Vulnerable and Vanishing Trees Exhibit

Overview

Don’t miss experiencing this solo exhibition of paintings and photographic silk screens by Florida-based Artist Carin Wagner. Through her ever-expanding Vulnerable & Vanishing Trees series, the artist highlights the loss of tree species as a result of climate collapse. Informed by in-depth research, field work, and collaboration with tree experts, the immersive installation highlights dozens of the 330+ tree species identified as vulnerable, endangered, and/or critically endangered.

“My work provides an important bridge between the scientists working to protect the trees and the communities that are affected by the loss of the trees,” said Wagner. “It is my mission to bring awareness to the disappearance of our precious forests.”

Using panoramic photographs of individual trees, Wagner painstakingly excises each tree silhouette from its background environment to create a negative image. Printed onto transparent silk banners and suspended in space, these towering images represent a Ghost Forest of dozens of individual trees. Complementing her ethereal monochromatic Forest are several colorful large-scale photo-realistic oil on linen paintings. Through these painted works, she captures detailed lines of leaves, plus intricate bark and light reflection patterns of several vulnerable species including the American Chestnut, Green Ash, Virginia Round Leaf Birch, and Blue Ash, among others.

As visitors move between the vibrant paintings and the ghostly monochromatic suspended images, the artist intends to convey the life-or-death situation of endangered trees. Wagner’s work has been exhibited throughout the U.S. including the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art, Coral Springs Museum of Art, Boca Raton Museum of Art and Cornell Museum in Delray. Her work has been featured in American Art Collector magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, the book Grand Ambition by G. Bruce Knecht, and many regional publications.