Eiden Spilker and others from the Brown Design Workshop are repurposing wood from a treasured American elm into sculptures and keepsakes for the Brown community.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - Though it is no longer present on the College Green, the story of a prized American elm tree that stood tall near University Hall on Brown's campus for nearly a century isn't over just yet.
The ailing tree, which was removed last spring after an extensive but ultimately unsuccessful preservation effort, is being given new life through art as the elm is reborn in the form of sculptures and keepsakes for the campus community.
Eiden Spilker, a technical specialist at the Brown Design Workshop who graduated with a Brown degree in architecture and visual arts last May, is leading the charge, repurposing wood from the elm and turning it into imaginative handcrafted sculptures.
"I'm really interested in exploring the relationship between the cultural context surrounding the tree and its material history, which exists somewhat outside of our narratives of its significance," Spilker said. "The project is a way of examining the desire to memorialize and weave this tree into the institutional narrative and legacy of Brown itself."
Spilker is working currently on a piece that draws inspiration from antique furniture that the Brown family owned, including a mahogany table carved by John Goddard, one of the 18th century's most famous and skilled Newport cabinetmakers. Spilker is creating an abstract work that channels a sense of nostalgia and the history of the University while connecting that feeling to the natural beauty the elm brought to generations of students, employees and campus visitors.
