(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa project to encourage people to convert the standing trunks of dead trees into sculptures has hit a milestone. The Spirit of Okoboji organization set a goal four years ago — to have the largest collection of sculpted trees in the United States in the communities that surround the Iowa Great Lakes. Six new sculptures had been added this year — for a total of 26. Carrie Meyer, the project’s artistic director, says one of the sculptures is called Boji Bear and it’s in the Arnolds Park Amusement Park.
“It was an expired oak tree that was right by the merry-go-round,” Meyer said. “…It’s a bear that points to the ‘point of no return,’ which is exciting for families to take a family picture of, right by the historic merry-go-round.” Some of the trees that have been turned into works of art are on private property, including a large anchor sculpture along boat canal, a large hawk at a home on Okoboji’s Lakeshore Drive and a standing bear sculpture near a street corner in Spirit Lake.
“We also have…beautiful, amazing water-skis at a private home on West Lake Okoboji,” Meyer said, “on the south side of the lake.” Meyer says residents in the Iowa Great Lakes who have or see a dead tree are encouraged to contact Spirit of Okoboji — which is sponsoring this “OkoboTree” project. “Then we have an OkoboTree arborist who will come out, evaluate the tree to make sure it’s carvable,” Mayer said. “…We have a portfolio of three amazing artists who are all great carvers, and then we kind of figure out what a budget is and we go from there.”
If the tree is on private property, the owner chooses the artist and pays that fee, but Spirit of Okoboji will take care of any clean up and provide regular maintenance of the sculpture, like refreshing colored paint or painting on another layer of protective sealant.
Meyer says up to eight more trees are scheduled for sculpting and her group has created a map for people who want to go on a tree sculpture hunt along the Great Lakes. Biloxi, Mississippi, currently has 45 sculpted trees. That’s the Guinness World Record the northwest Iowa group is hoping to beat.
