In 2006 in response to theme “Forests of West Marin,” for The Wild Book Show, the annual fundraiser for Gallery Route One, I was almost stumped…literally and figuratively.
As I walked Bear Valley Trail I kept thinking about trees and their stately grandeur. Richard has so beautifully chronicled our many sojourns there in his Bear Valley Trail-Winter, the volume he wrote and illustrated, the second in this series, that he contributed to the auction.
Although I find deep inspiration in the forest, I also feel the presence of trees, their deathly presence, every day at the post office in the piles and piles of junk mail – vast quantities of unwanted solicitations. I was horrified when I learned that every year some 62 million trees are felled. Junk mail creates four million tons of printable waste each year and 44% off all junk mail is unopened, unread and trashed.
This JuNK STuMP, tree stump, contains junk mail gleanings from a typical day at the Forest Knolls 94933 post office: cards explaining Internet services, reports about lucrative investments, travel brochures to exotic destinations, glossy catalogs for lifestyle fashions, home accessories, mountaineering gear and deluxe garden tools. And, because of the recent election, there is a preponderance of politcal harangues.
In a tree, the rings are a record of the fluctuations of the weather and other environmental influences. This stack will tell future generations about our fluctuating desires and what influences we consider to be important.
What will they read between the lines?
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Books and Things 