THE WORSHIP OF TREES

"Lately I have touched the sublime
Out of sight out of mind
The worship of trees
Something deep within my soul
Out with my control
The worship of trees"


Bocan’s Undercroft’s virtual art work “The Worship of Trees” has been entered in the University of Western Australia Art and Design Challenge for November 2009. Bocan describes himself as a ‘druid’ and says that for druids trees have a special significance because they represent life and nature. He says that in trees one can see the cycle of birth, life and death in the changing seasons.

The inspiration for the artwork was a pagan song sung by Damh The Bard called ‘Worship of Trees’ (originally by Telling the Bees).The work, built in virtual space, consists of a small ‘temple’ with a tree in the middle, several candles, and images of trees embedded in the windows. Bocan says these were pictures of various trees that he worked on in Photoshop, de-renedering them to have less detail and adding a glass texture. The result is quite pleasing.
I asked Bocan his thoughts on a real versus a virtual tree. His reply:
“Trees, whether virtual or real, can often have the same spirit and song.”