Diana Liljelund's The Immigrant

As you approach the bottom of Creosote Place the stunningly unobstructed water and city view opens up on your right. Tucked into the southeastern corner of this open space is Diana Liljelund's piece, the Immigrant.

It is a red tree, bright and slick at the water's edge. This dead madrona was given to Diana by Art Koura, an old time Bainbridge Islander. With determination and community help, Diana painted the trunk and much of the branch system by hand before it was trucked to the site and cast into a concrete base. Now the trunk lists gently eastward, gesturing toward Seattle or points beyond. Best viewed from the ferry approaching or leaving Eagle Harbor, the trunk alternately leaps out from the green backdrop or blends unnoticed.

Diana's words about her work and the Immigrant read:
“Trees and the forest invoke wonder and inspiration for me. Within a painting I try to create a place: a translation of a moment in time that I have experienced and wish to share. I work with many layers of color and their interralationships, spatial depth and structure to create a composed narrative. The installations are created through a process of a working dialogue with a place, and what is found there to be celebrated, unearthed, and given new life.

A graceful dead Madrone tree has moved from five miles inland to quietly establish a new and unexpected identity on the beach which challenges known truths. The synthetic red of the poised tree framed by the sweeping soft green curve of the forest edge creates an arrangement suspended in the brevity of the moment inspired by the ancient art of Ikebana. Celebrating the link between man and nature ‘the Immigrant’ creates a new life for itself and in doing so affirms a new balance in the environment around it."

More about Diana's work can be found at www.dianaliljelund.com.