Story Info
Story Info
Phoebe Godfrey
Willimantic CT
2023
Type of Wounded Place
Story & Experience
Last year we planted a tree in our garden to replace a 100 year old maple tree that fell in a hurricane ( our second tree lost to one). We decided to keep the fallen maple as an arch. The new tree we planted had been abandoned and we tried to save it but sadly it was late and it died. Instead of cutting it down we attached a sculpture of a radical joy bird and serpent. The design of the two creatures were based on art work done by my mother in whose memory we had originally planted the tree. The material used for the sculpture was an abandoned 1970s dishwasher from a junk heap that I used a plasma cutter to make the design. Everyone who visits our garden is always enchanted and these creatures add even more joy. Our town is a depressed and impoverished old mill town and our land was desolate when we moved in but now it is transformed and full of life!
Last year we planted a tree in our garden to replace a 100 year old maple tree that fell in a hurricane ( our second tree lost to one). We decided to keep the fallen maple as an arch. The new tree we planted had been abandoned and we tried to save it but sadly it was late and it died. Instead of cutting it down we attached a sculpture of a radical joy bird and serpent. The design of the two creatures were based on art work done by my mother in whose memory we had originally planted the tree. The material used for the sculpture was an abandoned 1970s dishwasher from a junk heap that I used a plasma cutter to make the design. Everyone who visits our garden is always enchanted and these creatures add even more joy. Our town is a depressed and impoverished old mill town and our land was desolate when we moved in but now it is transformed and full of life!
Why this Place?
Willimantic CT
This place is actually my garden which when we first bought our house was a desolate piece of land but with years of love and labor we have transformed it.
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