Featured - The Willow Tree Story
Artist Susan Lordi carves the original Willow Tree® sculptures by hand and now available from Melbourne's Christmas Elves Store. Susan uses friends & family as models, trying to portray a feeling or capture a moment in time. Each ornament is cast from the original carvings, and then painted individually by hand. Softly washed colours, carved and metal accents, and representative icons of nature mark Susan's work.
"I try to keep the interpretation of Willow Tree open. I hope this makes it more personal, and allows the viewer to decide its meaning."
Willow Tree was first created in January 2000. The product line has grown to encompass many sentiments that we all love to express. To our friends, to our family, to our teachers; to those near and dear, to those far away.
The original inspiration for Willow Tree still holds true today: Willow Tree is an intimate, personal line of figurative sculptures representing qualities and sentiments that help us feel close to others, heal wounds, or treasure relationships. Susan Lordi carves each original piece with this thought in mind. Her figures continue to evolve as she identifies emotions so important for us to convey, and renders them in simple, pure gestures. These art forms beautifully express love, closeness, healing, courage, hope... all the emotions of a life well lived.
The name Willow Tree was chosen to symbolize that which is gestural and beckoning. The figures are columnar in design, like a tree, and often carry natural objects or animals as metaphors for human virtues or qualities... rosemary for remembrance, a bird for healing, flowers for beauty.
The Christmas line of Willow Tree sculptures are rendered to portray elegance, simplicity, peace and serenity. Forms reveal their expressions through body gestures only... placement of the hands, a turn of the body, a tilt of the head. Emotions are left to the viewer to discover, making each both personal and powerful. Willow Tree is an beautiful addition to the range of Christmas collectibles in Australia's Christmas Elves stores.
