View a gallery album from Portraits of American Trees
Read features published in The Berkshire Eagle and The Berkshire Edge
Through October 31, fine arts photographer Tom Zetterstrom will exhibit three-dozen gelatin silver prints from his Portraits of American Trees portfolio in the Garden's Leonhardt Galleries. Gallery hours are daily, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Zetterstrom’s photographs are represented in the collections of over 40 museums nationally, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Getty Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, and in the Library of Congress “Changing American Landscape” holdings, as well as in numerous private and corporate collections.
In his forty-year quest across North America, Zetterstrom has gathered images of innumerable species from a wide range of topographies and ecosystems. As forests ecosystems decline, he continues to search for the most memorable trees, those “curious survivors slowly rising like giants through the centuries”.
“Zetterstrom’s portraits of trees partake in a tradition whose roots lie deep in nineteenth-century photography and painting,” wrote Charles S. Moffett, former director of the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. “(His) images reflect moods and ideas that are at least indirectly related to British and American Romantic traditions. He has both built a bridge to the past and created a body of work that fully reflects a particular late-twentieth century sensibility.”
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Talks and Programs
Portraits of American Trees: The Photography of Tom Zetterstrom
3 Gallery Talks at the Leonhardt Galleries
Portraits of American Trees, with notes on art, horticulture and forest habitat:
Since the 1970’s Tom Zetterstrom has photographed trees throughout the Northeast and from coast to coast. Learn more about seeing trees in black and white, and the art of tree photography.
Sunday, September 19, 1-2 PM
Sunday, October 10, 11-noon
Sunday, October 24, 11-noon
Saturday, October 30, noon-1
Whose Woods These Are environmental lectures:
Defeating Japanese Knotweed on the Wild and Scenic Housatonic
Knotweed rapidly forms monocultures, excludes all native plants in its wake, while canceling the rich interactive diversity normally associated with riparian eco-systems. Learn how a consortium of environmental organizations and land trusts demonstrated effective knotweed eradication methods and restored native plants on the banks of the Wild and Scenic Housatonic in northwest Connecticut.
September 25, 10-11:30 AM, Education Center.
History and Preservation of the American Elm in New England
Tom Zetterstrom initiated Elm Watch in 1999 to protect the Baldwin Hill Elm from the threat of Dutch elm disease and launched a regional effort with Tim Abbott of The Nature Conservancy to “adopt” specimen elms in our tri-state region. Several of these elms remain on the landscape. National Arboretum research on disease resistant elm cultivars in 2001 prompted elm restoration nationally. Learn what elm cultivars performed well and how to reduce the risk of Dutch elm disease.
October 2, 3:30-5:00, Center House Classroom. Register here.
Defeating Oriental Bittersweet and Preserving Standing Forests
Bittersweet, the tree-killing vine, can undo a century of forest succession in a generation by strangling, encapsulating and collapsing trees, resulting in dramatic reduction of carbon sequestration and eco-system services. Learn how land trusts, parks and campuses are efficiently and effectively defeating invasive vines and shrubs, maintaining trails and restoring inherent beauty and balance to natural areas. 10 AM talk, followed by 11 AM invasive identification and management workshop.
October 9, 10-12noon, Center House Classroom. Register here.
Pruning Young Elms: Crown Structure Training to Promote Longevity
Tom Zetterstrom was a major contributor of photographs and text for the widely respected Pruning Young Elms manual published by the University of Minnesota in 2009. He has lectured on elm pruning throughout the Northeast. This talk is designed for arborists, tree wardens, arboretum directors and staff and nursery and landscape professionals, and will provide Continuing Education Units. A hands-on pruning workshop by arborist Kieran Yaple of Race Mountain Tree Services, will follow the talk. Kieran will prune the Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Princeton American elm, which was planted in 2003.
October 30, 10-noon, lecture and pruning workshop, Education Center Classroom.
This program is eligible for ISA and MAA CEU credits. Register here.