'The Last Tree' on display at Whitefish bank
<p>Robert Seymour's "The Last Tree," a sculpture made from recycled copper and brass, is on display in the lobby of Glacier Bank in Whitefish.</p>
In the year 5012, what would the last tree on Earth look like?
Kalispell artist Robert Seymour’s “The Last Tree” examines what trees might look like in the future if current trends continue.
“Trees of the future may be genetically engineered organisms that are 51 percent plant and 49 percent machine,” Seymour says in information about his new piece. “Trees may morph someday into drones that are programmed to neutralize opposition to government domination by reading an individual’s ‘unauthorized’ thought process. ...
“With the advent of genetically modified crops and drones that can fly or swim, such a tree is not outside the realm of possibilities in the future. The trees of the future may even need to be government certified to be classified as a ‘real tree.’”
Seymour’s tree is made from recycled copper and brass. The base is a chunk of lodgepole pine found along the shore of Flathead Lake, and the tree grows from a tractor gear found along the Flathead River.
The tree has “fruit” (.223 bullets) and branches terminated with valves and barbed hose fittings.
“This is indicative of the symbiotic function of trees — giving off gases (oxygen) as a ‘waste’ byproduct of photosynthesis as we give back our own ‘waste’ in the form of carbon dioxide,” Seymour says.
“The Last Tree” is on display for the next couple of months at Glacier Bank in Whitefish. For more information about Seymour’s work, call him at 270-3395.