Bert Gilbert         Sculptor

Gilbert Arts

The ‘Ash’ project is a collaboration between my sculpture, choreographer and dancer Kate Lyons, and composer and musician Craig Michael Davis. It explores the current plight of the Ash tree as a result of its encounter with the emerald ash borer beetle.

These interactive sculptures for ‘Ash’ include twelve carved slabs of Ash wood and five nine foot tree-like sculptures of steel, light, and fabric based on the five fundamental positions of dance.
 

The slabs of Ash wood come from Kate‘s backyard and my back yard. They are 154 years old and 77 years old respectively, both are victims of the emerald ash borer beetle. The fabric used on these sculptures was colored with a dye made from Ash bark.  These provide the environment that Kate dances with to music Craig has composed and preforms.

I have also cast in iron touchable samples of ash bark to preserve it’s texture. We may remember the wood from the Ash tree, but I believe that we will soon forget what the bark looks and feels like. All sculptures I personally cast locally at Sculpturetrails in Solsberry, IN.