The trees have a story to share. I want to preserve the memory of these legacies in a way that honors the past and leaves a footprint for the future. With beautifully distinctive tree ring ink prints, we capture the time capsule of a tree. These art prints are a way to fund the future and reforest the tree canopies of northern Ohio by using a portion of the proceeds to fund tree planting.
History:
Moses Cleaveland landed at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River on July 22, 1796, nearly 225 years ago. In the mid-1940s, 150 Moses Cleaveland (MC) trees were selected throughout Cuyahoga county to commemorate the founding of our city.
Age, infection, disease, and development have caused many of these trees to be lost over the years. In 2020, the MC tree in front of Roosevelt Elementary School in Lakewood was removed as much of it was dying and in decay.
My Plan:
I am crafting a limited number of woodcut relief ink prints from the remnants of this Moses Cleaveland (MC) Tree. These will be on exhibit and sold and/or auctioned off with a portion of the proceeds going to fund rebuilding the tree canopy in our urban areas.
There is also a second tree that was given the name "The Grand Abby Oak" that sadly came down in Bay Village a few months ago. This oak has a 5 1/2 - 6 foot wide diameter trunk. It is estimated to be 350-400 years old, but was not officially designated as a Moses Cleaveland tree. However, it was likely present at the time that Cleveland was founded based on its age. We don't currently have access to a large trunk cookie slice of a designated Moses Cleaveland tree, so we are hoping to use parts of the Grand Abby Oak tree as a proxy. In the spirit of the "Forest City", a portion of the proceeds from sales of limited prints from these trees will be donated to plant more trees in our community.
My hope is also to use the funds toward ordering screen-printed shirts and reusable totes of the MC tree print available for purchase at the anniversary celebrations. A portion of these proceeds will also benefit reforesting our "Forest City".
I want to align with the decline of iconic area trees so that we can plant the future by paying tribute to their history. Over time, there will be more that come down – let’s make them stand for something.
More details can be found at CLETreeRevival.com
Your donation will cover the project expenses in time to celebrate the 225th anniversary of the founding of Cleveland. Thank you in advance!
