Although these watercolors were conceived with the direct purpose of illustrating aspects of science dedicated to the pathology, biology and ecology of trees, a great many of the 228 images in my collection stand as “art for art’s sake”, as the expression goes. Even the most diagrammatic works are by intent conceptual representations, extending to abstractions… art clearly intended to stand together with science. As I look back on many of the finished pieces, sketches, and preliminary studies, I see prototypes akin to the Constructivist branch of the art of the Russian Avant-garde that I was to come to know and embrace in my art work some fifty years later.
I have selected the necessarily compressed gallery shown here to present an indication of the great variety and scope of the collection as a whole…works ranging from the naturalistic to the diagrammatic.
The watercolors are on 18” x 12” sheets of archival watercolor paper. Some fill the page almost entirely, others are of varied dimensions, with white margins. All have been cropped to show just the image itself for the purpose of this gallery. All have been signed and dated.
I would be pleased to send a broader collection to those with an interest in making an acquisition.
Although this body of work is the result of something of a unique compartmentalization within my life’s work as a whole, in itself, it has associations with the other directions in my oeuvre as visual artist, as well as naturalist.
I am offering the collection in its entirety, as it was unified in purpose, and is something of a book of visual expression, without written text. I am, however, entirely open to discussion to redesigning subsets that might stand alone as acquisitions, on integrated with an acquisition of other aspects of my core archive.
Inquiries and discussion of possibilities are heartily invited, across the board.
David
Compartmentalization of Decay in Trees
The inscription reads: in recognition of outstanding creative performance and innovation in illustrating highly complex and technical forestry research.
A distinct pattern that runs through all of my work is that opportunities of significance, turns in the road that lead on to sustained periods of art and/or writing, have come about through unforeseen circumstances, rather than as a result of my constant outreaches – my arrows shot into the air.
My twenty two year book era, arising from a friend’s carrying samples of my art and writing to a writers’ conference, is a supreme example.
And it was by a completely unbidden pathway that I came to be introduced to a United States Forest Service plant pathologist who was conducting pioneering research into the compartmentalization of decay in trees. It was an introduction that led to an eight year period of using my art and visual interpretations in their most specifically scientific applications.
While I was at a party celebrating my friend Scott Warren’s receiving his Ph.D. in botany from the University of New Hampshire, he asked if I could show a colleague of his some of my botany studies. Scott, who went on to become a pre-eminent researcher of the ecology of salt marshes, with early very clear indications of coming climate change issues, was a keen admirer of this work.
For several years I had been working on my own with drawings and watercolor studies of native wildflowers and winter branches and buds of trees and shrubs. [I treat this aspect of my work in the sketchbook and hand bound books sector of this archive.] There were examples on our walls, and in portfolios, sketchbooks, and hand bound books that I had made.
Pen and ink drawing of red oak
The original drawing is in a private collection in Helsinki, Finland.
The farmhouse we were living in was a quarter of a mile from the house of Scott’s in- laws, who were hosting the party. I led Scott and his friend up the hill, along the dirt road leading to our house, for an impromptu exhibition.
Scott’s friend Mike Hoyle, a researcher at the USDA Forest Service Forest Experiment Station adjacent to the university, was deeply impressed by the collection I unveiled.
In the course of our conversation, he told me that there was a plant pathologist at the forestry research station who was looking for someone to illustrate his publications. He asked me if I would like him to talk with the pathologist, Dr. Alex L. Shigo, about my plant studies and the possibility of an interview.
I was in another of my long spells of the sound of no phones ringing, and readily expressed how much I would appreciate that. It did not matter that I had no idea of what kind of illustrations might be involved.
Two days later Dr. Shigo telephoned me – a phone ringing – to set up an appointment. He asked me to bring some of my plant studies, and if I had one, a drawing of a tree.
I had a sizable collection of watercolors of wildflowers and winter branches, and I had some landscapes (something I rarely got to do) with trees identifiable to species, but no drawing of a tree per se. It seemed that it would be propitious to have one in hand.
I decided to do a pencil drawing of an agéd red maple – my favorite tree – one with prominent bark texture, gnarled buttress roots, arabesque branching – a tree with great structural and artistic character.
The decision proved pivotal. Alex – he was very informal and we talked as old friends from the outset – was very much taken with my portfolio.
But when it came to seeing the drawing of the tree, he could not contain the excitement that had quite openly been building within him. He literally leaped up from his chair, exclaiming over the drawing.
Alex immediately let me know that I was precisely the artist he was looking for.
He went on with a lengthy discourse, explaining that he was getting ready to publish his years-long pioneering research leading to an understanding and significant revision of the science regarding the biological strategies by which trees react to wounding, how they begin to work to isolate and thereby limit the spreading of resulting decay.
Alex was a big man, always in motion even when he did not leave his swivel chair. His conversation was animated, bordering on non-stop. He paused only when I interjected a question. His passion for his research was manifest.
At this first meeting Alex made very clear his intention to have a collaboration with an artist. He knew that his publications would be read and properly acknowledged, his research disseminated throughout America, Europe, and beyond.
But he wanted his pioneering discoveries to endure at the forefront of scientific research into his subject.
He was cognizant of how even the most important findings can become buried in the literature, relegated to decreasing readership, deprived of merited circulation. Art, he fervently believed, would be the key to lasting relevance, as well as the broadest readership and application of his findings.
He was looking for a Leonardo.
Alex guided me to his lab, where there were great stacks of wood samples, from cross sections and slabs of trees, lengths of tree trunks cut down the middle, and a vast array of other sections great and small. All of the dissections showed tree wounds of all classes, and revealed the tree’s reactions and biological strategies for isolating the wounds from the biological agents of decay.
He also had an endless library of photographs. These, he acknowledged, could not show what he wanted to have visualized and made easily understandable to a wide range of readership. Art work would be the means to this end.
Handling one sample after another, he explained to me the central tenets of his research.
Trees, unlike humans and the rest of the animate world, cannot replace injured tissue. They compartmentalize (his one-word mantra) wounds through a series of physical and chemical defenses evolved to wall off damaged sections in order to isolate wounded tissues and form barriers against the decay that could spread from them.
Alex made rough drawings and diagrams, and pointed out in samples, how a tree had in fact compartmentalized the decay resulting from a broken branch. The stub, site of the wound, had become encased in sound new growth.
Healed branch stub in black walnut
One of my preliminary drawings, in pencil, as a study for an eventual watercolor.
As our long session went on I began to understand the principles I would have to demonstrate. I also came to experience more completely Alex’s unflagging energy and enthusiasm, his obsession with his research.
I departed with a collection of tree samples, some photographs, and a couple of his rough diagrams. I also came away with a complete awareness of Alex’s boundless fascination with his research, and his concern for its future.
My charge was to do sketches preparatory to executing watercolors that would convey the complex interactions that occur in successions over time between the tree’s defenses and the agents of wounding and decay, from bacteria and fungi to insects, birds, and mammals.
The abiotic forces of nature play a significant role as well: wind, snow, lightning, fire, etc. The distinct and often devastating effects from human activities cannot be discounted, from ill-advised “management” to the effects of human-driven climate change.
I would return to his office with my preliminary drawings. We would go over these, and have more sessions with his samples and “sketches”. In time I had the final watercolors for his review.
After the third session or so Alex told me that I had a better understanding of compartmentalization than any of the researchers at the station. This was the initiation of the synergistic relationship that was carried out over a span of time I could never have anticipated.
Conk at the base of a branch stub
Another preliminary study – pencil and watercolor.
In late August of 1978, following completing of our final publication, Tree Decay, an Expanded Concept, I met with Alex to hear him talk about an idea he had been considering as a final project, a culmination of our work together that would be expressed all but entirely through art work.
He envisioned a series of twelve paintings on the theme of “The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Tree.” The watercolors would center on the twelve stages in the life of a tree: Life; Birth; Growth; Energy; Protection; Health; Defense; Maturity; Aging; Death; Recycling; and Rebirth.
We began to discuss which tree species might be the best to feature for each of the twelve stages. I set to work on preliminary drawings, compositions that would be artworks but at the same time serve to express the ecology and convey the message for each of those stages.
As had been our practice for all publications, I developed preliminary studies. But in this case they were actually more in the realm of fully delineated drawings showing the subject and its setting.
We went over these, with ecological and esthetic considerations, and, as always – even though the content here would be far less technical than it was in the publications – with scientific accuracy. The watercolors were to be fairly large in scale, on the order of 20” x 16”.
I began the work, even though funding had not yet come forth. The matter of obtaining grants and purchase orders for increments of my art work was problematic throughout our collaborations.
A primary obstacle Alex faced in keeping an artist on board was the Forest Service policy requiring that any purchase order be put up for bid. The one exception to this regulation was that if the recipient were to be recognized as a “sole source” for a project – that there was literally no one else who could do it – the bidding process could be waived.
By way of background which provides insights into the history of the collaboration, the “science and art together” (a phrase I discuss below), and the scope of its goals and successes, I will quote excerpts from a letter I received from Alex, dated September 4, 1978, corresponding to the inception of the poster project.
“Justification Statement for Soul (sic.) Source Purchase Order.”
(I will never know if Alex intended a play on words here, or if it was a Freudian slip.)
“Mr. David M. Carroll is a naturalist and a fine artist. He has training and understanding of wood anatomy and tree pathology. Next to Dr. Walter Shortle who works with us in the laboratory he has the best understanding of how a tree is compartmentalized than any other person in the world. He has worked closely with us in this laboratory and in the field as we have developed the concept of compartmentalization in living trees. This concept of compartmentalization is being accepted world wide, and is now appearing in text books…”
“David Carroll is a multi-skilled, unique individual who has worked with us
in many phases of our research over the last 8 years… (he) is unique in that he can bring all this technical information into his painting. It also serves as a language for communication among us.”
“The paintings in the booklets and the message presented by the paintings have been widely acclaimed by researchers, students, arborists and art critics throughout the world. The publications have been reprinted many times and well over several hundred thousand copies have been distributed. The paintings have been reprinted and used in text books and play an important part in plant pathology departments in universities throughout the world.”
“The final summation of this project involves the conceptualizing of beautiful paintings that would lend themselves to posters. The theme of the paintings are the life, death, and rebirth of a tree…. We believe that the reason this packaging program to date has been so extremely successful is that it combines the highest quality of art with an extremely fine understanding of the technical aspects of the subjects.”
The funding came forth and I proceeded to do the twelve paintings. The poster was published in 1980, and my era of “science and art together” came to an end.
I quote from a letter from R. Max Peterson, Chief of the Forest Service, dated March 13, 1980:
“Dear Mr. Carroll:
Your creative illustrative ability has done for the Forest Service Research what other illustrators have long done for the medical profession. Through art work you have taken a complex principle and made it easily understandable for the practitioner, as well as the scientist.
Your many art pieces concerning tree decay research helped to explain with dramatic clarity the biological balance between trees and invading micro-organisms. The attractive illustrations helped trace the progress of tree deteriorations in an art form never used before in communicating forestry research results.
Thank you very much for helping the Forest Service develop a new approach, which combines science and education…”
Life, Death & Rebirth of a Tree: The Poster
“Each of Carroll’s carefully ordered paintings depicts a stage in the life cycle of a tree, from fertilization of a conifer to the emergence a hardwood seedling at the base of a rotting stump. these are not merely renderings of arboreal tissue; they are a series of colorful, imaginative illustrative paintings… always painstakingly detailed… each one able to stand on its own.
Carroll treats the viewer to pink skies, abrupt changes in scale, rhinestone-like water droplets, stylized arabesques, space-age cross sections, and mythological and visual pleasure.”
—Jane Banquer Burnham. New Hampshire Times, 1984.
A Close-up View Showing Sapwood with Open Vessels Oozing Moisture.
Alex retired from the Forest Service with the rank of Chief Scientist. He continued his extremely active and dedicated lecturing throughout the United States, Europe and Scandinavia… his research being recognized and put to work worldwide all the while.
The art work I produced was recognized globally in conjunction with Alex’s research. In 1984 I received an “Award of Special Commendation” from the International Society of Arboriculture “In recognition of unique and outstanding artwork leading to a clearer understanding of trees and proper treatments of trees.”
A Forest Institute in Italy, with which Alex played a major role in developing, named a forest after him. And he continued to publish and produce videos independently.
In 2006, at the age of 76, he tragically died in a home accident that cut short his dedicated sharing of his knowledge and caring for trees.
His work is remembered and has lived on as he had hoped it would, carrying his science and insights into the anatomy, biology and ecology of trees to a vast audience not only of scientists, but arborists, foresters, practitioners of tree care, and a wide range of individuals interested in and caring about trees.
In keeping with the “out of the blue” leitmotif of my creative and naturalistic work, in December of 2021 I received a telephone call from Germany.
Christine Eiecher called to tell me of a consortium’s plans to publish an edition of CODIT – “Compartmentalization of Decay in Trees” in German (Abschottung von Fäule in Bäumen). I had a rare opportunity to use some of my German. She exclaimed “We never call anyone in America who speaks German!”.
She wanted to request permission to use my art work. I explained that these publications are in the public domain, and therefore she did not require my personal permission. But they were dedicated to having this in my own words, which I was honored to provide. This was a heartening and reinforcing affirmation after so much time had passed.
The scientists were quite familiar with this and the other publications that I had illustrated. They also had known Alex personally, as he had lectured there, and they had consulted with him about his research and its applications to their initiatives.
In early January of 2022 Christine called to say that the German edition had been published, and that they wanted send me an honorarium. This for art work, some of which had been done fifty years before.
She also said that they would send me a dozen copies of the book, the cover of which appears at the beginning of this account.
To underscore (though perhaps it is not needed) the life that this collaboration has had, the breadth of its reach and audience, I will again turn to quotes. This is my translation of the Foreword to the German edition, written by Johannes Bilharz, a principal in the Subtilia-Verlag publishing project:
“Wow, genius, fantastic! This is how one can perhaps describe what I felt when I saw the drawings in an old American bulletin. All of us, the entire professional world, already know sufficiently well what Alex Shigo has done and worked out with CODIT. But hardly in any other contemporary publication have I found such excellently developed (illustrative) material…”
“The drawings bring out even more of what is obscured in photos. This becomes more clear through abstraction. This is artistic watercolor technique – Science and Art at the same time. (“Wissenschaft und Kunst zugleich.”)
“There is no need for textual explanations. The visual representations simplify and accelerate understanding about the findings in CODIT – ‘shut off’ (isolating decay) in trees… The content of the book is not new, but my enthusiasm for the illustrations without doubt will remain timeless.
“As an historical testimony, it is therefore always worth preserving and publishing in Germany. It is never too late for that!…”
“May the work with his drawings bring the understanding of compartmentalization in trees to many generations and awaken and keep alive the interest in the science, knowledge, of the preservation of trees.”
Growth rings and ray cells
Two months after the publication of this book I received another request for permission to use some of my watercolors. This also from Germany. Sigrun Mittl, a biologist and practitioner of natural beekeeping emailed me, saying that in 40 years of study she had never before understood the biology of the formation of cavities in trees – a matter of great importance to bees not confined to beehives. Another request I was happy to grant.
The CODIT Collection: Archival Art for Sale; Content.
Alex Shigo is a plant pathologist who studies how and why a tree decays. His work is summarized here, and brought to life by exquisite watercolor paintings… Carroll’s watercolors show how this happens via artful diagrams, imaginative cutaway views, and microscopic analysis. Their beauty is breathtaking.
John Kelsey, “Fine Woodworking” magazine.
Tree wound with insects; microorganisms in borders
Although I am primarily seeking to sell this collection as an entity itself – it in effect amounts to something of an archive within an archive – under appropriate circumstances a collection original paintings could be selected in such a way as to have it be a meaningful representation in a less voluminous body.
In its entirety or a compressed collection the works could also well go in with a core archive representing all aspects of my life’s work. It is a unique and substantially independent collection, but it bears an intimate interconnection with all other facets of my visual art and the directions I have pursued.
As with all other components of my life’s work I look to have the original art work preserved and at the same time be made available to researchers, scientists, artists, students… anyone who might have an interest, from whatever perspective.
Reference to such a comprehensive body of art work that stands together with a significant monument of scientific research would offer a great range of possibilities for exhibitions in centers both of art and science. And it would provide a broad array of educational applications: forest ecology; forest management; environmental studies; arboriculture; trade tree services; courses in botany, as well as science and art classes on many levels.
THE CONTENT:
228 individual 18” x12’ watercolors on archival paper. (A substantial percentage of my total body of watercolors that have been published. Not all of them are in my possession.)
8 pencils studies for the “Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Tree” poster series.
10” x 8 1/2”.
51 preliminary drawings in pencil, some with touches of watercolor.
17 small sheets of small (9” x 8”) watercolor studies of entire trees, each a different species.
25 loose sheets, 11” x 14”, a series of studies of cells and structures demonstrating ways in which trees wall off decay – compartmentalization; 9 of these with watercolor.
Many more sketches along these lines.
My CODIT Gallery shows the range of all the above, with examples from naturalistic to abstracted (transparent trees and diagrams of tree interiors demonstrating compartmentalization); studies of cells drawn from high magnification; etc.
I am offering the above collection in its entirety for $275,000.00. I would be pleased to provide additional examples; answer questions; and discuss possibilities for the entire or partial acquisitions.
I would also be happy to make arrangements for a visit from any party or parties interested in making an acquisition to view this collection in our studio gallery.
David
My Five Published Books
Trout Reflections
Following the Water
Year of the Turtle
Self-Portrait With Turtles, A Memoir
Swampwalker’s Journal
Hand Bound Books
A Book of a Number of Hours
A Book of Winter Buds
A Book of Winter Branches
Borradores
Landscapes – January 20, 1978 – April 1978
Variations: February 1, 1967 – August 1, 1968
Visions: Drawings and Paintings: 1976 – 1988
Exhibitions
“Seldom Seen” Exhibition at the Davidow Center
“Beyond Words” Exhibition at the Currier Museum
Galleries
“Seldom Seen” Gallery
David’s Wildlife Studies Sketchbook
Virtual Gallery of Art Produced for My Five Books
“Regarding Women Regarding…” Introduction
Sketchbook Gallery: 4/1/1985 – 10/14/1987
Swamp Sketchbook
The Swamp Dialogs
Drawings and Watercolors Produced to Illustrate my Published Books
CODIT – Compartmentalization of Decay in Trees