Progressive Wednesday

Renewing our effort to “re-tree”

A few months ago I wrote about the devastating effects that the early Buffalo snowstorm last October had on the western New York area, and especially the region's tree population. The number of dead or damaged trees was astounding, and now that number is projected to be even higher. According to the Buffalo News:

Early damage assessments revealed 300 trees needed to be replaced in Olmsted parks and parkways, with another 2,300 at risk for the next five years. In the City of Buffalo, 7,400 trees along rights of way would have to be taken away. And outside the city, where numbers are sketchier, initial estimates were that about 22,000 trees would have to be removed in Erie and Niagara counties. Some say the estimate could be higher.

These estimates do not take into account the number of trees that were destroyed on personal property or in wild areas. We asked you before to help out one of the groups with plans to “re-tree– the area. Now we're begging.

Here is a list of groups dedicated to planting restoring the tree population:

• Re-tree WNY – “ They hope to plant 30,000 trees over the next five years and secure $10 million in donations and public funds for the project.
• Buffalo Green Fund – “ The Reforest Buffalo Committee has been planting trees for years and is upping its efforts within the city.
• The Olmsted Conservancy ReLeaf – “ They are focusing on the Olmstead Park with a goal to plant 500 new trees.

There are other collegiate and private organizations involved replanting in the area as well as educating the public on how they can help. This is a very important aspect of the effort as so much of the damage has occurred on private property and will need to be addressed by the homeowners. You can learn about educational seminars here and here.

Whether you live in the Buffalo area or not, please help out one of these organizations. And do your part by planting a sapling yourself. After all, the whole world could stand to have a few more trees. I leave you (no pun intended) with a poem from Louise Bogan:

I’ll lie here and learn
How, over their ground,
Trees make a long shadow,
And a light sound.

We hope today’s photographer remembers to plant a tree

The TGIF Movie Review: Daily Monsters

Last week, I kind of cheated by reviewing the TV show Weeds: the first season is available for rent or sale on DVD, and it is, quite bluntly (pot pun intended), the best television has to offer. This week, it’s more like I’m bending the rules than breaking them.

One of the forgotten Oscars handed out each year is for Best Animated Short Film. Often, these films can be found on that cute little thing affectionately called the “Internet.” Now, this week’s review isn’t for an Academy Award nominee, but it is a review for short animations found on the web.

Each day, for one hundred days, graphic designer and artist Stefan G. Bucher posted time-lapse video of himself drawing a monster (you may have noticed his page on our “16 Daily Reads”). Each monster begins with an inkblot that he then blows with a straw, resulting in a crazed, random shape. He uses this as a starting point for a monster. Some have enormous mouths and wear tiny high heels, others sport wild wings and fangs sprouting from their beaks, still others don neckties and waggle ugly tongues. The result each day is a delightful, imaginative drawing — it’s like Jackson Pollock meets Charles Shultz.

I love these videos because they show an artist at work, and an artist having fun. It’s this pleasure aspect of creating any art that I sometimes forget as I wander through museums, contemporary and classical alike. To watch the fun made incarnate is to have a kind of vicarious fun of your own as you wait and watch how the drawing will ultimately unfold its creepy hands or misshapen head.

I’ve included a trio of my ab-fab videos below. Each is hosted through Revver, and the videos end with an advertisement. If you click on the ad, you’ll make Mr. Bucher some money, money I think he definitely deserves for giving us his unique art. I’ve never seen anything this bizarre and innocent before, and frankly I’m glad — it’s made my experience with his work all the more refreshing. My greatest hope in sharing is that your experience will at least be in the beastly ballpark of mine.

(You can still see all 100 shorts on his home page DailyMonster.com!)