We’re proud to be a partner in The Blue Trees, a socially-driven art action created by Australian artist Konstantin Dimopoulos. The Blue Trees will temporarily and dramatically transform trees in Seattle’s Westlake Park and along the Burke-Gillman Trail in Kenmore beginning April 2. Using water-based, environmentally safe pigment, Dimopoulos and a team of community volunteers will color the trees a striking ultramarine blue to inspire awareness and discussion about global deforestation. The trees will gradually revert back to their natural state. The installation extends and reinterprets the original project launched in April 2011 at the Vancouver Biennale.
Every year the planet loses some 32 million acres of old growth forests. Dimopoulos states, “Through my work I am striving to address global issues and provide a visual platform to affect change. So many universal concerns seem larger than an individual’s power of influence and I want to evoke in people the idea that we can all contribute to change in a positive way.”
Blue is a color that is not naturally identified with trees and suggests that something unusual, something out of the ordinary is happening. In nature, color is used both as a means of protection and as a mechanism to attract. The Blue Trees is an attempt to elicit a similar response from viewers and inspire conversation and action around deforestation issues.
Participate
Over the course of eight days, the artist and volunteers will transform 16 existing honey locust trees at Westlake Park in downtown Seattle and 40 newly planted jacquemontii birch trees along the Burke-Gilman Trail near Northeast Bothell Way and 80th Avenue Northeast in Kenmore. Volunteers interested in participating at Westlake Park can contact Adele Dimopoulos at info@kondimopoulos.com or (206) 890-4315. Volunteers interested in participating in the installation along the Burke-Gilman Trail should contact Laurie Clinton, volunteer program coordinator, at laurie.clinton@kingcounty.gov or (206) 296-4452.
The Blue Trees is presented by 4Culture, the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks, Seattle Parks and Recreation, and the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, and is supported in part by Courtyard Marriott Hotel, Curator PR, King County Wastewater Treatment Division, and a generous private donation.
For more information on The Blue Trees, go here.
Image: © Konstantin Dimopoulos,The Blue Trees: Trees in Blossom, Vancouver Biennale 2011: City of Port Moody, Canada. Photo by: Manfred Kraus Photography.
