, right), wire spiders hang from chains atop a wooden pedestal all from Pottery Barn (a few years back), while the metal crow was bought there this season. The rustic metal candy corn cones are from the workbench of Tom Guffe, created exclusively for Ohio Wholesale, Inc. and found at a shop in the Crossroads at Stone Mountain Park. The glittery spiders are from Z Gallerie. Five raven ornaments stand guard and are manufactured by the Merck family's Old World Christmas. The small matte orange and black glass baubles are from Borders. The "Happy Halloween" letter garland is from Martha Stewart Holidays and was found at Target.

PUMPKIN PRODUCTION | This incredibly artful pumpkin tree (above, left) graced the Crossroads at Stone Mountain Park in Georgia for the annual pumpkin festival for a few years. Regretfully, it didn't appear this year.

ORANGE GLOW | Ray Bradbury's original painting (left) for his classic book, "The Halloween Tree" was created in 1960.

©2009 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, collecting, photography and styling by Darryl Moland

the secret life of leaves

Deciduous \De*cid"u*ous\
Falling off, or subject to fall or be shed, at a certain season,
or a certain stage or interval of growth, as leaves
(except of evergreens) . . . [1913 Webster]

THERE  IS  A   "reason for the season" as they say. You can look at it a number of ways. The holiday season's visual focal point is the decorated evergreen tree, around which everything else revolves in most cases—even in households that don't celebrate Christmas per se. It is also a reverent celebration of birth and a hope for rebirth of man's spirit. In any case, I prefer to meld the disparate (or are they?) belief systems into one. All are symbolic of new life and rebirth in a profound way—and pay homage to their roots, no matter how popular custom has been morphed to fit one belief system or another. Its obvious to me that the resonance of the first beliefs and rituals involving decorating a tree of any sort is at the core of our central belief in nature and who we are as part of the natural world.

THE  INCREASING  prevalence of all sorts of leaf ornaments has been unmistakable in the past few years. It's no doubt because of the focus on the environment with concerns of global warming (or climate change, as it inexplicably became termed). Broadly, it is reconciliation between man and nature—an atonement for an unbridled growth (due to greed) of man's command over nature. The human race is realizing the awesome power of forces beyond our control and being put in our place—as a working part of the natural world, not the controller of it. Global crisis involves more than the obvious weather shifts and such. We have to educate ourselves with how our food is produced. Meat farming and food crops have already been seized by large corporations and industrialized and genetically modified, producing disease and making farmers into indentured servants. A lot of farmers are forced to not even save their seeds! They have to buy the new line of genetically modified ones for next season or face bankruptcy. And the very essence of life—water is being traded as a commodity as I write. To quote a line from a well-remembered 70's TV commercial, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature." The product it advertised was doing just that. I'll side with Mother Nature and have real butter from grass-fed and hormone-free cow's milk, thank you very much.

DECORATING  an evergreen tree with deciduous leaves (or representatives of such), is a meld of the processes of life and death (which is deciduous) with the hope of everlasting life (which is evergreen). When ideas come together like that, we come to the realization that everything is connected in nature and that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

I  WISH  LIFE, in general, could be more like that. We all get caught up with the end result instead of recognizing that the journey is the most important part. In my view, being open to a myriad of ideas and taking the time to absorb and learn from them are what makes life exciting—no matter how scary or messy it might get. And that's definitely something to think about—something that carries your spirit back home—to being a humble and reverent part of something bigger than yourself—Mother Earth.

LEAF COLLECTION | (Above, clockwise from bottom left): A golden maple leaf with a tiny jingle bell attached from the Martha Stewart Everyday/Golden Traditions line at Kmart, a mercury glass maple leaf, a bronze leaf with a tiny acorn attached from the Martha Stewart/Golden Traditions line at Kmart, a glass ivy leaf, and a large silver leaf from Pottery Barn—all atop a 100% recycled fiber paper/soy ink book-bound journal from greenroom eco / clementine paper, inc. at Target.

©2009 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
collecting, photography and styling by Darryl Moland