• Home
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Hosting
  • Newsletter
  • Advertise
  • Submit
  • Contact

Laughing Squid

A daily dose of unique art, culture and technology.

Artist Replicates a 140-Year-Old Live Pine Tree With a Delicate Lattice of Hundreds of Thousands of Wooden Blocks

by E.D.W. Lynch at 2:19 PM on February 6, 2015

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Flipboard
  • More
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype
  • Reddit

Middle Fork Tree Replica by John Grade

Seattle-based artist John Grade and a team of assistants and volunteers have built a breathtaking replica of an old growth pine tree out of a delicate lattice of hundreds of thousands of small wooden blocks. The sculpture project, entitled Middle Fork, began in April 2014, when Grade and his team traveled to a forest near the middle fork of the Snoqualmie river in Washington State and methodically made plaster casts of a live 140-year-old western hemlock–a process that involved climbing gear, buckets of plaster, and two weeks of time. The casts were then transported to the MadArt studio space in Seattle, where volunteers painstakingly encased the casts in small cedar blocks, one block a time, to form the wooden lattice.

The sculpture is now on display–presented horizontally at eye level–at MadArt through April 25, 2015. After that the sculpture will be taken on tour, as far afield as London and Washington D.C.. After the tour ends in two years time, the sculpture will be brought to the location of the western hemlock in the Washington forest, and will be left there to decompose.

Middle Fork Tree Replica by John Grade

Middle Fork Tree Replica by John Grade

Middle Fork Tree Replica by John Grade

Middle Fork Tree Replica by John Grade

Middle Fork Tree Replica by John Grade

photos via MadArt

via Colossal


  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Flipboard
  • More
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • LinkedIn
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype
  • Reddit

Related Laughing Squid Posts



Follow Laughing Squid on Facebook, Twitter and Flipboard



← Previous Blog Post
Next Blog Post →


Managed WordPress Hosting

Laughing Squid Hosting offers reliable, scalable and secure Managed WordPress hosting starting at $12/mo. Includes email, Jetpack Premium and a free SSL cert. We'll even migrate your site at no charge. The revenue from hosting helps support this blog.

Popular on Laughing Squid

  • Talking Crow Asks People Passing By on Street ‘Y’alright Love?’ in a Strong Yorkshire Accent
    Talking Crow Asks People Passing By on Street ‘Y’alright Love?’ in a Strong Yorkshire Accent
  • A Curious Orangutan Falls Down Laughing After a Human Performs a Simple Magic Trick for Her
    A Curious Orangutan Falls Down Laughing After a Human Performs a Simple Magic Trick for Her
  • Kermit the Frog & Fozzie Bear Hilariously Engage In Improvised Existential Banter In 1979 Camera Test
    Kermit the Frog & Fozzie Bear Hilariously Engage In Improvised Existential Banter In 1979 Camera Test
  • An Amusing Timelapse Showing How Two House Plants Occupy Themselves Over the Course of a Single Day
    An Amusing Timelapse Showing How Two House Plants Occupy Themselves Over the Course of a Single Day
  • An Adorable Toddler Repeatedly Shouts the F-Word Despite Her Brother's Objections
    An Adorable Toddler Repeatedly Shouts the F-Word Despite Her Brother's Objections

New on Laughing Squid

  • Buzzcock Ever Fallen In LoveHow the Buzzcocks Invented the Pop-Punk Musical Genre With Their 1979 Song ‘Ever Fallen In Love’
  • Disintegrating Lamborghini Miura by Fabian OefnerA Fantastic High-Speed Image of a Restored 1972 Lamborghini Miura Disintegrating Piece by Piece
  • The Twilight ZoneBewildered Man Finds Himself Inside a Life He Doesn’t Recognize in the Trailer for ‘The Twilight Zone’ Reboot
  • Goldendoodle and DeerFrisky Goldendoodle Puppy and Playful Deer Gleefully Chase Each Other Around Snowy Ohio Backyard
  • Marc Martel Killer QueenMusician Marc Martel Performs a Pitch-Perfect Cover of the Complicated Classic Queen Song ‘Killer Queen’

Facebook | Twitter | Flipboard | RSS

The Laughing Squid t-shirts are back!

Powered by Laughing Squid Hosting and WordPress VIP | Advertise | Affiliate Disclosure | Privacy Policy | © 1995-2019 Laughing Squid LLC, all rights reserved