Children’s Nest Egg , was built for the “Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Art To A-Maze Walk Juried Exhibition.” The goal of this work is to inspire visitors, particularly children and their parents, to feel nurtured by nature and to inspire them to nurture nature in return. As visitors approach a clearing in the trees, they gradually discover a nest–big enough to walk into. The entry to the nest is made of tree limbs and branches (salvaged from forestry waste) that start low, then build up, spiraling into a circle to form the nest. As visitors enter along this spiral they discover a poem that gradually reveals and interprets surprises to be found inside. First they find a giant “egg” the size of a small child, but as they get closer they will see that it is the earth. By playing with scale and context the work seeks to cause the visitor to see the setting in a different light as they leave the work. At first Nature is big and they are small, but as they come inside and see that the egg is the earth,Nature becomes small in relationship to them and needing of their care.
Medium: engraved and stained cedar boards, cedar deck structure, tree trimming waste branches, manila rope, painted concrete sphere
Dimensions: nest platform 12 ft. diameter x 4 ft. h at peak, overall with pathway 35 ft.
Date installed: 2007 (Seasonal Exhibit over Summer)
Site: Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chaska, MN