Editor’s note: This article was published in Grand Traverse Scene magazine’s Summer I 2026 issue. Pick up a free copy at area hotels, visitor’s centers, chambers of commerce or at the Record-Eagle building at 1764 Forest Ridge Drive in Traverse City. Click here to read GT Scene in its entirety online.
Glen Arbor Arts Center marks the nation’s 250th anniversary with an exhibit exploring a little-known aspect of America’s origins.
“American Tree: Building a United State of Trees” opened June 5 and runs through Aug. 13. It features 31 original works by artists from the region, state and country reflecting the theme in various mediums.
Exhibit art evokes ways trees are integrated into America’s evolution, its values, ideas and place in the world. The event aims to inspire thought regarding our past, present and future relationship with trees.
GAAC gallery manager Sarah Bearup-Neal’s research for developing the exhibit led her beyond the typical historic narrative. “The thing that clobbered me over the head was the role of trees in the formation of the nation and the divorce from the Brits,” she said.
In the nation’s beginnings, the Boston tea party wasn’t the only spark for the American revolution. Colonists took affront to Britain’s push to harvest North America’s forest after depleting its own woodlands. Access to wood resources was critical for building ships allowing Britain to pursue global dominance.
According to “Legion,” Canada’s military history magazine, in the late 1700s about 4,000 oak trees went into the construction of one of the Royal Navy’s 100-gun ship. Trade and exploration also demanded ships. Oak was the preferred construction wood, but New England’s white pine was sought for masts, a factor contributing to Boston becoming a primary shipbuilding center.
Bringing the story home, Michigan’s forests were its first exploited crop, according to the Library of Michigan. During the state’s “green rush” from 1860 to 1910, forests were clearcut, making fortunes for lumber barons. A historical marker in Leelanau County’s Empire Township notes that the Empire Lumber Company operated between 1887 and 1917. It was one of the state’s largest operations establishing Michigan as a leading lumber producer of the era.
GAAC’s exhibit challenges gallery goers to consider tree history beyond its role as a resource, and to better understand woodland historic cultural influences, from young George Washington’s honest confession of chopping down a cheery tree to the work of the Hudson River painters in the 19th century who captured the beauty of landscapes before cameras, and to the mystical relationship between trees and humans.
Bearup-Neal said artists approached the topic from many perspectives, ranging from addressing logging, to spiritual takes to the lighthearted.
Maple City artist Margo Burian’s work “Tall Tales from the Stump” delivers a political message. In her research informing her piece, she learned that stumps left behind from logging were often used as a podium.
“Politicians and orators would disseminate information from these high spots. The term stump speech is derived from that,” she said. “Technology has replaced the literal stump and has become the platform to discuss whether information is fact of fiction.”
Burian’s piece depicts a two-faced fox representative of the media and the dilemma of sorting fact from fiction. The fox perches on a stump surrounded by a collage of whitewashed political rhetoric from the 47th president’s campaign speech promises to America.
Two monoprints by Traverse City artist Angela Saxon evokes relationships with trees. “Forest Light” suggests the experience of an autumn day in the forest. Warm light, splashes of color and leaf shapes allude movement.
In “Habitat,” a nuthatch figure blends into the bark of a tree, the integration indicating harmony between the two forest inhabitants.
Saxon believes the exhibit’s many artist interpretations of the American Tree will enhance gallery audiences’ perception of trees. “They will have a visual vocabulary to express their sense of the tree and want to protect it,” she said.
GAAC’s exhibit makes its own statement addressing the modern creative environment by excluding works created through use of generative artificial intelligence used for fill or manipulated photos or other manners. The show features only one-of-a-kind original pieces.
Bearup-Neal explained the decision to exclude AI work in the exhibit is based on the rejection of computerized work as true art, as opposed to pieces made by the hands and from the minds of artists. “Creative thinking and problem solving are the essence of art,” she said.
The show’s art pieces, the stories and legacies link to the region and nation’s broader global presence. “Anytime we can make a connection between our world and the world at large, it opens opportunity for making connections,” Bearup-Neal said. “When we can make those bridges, it’s exciting.”
The American Tree event includes two free companion programs exploring today’s forestry connections. Both are hosted by GAAC. On June 13, Leelanau Conservancy staff discuss the nonprofit’s program to protect two old growth forests, including the Palmer Woods Forest Reserve, the first Leelanau Conservancy property to be recognized by the national nonprofit Old-Growth Forest Network.
On Aug. 1, representatives from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians reflect on area forests prior to European settlement and forest management strategies for the next 250 years.