today to the wolf trees...
I created a performance piece based on a dream I had about a battle with a lone wolf.

When I was researching wolves and mythology/folklore, I stumbled across a little paragraph about how wolves were hung in trees because of their thievery. Now, it feels that paragraph is a dream, too...I have no idea where I read it and if it's even true, but the imagery has left a deep imprint on me. And now two years later as a I am walking in the woods the imagery comes back. The concept is bizarre....the image in my mind is disturbing yet possible.

And today I research wolf trees again and this is what I found....
Wolf trees have broad, spreading crowns that dominate the area of ground lying within their shade.
These trees monopolize the available light, water and nutrients for their own use at the detriment of other nearby trees. This large maple tree also survived a disturbance that opened up a clearing in the forest around it.
This maple tree was left behind and thus had an advantage over the next generation of trees. Like the “seed tree,” wolf trees periodically produce a large seed crop, creating an area dominated by saplings of their own species. Eventually the wolf tree will die but, over time and through the process of natural selection, two or three saplings will survive to become mature trees. Woodlot improvement cuttings will normally remove most of these trees to release better quality trees for the future harvest.
Wolf trees were named at a time when wolves were believed to be thieves and pests. Some misunderstandings about the animal remain but its now understood that wolves are not the terrible scourge they were once believed to be.

I realize today, I have a wolf tree in my backyard and it does have a large seed crop that spreads maple saplings all over my yard...it's annoying and cumbersome because I have to pull out each seedling by hand to get the roots....they keep coming back. But I love that tree and I will never cut it down, now that I recognize it as a wolf tree, that message is crystal clear.

Wolf trees are as much a pest as they thought wolves were...there are specialists that will help you cut down your wolf trees to allow the growth of more attractive trees....

When I created my performance piece, the battle of the wolf and myself was an internal battle. I connected the wolf to my own disconnected identity and the persecution of women throughout history.

With the imagery of the hanging wolves...there is imagery of the witch trials....with the roots of the mighty multi-branched wolf tree...the moon cycle of the female body...there is power there, primordial and undeniable.