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Professor Van Aken’s trees begin singularly with one identity and are developed through a process of budding and grafting to accept, nurture and produce branches yielding different fruit. Each branch feeds from the same source yet produces its unique bounty—symbolizing and commemorating the success of acceptance, a sign of hope and renewal! As the tree matures, it will produce over 40 different types of fruit from the family of stone fruits, including peach, plum, apricot, nectarine and cherry. Blossoming in variegated tones of white and pink in early spring and yielding an abundance of fruit throughout the summer, the tree becomes a metaphor for themes reflecting acceptance, globalism and multiculturalism. After the September 11 Service of Remembrance and Hope, A Tree of 40 Fruit will be planted on the Kenneth A. Shaw Quadrangle at Syracuse University to serve as a remembrance of the victims of September 11, 2001, and as a continuing sign of hope and renewal to the Syracuse University community.
A Tree of 40 Fruit was selected as a symbol of the University’s 9-11 remembrance event from the living garden of current work by Sam Van Aken, associate professor in the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
The Sheets of Expression from September 2001 and 2002 will be on display in the White Cube Gallery, located off the Panasci Lounge in the Schine Student Center, from Monday, Sept. 5 through Thursday, Sept. 15. Selected panels from the Sheets of Expression collection will also be on display at Lubin House in New York City; Greenberg House in Washington, D.C.; and at the SU Center in Los Angeles from Sept. 5-15. Read more about the 9/11 Sheets of Expression Project.
