Instead Studio
Essence of Birches is the Instead Studio body of work for Spring, 2024. All original artwork © Carolyn Griffin.
The Essence of Birches
Birch is the tree of new beginnings, the first to colonize the charred ground after devastation. This hardy beauty lives about as long as a human being does, and then lays down to give nutrients to the earth so that other life can thrive. Its bark and sap and some of its fungi are medicinal. And it’s so pretty, called the “lady of the woods”, and the subject of folklore across the world.
This is the second time for me, living in Maine. I was gone for twenty years and this tree of new beginnings is the first thing I fell back in love with in this state of Maine when I returned a few years ago. The sun rises for me over a stand of birches. They are beautiful in the morning, beautiful in moonlight in the night sky. These birches inspired me to pay homage to their essence.