Fresh Loaf

Beltline Arboretum

Trees Atlanta has selected local artist David Landis to create the first piece of public art for a planned arboretum, or tree museum, along the Beltline.

Once completed, the arboretum will circle the entire 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit, and be one of the largest tree museums in the United States.

Landis was selected from a field of 20 applicants. His sculpture, which will be inspired by residents’ memories of trees and the historic West End community, will represent the first of 14 tree and plant collections along the smart-growth project.

Trees Atlanta says the sculpture will be designed to be a “landscape in motion” and will be installed in the West End’s Rose Circle Park early next year. The work is made possible by a grant from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.

Landis, who created the Butterfly Pavilion at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, has also shown work in Minneapolis, Albany, Ga., Toulose, France and throughout the metro region. A graduate of the University of Georgia and Georgia State University, he’s also taught at the latter and Dunwoody’s Spruill Center for the Arts.

Beltline and community officials will celebrate Landis’ selection on Thursday, July 9 at 7 p.m. at the Hammond House. The event is free and open to the public.

This post has been altered to fix a typo of the artist’s name.

(Screenshot courtesy of Trees Atlanta)

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Beltline officials on Monday will provide residents of Southeast Atlanta a chance to offer their opinion on how they want to move around the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit. Officials will also show them how they’ll move.

The meeting, the first of five Environmental Impact Study workshops, will be held at Trees Atlanta at 6:30 p.m. It will reportedly include a Google Earth animation that will take people on a virtual tour of the project’s path. Beltline officials will take citizen input on the how the trail and transit paths should be aligned, where station stops should be located, and what type of transportation — light-rail, streetcar, etc. — they think should be used.

The meeting is scheduled to end at 8:30 p.m. Click here for directions to Trees Atlanta. A list of the remaining workshops follows after the jump. To download a flyer that includes all the workshop dates and locations, click here. (Warning: PDF)

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In addition to its tree-planting project with Brown Middle School along the Beltline, Trees Atlanta is requesting artist proposals for public art in a southwest Atlanta segment of the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit’s southwest segment.

Debbie’s got the details over at Culture Surfing.

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Brown Middle School students today will plant nearly 1,000 trees and shrubs to help build the Beltline’s “arboretum.” The 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit is planned to boast one of the country’s largest “tree museums” once complete.

From the AJC:

Trees Atlanta and the Atlanta Audubon Society are working with Brown Middle School to plant fig and black walnut trees, blueberry bushes and other bird-friendly trees and shrubs at the West End school. The project was largely funded by a $42,400 grant from TogetherGreen, a National Audubon Society program sponsored by Toyota.

Trees Atlanta spokeswoman Cheryl Kortemeier said the middle school is along the first piece of the Atlanta BeltLine Arboretum, a one-mile path next to the abandoned train tracks. It is accessible from the school and Gordon White Park. Kortemeier said the arboretum’s theme for the West Connection is ethnobotany, or how trees and plants are used as medicine.

Residents who want to help out by mulching, watering and planting remaining trees can visit the work site on Saturday at 9 a.m. Contact Trees Atlanta for more information. To download the arboretum’s conceptual plans, visit the Beltline’s webpage on the project. (The plans, which are PDF files and located along the right column, are very large but incredibly resourceful if you’re a tree-loving Atlantan.)

(Image courtesy of Atlanta Beltline Inc. and Trees Atlanta)

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1) Tomas Kubinek performs at the Rialto Center.

2) Modest Mouse plays the Tabernacle.

3) The Seen Gallery hosts a Grand Reopening and Group Show in its new Decatur digs.

4) The 4th Ward Afro-Klemzer Orchestra plays Eyedrum.

5) Trees Atlanta supports Oakland Cemetery with the Oakland Shindig.

(Photo courtesy Rialto Center for the Arts)

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Congrats, Atlanta. We beat Los Angeles for $300,000 worth of trees.

American Express announced today that it is giving the City of Atlanta $300,000 for tree-planting projects as part of the American Express Root for Our City Challenge, an initiative designed to help make eight U.S. cities cleaner, greener and more beautiful. The “City of Trees” will receive funding for tree planting programs led by Trees Atlanta, which will support the planting of 300 trees and their maintenance in residential neighborhoods and retail districts throughout the city.

Through the Root For Our City Challenge, American Express has committed $1 million toward tree planting projects for further expansion of the nation’s urban tree canopies, with Atlanta securing the largest portion of the $1 million. The additional participating cities, which included Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco and Washington DC, will each receive $100,000 for tree planting projects in those cities that will be spearheaded by local environmentally-focused organizations.

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Project plans for the eight participating cities range from replacing storm-damaged and aging trees, to the planting of hundreds of native trees that would significantly increase the tree canopy in urban areas.

Cardholders who made purchases with le plastique helped Atlanta trump seven other cities including Los Angeles, Boston and New York. Surprising that a tourist hotspot like New York — which placed seventh — couldn’t edge us out.

Sources say that once fully grown, the trees will be cut down and used for firewood when all of us lose our homes to debt. (Kidding. Good work, Atlanta.)

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This thing is getting close, you treehuggers, and there are only eight days left to make a difference.

Atlanta, with the cooperation of Trees Atlanta, is participating in American Express’ “Roots For Your City” campaign in which such cities as Chicago, Miami and New York City compete for the lion’s share of a $1 million grant from the credit company. Each time you make a purchase with your American Express card, Atlanta’s chances improve.

And of the eight participating cities swiping their cards to win, we’re second only to some place called Los Angeles, where dogs are bred in petri dishes to be as tiny as hamsters. We must not lose to this mysterious land of heathens!

Click here to see which Atlanta businesses are participating. If you have shopping planned for this weekend, be sure to check them out.

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