Salvaged Wood from Windstorm Transformed

Ravit Bennier, Art Center, tried her hand at the very first woodworking sculpture – Photo by Terry Miller

Salvaged Wood from Windstorm transformed by Art Center Students
By Terry Miller
Since April, the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden has invited artists and artisan to select wood from trees lost in last December’s windstorm to create sculptures, furniture, bowls, jewelry and other arts works. The first of these works, created by 16 students from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, went on display Tuesday at the Arboretum in Arcadia.

Ravit Bennier created this work of art from a felled tree in the arboretum - Photo by Terry Miller

The students presented their creations the Celebration Garden.
Art Center production design student Alex Cabunoc hand crafted a Lucky Baldwin’s Croquet mallet, homage to Baldwin’s passion of lawn croquet and a hint of his love of horse racing.
Eliana Feigelstock designed “shadow necklaces” with precision laser cuts that honor the earth.

Eliana Feigelstock designed “shadow necklaces” with precision laser cuts that honor the earth.

Ravit Bennier, also at Art Center, tried her very first woodworking sculpture with remnants of a eucalyptus tree, felled from the December storms. Bennier’s work was topped with a brass ball and seemed to depict new birth to this casual observer.
The sixteen students from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena are among the 130 artists and artisans invited by the Arboretum to commemorate the fallen trees through art. The work of all artists will be on display at the Forces of Nature art exhibit from November 30 to December 2, 9am-4:30pm, at the Arboretum. The artists are donating their work, which will be auctioned to raise funds for the Arboretum Tree Fund.

Alex Cabunoc hand crafted a Lucky Baldwin’s croquet bat

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