nature versus grace

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 

—Job 38: 4,7

THE MOVIE The Tree of Life opens, with this scripture from the Book of Job. It follows with many more existential questions calmly voiced-over the film's amazing sun-soaked cinematography. The characters of the family it focuses on are the voices asking these questions. The movie takes you on a journey through time and memory that is as intense as it is calm. 

THE MOTHER pronounces in the opening dialog: "There are two ways through life. The way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you will follow. Nature, we are told, is selfish and full of itself. Grace is love, and the giving of oneself to a higher calling or power." It's a broad-brushed statement of the constant struggle of patriarchy versus matriarchy—nature and grace—if you will. But the point of the movie is how we all eventually come to terms with nature and the harsh realities of life and death. Our inherent grace only stays intact in finding love throughout the journey.

THE QUIET MOMENTS of the movie are interspersed with open-ended questions about life and a particular death of a son and brother. Where were you? How did you let this happen? Was he bad? It isn't a film made from narrative, but rather thoughts and images . . . "more like an experience, than a movie," as Devin said, with whom I first saw the movie. It took us on a journey through the foundations of life itself. This journey pulls you up by your heartstrings. 

I FOUND myself quietly tearing up in moments I didn't expect. The movie tugs at your inner core and brings up emotions from deep inside. It forces you to relate to the characters because their story is told in a universal way, rather than completely delving into the ego of personalities. Its success is found in relating the vastness of our common connectedness to time and memory.

IT ESPECIALLY resonates with me since the movie's family is based in the American South—Texas in the 1950s. Since I'm also a boy from a small Southern town (in Alabama), there are many instances in the film that that moved me closely to my own memories. The movie jumps from a place in the 1950s, to modern day, back to the primordial beginnings of life on earth in a dreamlike way. I grew up in the '60s instead, but it resonated in an almost direct way, since small town life then had not quite caught up with the tumultuous sixties. Back then, we only had the evening news instead of a 24/7 barrage of information and mindless chatter on television. It was a much quieter existence with time to sit and think.

BECAUSE OF THIS, the movie is not one that most audiences will have the patience for within a blend of summer blockbusters in this age of extreme stimulation. But I am one who can enjoy something just for the visual aspect.  This movie is at-once, both visual and visceral—and I've seen it twice. The gentle revelations made are like quiet visual poetry. It only directly informs through universal thoughts and snippets of visual consciousness. It's not pretense, but a genuine and sincere impressionistic work of art.

HOW DO YOU make a tree for such a broad subject? Have you ever planted a tree to commemorate an event or a person and seen its growth years later? How do you decide what to do? Devin brought me these beautiful hand-painted white chocolate frogs from a recent visit he made to New York. His challenge was for me to do a rain forest tree with them somehow. The more I thought about it, and knowing the scale and other problems I might have with a more traditional tree incorporating the camouflage-like frogs, I decided to use a series of plates with leaves from six different trees as a simple background as an implied way to serve them since they are edible "ornaments." It's a sort of studied communion. And it could be construed as a representation of the vastness of a rainforest in the most simple terms.

IF ONE STUDIES the picture, the negative spaces between the plates form a sort of tree. I thought a certain simplicity was the most direct way to show the multiplicity of specimen leaves from trees found growing near each other, yet relay each tree's ability to remember to make its own unique leaves in the cycle of the seasons.

TREE FROGS | (Top and above) In using the hand painted chocolate frogs made by Knipschildt Chocolatier, a gift from Devin from Dean & Deluca in New York City, NY; I selected leaves from trees while out on a morning walk with his dog. The Sam&Squito by Xiahe Co. bone china plates are subtly-patterned with a curved mesh design (which is hard to discern here).

TREE OF LIFE | (Above) I was definitely inspired by the poetry of this beautiful movie, written and directed by Terrence Malick and starring Brad Bitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. Here you see the posters made for the movie. The poster (Right) is simply more arresting.

THE WAY OF THE BROTHER | In the many reviews I've read about this movie, the following one by S. Brent Plate may be my favorite in making sense of the movie's complex themes. It also repeats a voice-over quote from the brother Jack from late in the movie that I think helps one understand there is no triumph of one over the other in the unresolved "versus" of nature and grace: “Father, Mother, always you wrestle inside me. Always you will.” Link to the review/essay here.

LEAFSNAP APP | (Left) Leafsnap is a free mobile application for your smart phone or iPad. It is the first in a series of electronic field guides being developed by researchers from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution, using visual recognition software to help identify tree species from photographs of their leaves on a white background. The app still has some kinks to work out (for instance, it works best only if you "snap it" through the app, rather than uploading a photo you've already made to it, but the more people use it, the better it will become.

©2011 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

photography and styling by Darryl Moland

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

tree of souls, tree of life

TREES  are symbols of life in the most profound ways. After all, they are the oldest living things on Earth. I was struck by the importance that a single tree in the movie Avatar took — The Tree of Souls. The movie could have been pure poetry. Visually it was astounding, but the dialog was cringe-worthy more often than not. Ultimately, it's one of those movies that sets a precedent for many new things to come in the movie-making industry. I've never seen a more flat-out, unapologetic and ecologically reverent/ anti-war movie. The most basic concept of the movie is about the struggle of our physical selves with the divine. It's definitely a movie to see, but don't strain too hard to listen. The symbolism is quite profound if you let your mind wander with the visual aspects and broader concepts of the movie without listening to some of the inane chatter.

THE   TREE   OF   SOULS, which grows as the alien Na'vi's sacred space in the movie Avatar, represents the eternal, where The Home Tree (symbolizing the Tree of Life) represents the temporal. The temporal things that are usually seen, and the eternal things that are not seen are pushed out-of-the-box in this movie. The movie's sacred Tree of Souls with it's willow-like luminescent strands allow the Na'vi to "link" by actual physical connection with their ancestral souls through "mother nature" represented by the tree. The Home Tree is just that — a home for an entire clan. Pandora, where the movie takes place, is a lush, Earth-like, moon of the planet Polyphemus.

IT'S   OBVIOUS  that the name of the moon is taken from the name of an ancient Greek goddess — the first mortal woman, Pandora. She was given something by each of the gods in Greek mythology including the well-known box she was told not to open. Of course Pandora's curiosity got the best of her and she opened the box, releasing all the evil and mistrust of the world. When Pandora looked at the bottom of the box, all she saw left was hope. Maybe this movie signals a shift from patriarchy back to matriarchy by its focus on a tree. Mother nature and war surely don't benefit from each other. There's definite hope in that concept.

THE   TREE   OF   LIFE  is a widely-interpreted metaphor used in science, religion, mythology and philosophy that illustrates that all life on earth is related. To me, the souls of trees resonate throughout nature and give a sense of life to many things, providing food and shelter, both physically and metaphorically. No one can dispute how important they are to all of us. Our place as a part of nature depends on this reverence. 

TREE ORNAMENTS | (Above, right) A delicate iridescent-glittered tree on a large clear glass globe contrasts with an extremely rare German ornament, known as a "Julekugle" made previous to WWII. Julekugles were decorated with Teutonic runes or symbols. This particular Julekugle has two different sides.The side pictured above is an apple tree, the symbol of life. The other side (at right) is a shield with a sun in the center as a symbol of the universe (or Eye of God). After 1942, recommendations made by the Nazi party regarding tree decorations used these Julekugles because they were symbols of Germanic ideology. Of course, all references to God were deleted. This is a piece of history that is rarely spoken about.

AVATAR | (Above, left) In a still from the movie Avatar, the two main characters (from left) Jake Sully (in his Avatar body) played by Sam Worthington and Neytiri, a native inhabitant of Pandora, played by Zoë Saldana.

TREE OF LIFE | (Left) This painting is one of the most beautiful representations of the tree of life I've seen. It combines an organic tree along with the mystical geometry of the Tree of Life. Painted in 2008 by Richard Quinn in Berkely, California, a print of this painting can be purchased here. The artist's statement about this painting says it best:

The Tree of Life is a mystical diagram representing the process by which the universe was created from nothing and a path back to the creator. It comes from the Kabbalah of esoteric Judaism. The Kabbalist seeks to know the universe and himself as the expression of God. 

I have incorporated this spiritual symbol into a living tree. Ten Sephiroths, here represented as spheres, express aspects of the Divine, such as The Divine Crown, Wisdom, Mercy, Justice, Beauty, Glory and Eternity. Also present in the symbol are 22 Paths or Relationships linking the various Names of the Divine.

The initiation of the Creation is at the top and flows through the various Sephiroths down into the condensing of the physical universe. It is then thought that the Divine energy reverses course and begins the ascent up the Tree to the origin from whence it sprang. Each Sphere or Sephiroth is associated with a particular color representing its energy or quality.

I believe the “Tree of Life” is one among a number of inspired attempts to express the profound mysteries that are inherent in the quest to gain insight into the nature of the origins of the Universe and ourselves and perhaps the much more daunting task – the nature of the Creator that brought into being such a Creation.  

—©2008 Richard Quinn

Tree of Life painting by Richard Quinn

 Avatar movie still distributed by 20th-Century Fox 

©2010 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

ornament photos: collecting, photography and styling by Darryl Moland