Media Contact:
Solene Manoukian, Community Relations Coordinator
solmanoukian@glendaleca.gov
(818) 548-3342
Coexisting: Glendale Tree Stories
Glendale, CA— Glendale Tree Stories is a public story-sharing project that celebrates the Glendale community’s unique, multifaceted, and historic relationship with trees. This project was made possible by a $20,000 grant from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment of the Humanities. The grant was awarded to the City of Glendale’s Public Works Department in May of 2020 and used to create a project that fosters communication, stewardship, and consensus in the community around preserving the urban forest for future generations. Between 2020 and 2022, the Tree Stories Project Team collected story submittals from Glendale residents about their favorite trees, researched local history, and interviewed community leaders for a behind-the-scenes look at the creation and preservation of Glendale’s most popular parks and open space destinations.
For the project’s final print exhibit, “Coexisting: Glendale Tree Stories,” the project artist, Elkpen, transformed a selection of this material into a series of eighteen comics, mixing personal stories from the community with local natural history, tree lore, and reflections on urban nature.
The Project Team is still collecting story submissions from the public. Interested participants can submit their tree stories through the City’s online portal or by visiting the Glendale Central Library during regular business hours. “Coexisting: Glendale Tree Stories” is available to view now through May 7, 2022, at the Glendale Central Library in partnership with ReflectSpace Gallery’s exhibit “As the Earth Wanes: Considering Climate Change.” A special Glendale Tree Stories installation will also be open for public participation at the City of Glendale’s Earth Day Pop-Up Fair on April 23. All tree story submissions, along with Elkpen’s comics, will be archived online and available to the public.
The exhibit’s closing reception will be hosted by ReflectSpace Gallery on Thursday, May 5, from 6 – 9 pm at the Glendale Central Library. The Glendale Tree Stories project artist, Elkpen, and Humanities Advisor, Stephanie Landregan, will participate in an Artist and Activist Talk that evening at 7 pm. This event is free and open to the public.
“These projects will bring the complexity and diversity of California to light in new ways that will engage Californians from every part of our state, and will help us all understand each other better,” said Julie Fry, President & CEO of California Humanities. “We congratulate these grantees whose projects will promote understanding and provide insight into a wide range of topics, issues, and experiences.”
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California Humanities promotes the humanities – focused on ideas, conversation and learning – as relevant, meaningful ways to understand the human condition and connect us to each other in order to help strengthen California. California Humanities has provided grants and programs across the state since 1975. To learn more visit www.calhum.org, or follow California Humanities on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
