Taekwondo is where my journey began. In Songahm style taekwondo, the Pine Tree represents the strength and loyalty one builds through the practice. The Rock symbolizes long life and loyalty. Together, they symbolize both the path of Songahm taekwondo and the results one can achieve. My first piece in this series was built to celebrate the point when my teacher achieved Mastership, the first of the higher levels of rank within this style.
While my own progression through the system halted at level 1 Black Belt due to unrelated physical limitations, my personal growth did not stop. I was 45 years-old when I received my Black Belt, and I felt like life was just beginning.
This series was my first. What I discovered early on was working in series offers me the opportunity to go deeper and push my own limitations. It is easier to allow each piece to distill itself into just the elements needed to express the idea. I feel less compelled to try to get every interesting element, technique, and skill into the current work because I know another work is coming. I can lean into my strengths while I edge into the uncomfortable. As within the forms of Songahm taekwondo, within a series is where I grow.
Tree and Rock is the longest series I’ve tackled. It’s been one that progresses slowly, and I’m okay with that. As each new piece takes shape, I see new growth in my art form, my skills, and my perspective. While many of the early rules I’d set for this series have fallen away, the series holds its cohesion. I thank the Tree and Rock philosophy I learned through Songahm taekwondo and the deeper self-knowledge with which my taekwondo experience gifted me for that cohesion.
Habitat is more than a place. It’s a mindset that fits perfectly in that place, too. Every fall, I venture into Chanterelle’s forest. Douglas-fir soar overhead, but my attention is on the understory. A thousand mushrooms hide there amid fallen leaves, needles, fern and Oregon grape, singing a song only the initiated can hear. I don my Mushroom Eyes and let go of my human thoughts. I follow in Elk’s footsteps, traveling through their territory with a light foot and Deep Gratitude. Chanterelles, Amanitas, and many other fungi-friends trill with joy, welcoming me home to our shared Habitat.
Where does the Boundary between Traditional Quilting and Art Quilting reside? Is it in the first layer beyond the heartwood, a step upon the foundation of layered work, the second ripple in the stream? The elements of Traditional Quilting and Art Quilting are the same: Color, Form, Composition, Stitching, Layers, Cloth, Inspiration. Mother Nature treats all her creations as art, paying careful attention to each detail, layering one element upon another in an ever evolving work, growing and shedding rules with each season. She is my Mentor, Teacher, and Guide. When we shed the leaves of rules and let ourselves see beyond the surface, are we so different, Mother Nature and I? Where does the Boundary between Traditional Quilting and Art Quilting reside?
After a long day, sunset over the beach is a welcome respite. Tree and Rock III is about the third phase of life. In our elder years, we look over our lives, hopefully from a place of serenity. The sun sets as the tide is rolling out. The tree’s roots curl around the rock like gnarly old hands. This is a view of a life well-lived, peaceful, and filled with the wisdom that only comes from truly living.
Tree and Rock II is about the middle passage of life. The Tree is clinging to a small patch of ground amidst a flooded river. The rock in the foreground is understated, quietly waiting for the waters to recede. The flooded river is like the tides and business of life through one’s middle ages–the kids and careers, spouses and households, seemingly endless demands that daily threaten to overtake your peace and quiet. The tree, who guards her patch of island amidst the flood, stands with quiet majesty and dignity, that which we so fervently desire to cultivate through our middle age.
Tree and Rock I is a piece about youth and the challenges we face when we’re starting out in life. It’s about how life can feel like you’re clinging to a cliff, desperately trying to grab a bit of the light you so much need to grow. It captures the beauty of that struggle in its simplicity. The clouds floating by give perspective of just how high and precarious the hope and idealism of youth can be.
Inspired by the symbols of Songham Taekwondo and Master Duer’s embodiment of the values of his art, The Master Tree depicts the rock and tree that are the basis of our Master’s heritage in a setting reminiscent of his Willamette Valley. With our rolling hills and ever-present clouds, The Master Tree has grown leaning upward, as if to strive always for improvement toward excellence, but with its branches reaching also back to teach and shelter those who follow on this challenging course. With each branch comes a new level of mastery until the student becomes the fully-realized master of this form of martial arts. In the sky hangs the symbol to which we students owe our first loyalty, our school, and the example we always strive to emulate. Framed in cherry recovered from the packing crates that delivered materials used in the expansion of Master Duer’s school, the wood of this piece represents the virtue that anyone can become a black belt no matter his or her beginnings. Within Duer’s ATA Martial Arts, we are all offered a chance to become more than we were.