A year after the big 2011 windstorm, the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia gave new life to the many trees it had lost through “Forces of Nature,” an exhibit of works created from their wood. In the years since, many more trees on the property have succumbed to the ravages of drought, beetles and fungi, including one of its most famous: the Tasmanian blue gum by the Queen Anne Cottage.

Planted around 1860, the huge tree’s branches shaded birthday celebrations, weddings, baby christenings and other precious moments, but it had become infested with fungus and beetles. When the community learned of the gum’s demise, it responded to the Arboretum asking for an exhibit to commemorate it.

“The answer was yes, but not just with that tree because that tree’s wood is so dense and so hard and requires such challenges, tools with carbide tips, and not every artist has that,” Arboretum interpretive horticulturist and artist-in-residence Leigh Adams said.

The Tsamanian blue gum tree is ready for removal at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botacnic Garden in Arcadia. Some of its wood has been turned into art that will be in the show, “Forces of Nature II,” at the Arboretum Dec. 1-10. (Photo courtesy of the Arboretum).

Arborist and artist Tom Peter will show some of his work in “Forces of Nature II” will be at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden in Arcadia Dec. 1-10. (Photo courtesy of Tom Peter).

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The vessels and other works pay homage to the trees in “Forces of Nature II”at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden in Arcadia Dec. 1-10. (Photo courtesy of the Arboretum).

Milled wood from trees at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia is ready for artist to pick up. Their work will be featured in “Forces of Nature II” at the Arboretum Dec. 1-10. (Photo courtesy of the Arboretum).

Artist Toshi Kawabata shows one of the vessels he created for “Forces of Nature II” will be at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden in Arcadia Dec. 1-10. (Photo courtesy of the Arboretum).



The Tsamanian blue gum tree stood to the right of the entrance to the Queen Anne Cottage at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia for more than 150 years. (Photo courtesy of the Arboretum).

Vessels such as these will be on display in “Forces of Nature II” at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden in Arcadia Dec. 1-10. (Photo courtesy of the Arboretum).

Adams has curated “Forces of Nature II,” which will be open at the Arboretum on select days Dec. 1-10. It will feature work by more than 100 artists, including benches, bowls, combs, barrettes, chopping blocks, bird houses, tables, chairs, lamps and sculpture. In addition to the Tasmanian blue gum, there will be bastard mahogany, yellow boxwood, metasequoia (dawn redwood), giant sequoia, Englemann oak, Canary Island oak, ficus (fig) and more.

Tom Peter is an arborist and artist

Tom Peter from Minneapolis, Minnesota is an arborist and artist, as well as a demonstrator for Rockler Woodworking and Hardware. He will be showing 3-4 vessels for which he harvested African fern pine and Australian eucalyptus at the Arboretum in August and November.

When harvesting wood, Peter looks for an interesting grain or unique feature in the section of the tree he plans to use.

“I look for something that I’ve never seen before and something that will contribute to the overall program, the theme,” Peter said. “All of my pieces are one of a kind. I never know what I’m going to have until it’s off the lathe so there’s an in-the-process inspiration that I use.”

Peter was originally an arborist and would collect interesting pieces of wood he found before it went into the chipper. After he learned how to use a lathe, Peter began turning wood into vessels for his clients who mourned the loss of their trees. This launched a secondary career for him and led to his company, Respectful Transitions.

“I’ll rescue a piece of wood and create something for them to have a lasting memory,” Peter said. “All the wood that I take out of the urban forest is rescue wood. I take it and turn it into something and give it a voice or a future.”

“Forces of Nature II” will also feature work by Steven Lisberger, director of the film, “Tron,” students from the New Horizon School in Pasadena and Laguna Woods and Monrovia retirement home residents. Sohani Holland will be doing an interactive weaving project using wood and materials from the trees, as well as dyed plant fibers. The show’s opening reception pm Dec. 1 will include live music by Jean Sudbury..

“The whole thing behind this, besides commemorating the trees that are lost, is earning money to buy more trees and to teach people how to maintain the urban forest,” Adams said “That’s really the big picture, that the urban forest is critical to the health and well being of our citizenry.”

In addition to the work Adams does at the Arboretum, she has been trying to get the county to consider turning trees cut down in parks and other public spaces into mulch and benches rather than hauling them away..

“We have to insist on those changes that we want to see the trees in the parks not mown and blown and isolated, but surrounded by mulch and with logs that you can sit on, biodecaying and returning to the earth, feeding the tree and its mycorrhizal fungi and giving birth to new life,” Adams said.

If you want to see ‘Forces of Nature II’

When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday Dec. 2-10 and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Dec. 7 and 8.

Where: Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia.

Tickets: $9 adults, $6 seniors and students, $4 children 5-12 and free for children under 5, includes venue entrance.

Information: 626-821-3237, www.arboretum.org.

Also: Opening Night Reception & Art Auction 6-9 p.m. Dec. 1, $25.