Pine Arts

Artistic types are used to seeing pretty weird stuff. But even the most open-minded of them would raise their eyebrows at the layer of pine needles that covered the front

plaza of the Hopkins Center one Saturday last July. In an hour-long presentation Vermont artists Bill Botzow, Ruth Botzow, and Meg Cottam outlined, traced, and finally created a sprawling pelt of pine needles in the shape of a tiger. Before the pelt was finished the three had done everything from rolling to saluting to bowing.

So what was this odd trio doing? "The presentation is just as much a part of the piece as the pelt is," says Bill Botzow, the Bennington sculptor who came up with the idea for the pelt and its odd formula for creation. According to Botzow, the piece bridges the gap between art as an end and art as a means to an end. "By creating the pelt in monumental scale on the plaza using forest materials and making it in the shape of an endangered species, this sculpture offers viewers the chance to consider environmental issues as well as artistic ones," says Botzow.

The work is part of "Post-Pastoral: New Images of the New England Landscape," an ongoing display at the Hood Museum of Art which features works addressing different aspects of New England's rural landscape.

A pelt of pine needles symbolized the new New England landscape.