STORY BEHIND THE ART OF CLAUDIA LANE

Out of the Woods: Celebrating Trees in Public Gardens

The Third New York Botanical Garden Triennial

Maidenhair Tree

Ginkgo biloba

Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illinois

Fun! To me ginkgo trees look fun. A typical young ginkgo tree has a static profile marked by limbs sticking out stiffly from a straight trunk, while the leaves wrap in graceful, swirling patterns, encasing the rigid branches like soft sleeves. Add to that its environmental value as a pollution-fighter. Then consider its heritage as a "living fossil" from the age of the dinosaurs - what's not to like?

Pen and ink seem made for ginkgoes. The linear quality of the leaf veins, with their gently contoured, triangular shapes, produce interesting patterns and challenging foreshortening. These attributes lend themselves to the crisp clarity of pen & ink. I decided to focus on the tree's playful personality. I enjoyed working within the constraint of a square format, employing Koh-I-Noor rapidograph pens on Strathmore 4-ply plate-finish Bristol board. 

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