https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/May-27-CHMA-Paul-Griffin-Elegy-for-an-Elm-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\nThis is not the first elm-centred work by Griffin. Visitors to the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown may recall a large sculpture of an elm trunk completely covered in galvanized roofing nails, called Leviathan. Before that, Griffin also created Sarcophagus for an Elm, which finds its home on the Universit\u00e9 de Moncton campus.<\/p>\n
The newest piece stands apart from its predecessors in that it\u2019s completely covered in copper sheeting, giving it a brilliant orange sheen that will slowly oxidize and change over time. Elegy for an Elm was created about a year ago in Griffin\u2019s workshop, and has been waiting for a home since. Then recently Griffin noticed an ideal spot on the Cranewood grounds. \u201cI thought this is such a beautiful aesthetic spot under these trees,\u201d says Griffin, \u201cand I thought that\u2019s where that\u2019s where I should put it.\u201d He spoke with Cranewood owners Malcolm and Debbie Fisher, who agreed. \u201cIt all appeared the next morning,\u201d says Griffin, \u201cso Malcolm was quite surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n
Griffin says his interest in elm trees dates back to his childhood outside Ottawa, when he noticed \u201cghost like forms out in the forest\u201d, the remains of elms ravaged by Dutch Elm disease. He says he felt \u201ca mixture of kind of formal attraction, and then also, a kind of empathy for the loss of something.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mount Allison campus was once home to a number of elm trees. The \u2018Elegy\u2019 tree once stood in front of Campbell Hall, and when it was being cut down, Griffin asked if he could take the tree and work with it.<\/p>\n
Griffin guesses that Elegy for an Elm weighs between one and a half to two tonnes, so heavy equipment help was needed to move it to the Cranewood site. He says he\u2019s often worked with local contractors like Bowser\u2019s Construction or D&B Towing to get his work done, and finds them open and interested in what he\u2019s doing. \u201cOften people kind of put forward the idea that there\u2019s a kind of tension or antipathy between trades and the arts. Well that\u2019s never been the case with me,\u201d he says. \u201cI find Sackville is very supportive of the arts and I think it gives a breadth and a depth to the town where every spectrum is highlighted and developed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Griffin\u2019s work bridges the industrial and the natural worlds, using construction materials to accentuate and highlight natural features and beauty. He\u2019s been happy to see how people engage with his pieces. \u201cOne of the first things they do is they reach out to touch it, they kind of caress it,\u201d says Griffin. \u201cAnd that\u2019s not something that you should do with construction materials.\u201d That, to Griffin, signifies success in his work to fuse the industrial and natural elements.<\/p>\n
For Griffin, the Elegy for an Elm is part homage to a century-old tree, and part a fascination with the shape, or the crux of the elm. \u201cIt\u2019s almost a slow ballet of biology\u201d says Griffin, \u201cwhere the branches depart the trunks at certain points in time, and they form these really interesting shapes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was what attracted me,\u201d says Griffin, \u201cis this divergence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Earlier this month a large, shining, copper-covered shape appeared on the grounds of Cranewood Cafe and Bakery on Main Street. The striking sculpture, called Elegy for an Elm, is the work of artist Paul Griffin, and at its heart is an American Elm tree that once stood on the Mount Allison campus. CHMA met artist…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":97512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[219],"tags":[14960,1221,14959,3619],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97506"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97532,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97506\/revisions\/97532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97506"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=97506"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=97506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}