At a fork in the road, I came to the University of Scranton in 1983 to pursue an undergraduate degree in Philosophy.  I will never forget driving beneath the majestic canopies of the summer hardwood forests of Northeastern Pennsylvania, as the filtered light danced through the shade (figure 2).  I had never seen such vast expanses of deciduous trees. All I had ever known were the noble conifers of the West of which I had become somewhat inured.  As exciting as those shaded back roads of Pennsylvania were that summer, nothing could have prepared me for the first season of fall that I would witness in the Pennsylvania woods. The festival of coloration heightened my colorist sensibilities as a painter. Then as quickly as those brilliant colors appeared, they were gone a few short weeks later. Soon I would experience the death of nature, a phenomenon which the evergreen trees did not appear to undergo. The rich verdant canopies, the vibrant fall foliage, and the nakedness of hardwood trees in winter revealed to me what seemed to mirror human experiences: the sense of gain and loss, life and death, the letting go process of life itself, and the ever renewing cycle of new life and surprises in nature.  Author Joyce Rupp in Praying our Goodbyes, describes the spirituality of change which I equate with my art. In her book she seeks to provide meaning for anyone who has experienced loss as she poignantly and poetically unveils the quite common sensation of loss, whether loss of friendship or a job, loss of self esteem, or a midlife crisis, or the loss of a loved one. The tree whose leaves fall to the ground by one gust of wind describes in vivid fashion how suddenly life can change in an instant. At any given time in our lives there will always be a little corner of autumn.[1]

How blessed we are to have all around us the very reminders of the stages of our lives in the marvelous forests of Pennsylvania; the very name literally means Penn’s Woods. Yet current statistics reveal an alarming rate of change in our State’s forests. In 1630 approximately 95 percent of Pennsylvania was covered by forests, but by the middle of the 1800s almost all of the viable forests were harvested to make way for farming and were ravaged to feed the voracious appetite for wood by a rapidly growing nation. The inventory of trees in our State hit its all time low in 1907 falling to a rate of 30 percent of the 30 million acres of land we share. Since then the forests have steadily but disproportionately recovered and now about 58 percent of the State’s acreage is covered by forests, as of 2002. However, according to the Bureau of Forestry, certain areas of our State, especially in the southeast and south-central portions, are losing vast amounts of forests due to overdevelopment and urban sprawl.[2]

Why is this significant?  The Bureau of Forestry maintains that most of the trees in the State currently belong to a category known as “even-aged” forests because so many of the trees were cut down at the same time in the 1850s.  While many of Pennsylvania’s trees may be the same age, they vary greatly in size due to genetics, soil conditions, and variations in species. Adding to the problems, the timber industry of today continues to harvest the larger, more valuable trees, leaving behind the smaller, less desirable, more vulnerable, inferior, and slower growing trees, to feed a tremendous appetite for goods such as hardwood floors and furniture within and outside of Pennsylvania, across the United States and beyond her borders. The current imbalance in our forests has lead to a plethora of ecological problems.[3]

White-tailed deer were at their lowest numbers in the early 1900s, ranging only in the thousands, which is a strong indicator that their browsing did not inhibit the growth of the smaller trees or the progress of the forests. Yet it is now estimated that there are approximately 1.6 million white-tailed deer in Pennsylvania and they are severely impeding the regeneration of the forests.[4]

While we may imagine that vast stands of large trees are a sign of a healthy forest, the realized effect is quite the opposite. Certain species of plants and animals thrive best under smaller strands of trees; others thrive more favorably under larger strands of trees. Now, because of the current imbalance, this reversal of our forests has led to widespread detriments to our ecological system of plants and wildlife.  The better scenario, the so-called uneven or “multiple-aged” forest stands, provides a very unique habitat for indigenous species of plants, animals and insects. But due to a rapidly changing ratio of tree sizes and changing numbers of species of trees, the precious balance of the forests is completely off kilter. Pennsylvania has a variety of over 100 species of trees. Their composition is important as they supply the nutritional needs of the animal and plant life of our forests.  Properly diverse and balanced forests are relatively free of the adverse effects of damaging insects; they prevent the erosion of the soils, keep our water systems clean, and properly maintain the climate and air quality of our atmosphere.[5]

Compounding the complexities of our forests in various states of decline in the State is another deleterious situation to the overall well-being of our Commonwealth, namely, urban sprawl.  In the year 2000, a study of twenty-one major communities across the State of Pennsylvania was conducted. It identified five major costs associated with urban sprawl: 1) sprawl concentrates poverty and accelerates socio-economic decline in our cities, towns and older suburbs; 2) sprawl increases pollution and stress; 3) sprawl increases the costs of transportation; 4) sprawl exacerbates the costs of roads, housing, schools and utilities; and, 5) sprawl consumes agricultural lands, natural areas, and open spaces.[6]

There is virtually no open space on our planet that has not been touched by humans, not even outer space.  As our numbers increase as a population, the aforementioned harmful conditions will only worsen.  As we look at our forests we can see that they are suffering and in danger of irreversible harm.  Like the artists of many of the important artistic movements who have passionately labored before us, art must still be seen as a powerful tool whereby we can transform and protect our world.  I hope that through my art, especially my paintings of the wonderful trees of Pennsylvanian I can both take snapshots of places yet relatively unspoiled, and raise awareness, like the artists of old, of the pressing need to change the world by first changing ourselves.

 One of the greatest experiences and challenges of being an artist is to authentically express my worldview through the medium of oil painting. In a fast paced world of easy speak through emails and texting, and the constant barrage of often painful and ugly images in print or on television, it is incumbent on me as an artist to present nature in a new light, allowing the viewer to slow down, to find the good, and respond to art’s invitation to work for what is best and beautiful in self and others.

Scaling the mountain and genius of the art world at Marywood University and beyond, in pursuit of a Master of fine Arts in Visual Arts, in an atmosphere of intellectual and creative questioning, has been exhilarating, challenging and meaningful. I have tried to be authentic and true to my own artistic longing to create something beautiful, especially with color in nature.

I find a tremendous amount of solace in painting nature.  As it is being daily eaten away by our consumerism, in a hurried world where we are defined by what we do rather than who we are as human beings, artists still have an opportunity to invite others to savor the joy of life, to be keepers of meaning, and to be cultivators and curators of the primitive and spiritual essence of existence through art.