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(#161) BERKELEY HORTICULTURAL NURSERY (TREE)
http://www.berkeleyhort.com/:

Edition of 1648 of which 125 copies are signed 1-125, 26 copies are signed A-Z as artist's proofs; two are signed as dedication copies, and three sets are signed as progressives.

February 20, 1995 17-1/8 x 24" 10 colors

Influence: Alfred Roller

Client: Paul Doty, Berkeley Horticultural Nursery, 1310 McGee Avenue, Berkeley California 94703 Telephone: (510) 526-4704

A-Z: Artist's own use Dedication copy: Paul Doty, Anthony Draper (letter "U" from the artist's proofs)
Progressives: One set to Paul Doty

Green growing things delight the eye and soothe the spirit. Plant a seed and it repays you with vigorous growth, lending shade and solace in summer's hot days. In winter a tree affords welcome shelter as it greenly bends and sways in wind and rain. You tend plants every week, and form a silent friendship. Birds come and build their nests, squirrels scamper and scold, and the air is refreshed with the imperceptible breathing of trees. The smell of water and life and gentle decay is a perpetual feast.

The slow wheel of seasons is reflected through my kitchen window as the trees I planted years ago grow and overshadow my life. When Autumn comes upon me and I am old, and grey, then dead and gone, children yet unborn will pleasure in the trees I planted on spring mornings that are no more. Lovers will lean against their trunks and kiss and swear eternal faith, but the trees will last longer than that. I desire that a tree planted above my grave should feel its rooted way down through the earth and come into my dusty heart and grow and I will become a tree, and hold birds in my arms and kiss the sky.