Barbara Baer - "Chestnut"

Welcome. My name is Barbara Baer, and my sculpture is titled Chestnut. This design was inspired by the grace and movement of a living tree.

The chestnut tree has been sitting in my imagination since I heard about the chestnut blight of the early 1900’s.  A non-native fungus drove the commonest tree in America’s Eastern forest nearly extinct.  A few isolated pockets of growth remain, and people across the country are working to renew the great trees. 

The structure is organdy (a fabric used for wedding veils) and buckram (fabric used for shaping hats.)  The wire is like that used in musical instruments.  Balance, tension and translucency hope to capture some of the effortless beauty of the natural world.