Sunday 14 August 2022

 

A Forest Sounds Like a Ship at Sea:

Roots and Branches

Day 26: Remote Residency at Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, Ireland, 7/18/22 to 8/13/22,  Maria Driscoll McMahon checking in from New York State


Life has a way of talking to the future. It’s called memory. It’s called genes.

                                                                                                Richard Powers, The Overstory



We found that trees could communicate, over the air and through their roots. Common sense hooted us down. We found that trees take care of each other. Collective science dismissed the idea. Outsiders discovered how seeds remember the seasons of their childhood and set buds accordingly. Outsiders discovered that trees sense the presence of other nearby life. That a tree learns to save water. That trees feed their young and synchronize their masts and bank resources and warn kin and send out signals to wasps to come and save them from attacks. “Here’s a little outsider information, and you can wait for it to be confirmed. A forest knows things. They wire themselves up underground. There are brains down there, ones our own brains aren’t shaped to see. Root plasticity, solving problems and making decisions. Fungal synapses. What else do you want to call it? Link enough trees together, and a forest grows aware.   Richard Powers, The Overstory




As is the case in the video,  what happens at the roots of the tree has an effect on the branches.  I have only just begun to discover those roots and branches, causes and effects.  I have a lot of work yet to do. My final drawing/animation/projection (and maybe some other multi-disciplinary works) will be ready for screening/viewing in about a year.  See my web-site blog for updates and announcements. 


Meanwhile, I could not have taken on a project of this magnitude without the help of many people. 

First of all, my Aunt Sylvia Hilfiger née Driscoll, from whom I first learned of the ancestral village called "Baltimore."  Without her explorations I would not have known a thing about our ancestry. 

Aunt Sylvia (in center) in Baltimore a few decades ago


Aunt Sylvia today who is still sharing stories, memories, clippings, photographs!


Margaret Walsh, Dixie Gross, Christine Bedford


From left: Yours truly, Margaret Walsh, Dixie Gross, Christine Hilfiger, 
all descendants of Cornelius O'Driscoll

Margaret Walsh and I were MEANT to meet, which we did just a little over a month ago! Margaret is a distant cousin and was actually born in the house that Cornelius and his family built! She so very generously shared memories and allowed us to finally experience "the clearing" Cornelius commenced almost 200 years ago! When I went to the Bradford County History Museum, I found more than a few documents and articles written by none other than Margaret herself! How lucky are we all to have met this amazing woman, who, not only worked as a registered nurse, but acted as Supervior of her department at the Robert Packer Hospital up until her retirement a few years ago. 

Dixie Gross, another 5th or 6th cousin of mine has done probably more work than anybody on our genealogy.  After corresponding off and on for several years, it was great to finally meet this remarkable world traveler in person a couple months ago!

Christine Hilfger Bedford is my beloved first cousin and daughter of Aunt Sylvia. We grew up together and I cannot tell you how wonderful it is that we are sharing this adventure together! Her students are very lucky to have such a kind and curious teacher!

Many other people helped me in my research - historians, arborists, conservationists, educators, artists...


Henry Farley, President, Bradford County Historical Society 
Matt Carl, Executive Director of the Bradford County Historical Society

Denise Golden, Library Clerk in Research Library
Ms. Pelton, Volunteer Assistant in Research Library
Jonathan Gulyas

Dan Rhodes, Education Coordinator
Adam Chorba, Forest Specialist
Rich Gulyas, Mt. Pisgah Environmental Education Specialist

Daniel Weitoish, Lead Arborist


(Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church was built by people 
of the 19th century Irish Settlement)
Father Toomey
Secretary: Mary Cole

Terri Kearney
Margaret Murphy

Friends, Cousins,  Artists who encouraged, advised, helped me
Cate Bourke
Aurelio Catano
Scott Greene
Richard Gulyas 
Kathy Kirwan, Irish artist (Clonakilty)
River Santina
Séamus Ó Drisceoil, Irish entrepreneur and conservationist (Dublin and Cape Clear)
Marie Deese Driscoll, O'Driscoll Clan Chieftain, Irish artist (Sherkin Island)
Kerry O’Driscoll
Denise O'Driscoll


SPECIAL THANKS: If I started naming EVERY artist/friend who helped/advised/encouraged me, the list would go on forever, but I would like to single out John Knecht for his generosity in sharing a bit of his process with me. I have admired John's work ever since it blew my mind upon seeing it at the Everson Museum in Syracuse, NY about a decade ago. Not only does it dazzle with its visual feats of animation, but the content resonates long after initial viewings.  Thanks for the inspiration, John!   John Knecht (johnknechtart.com)


Special thanks to: 
Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, Ireland
Ann Davoren, Director
Justine Foster, Programme Manager
Louise Forsyth, Front of House Co-ordinator and Communications Assistant
Kate McElroy, Public Engagement Assistant
Jackie O'Callaghan, Administration Assistant


A Forest Sounds Like a Ship at Sea 
will screen at the Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre in a year from now!

Follow my (monthly) blog for updates to the project at  www.mariadriscollmcmahon.com




FINAL BOOK BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1)  The Overstory by Richard Powers | Goodreads 

2)  Sacred Trees of Ireland by Christine Zucchelli | Goodreads 

3)  Wild Woods: The Magic of Ireland's Native Woodlands by Richard Nairn | Goodreads 

4)  American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation by Eric Rutkow | Goodreads 

5)  Remarkable Trees of the World by Thomas Pakenham | Goodreads 

6)  The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben | Goodreads 

7) Barclay Mountain: A History  Bradford County Historical Society (bradfordhistory.com) 

8)  The Fir Tree Map of the Beara Peninsula & South West Cork Sheet map folded 

9) Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit (goodreads.com)

10) An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

11) Lough Hyne – From Prehistory to the Present – Skibbereen Heritage Centre (skibbheritage.com)

12) Skibbereen: The Famine Story by Terri Kearney and Philip O'Reagan

13) Animation Sketchbooks by Laura Heit (goodreads.com)

14) Baltimore Castle: An 800-year History Bernie McCarthy

15)The Chieftain's Daughter by Marie D Driscoll

16) The Textile Trilogy – Destiny Kinal

17) Wisdom of Trees by Jane Gifford

18) Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard | Goodreads

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