The Books Tree
Jerusalem 2005
A carving that talks about books, created by a group of teenagers. It was located in front of the Youth Wing of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Created in cooperation with Lena from the Youth Wing. We worked on it daily for a month, and wrote a poem describing the work.
Every morning we sat in a circle to listen to a reading from parts of Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” and then we listened to the beating of the chisels and hammers.
The carving is made of an eighty year old eucalyptus bole that stands on its roots. It weighs 7 tons and is 8 meters tall. It was donated by Shlomo Erel J. The carving was located in front of the Youth Wing of the Israel Museum.
The team included Mick from Australia and Michael Litvak whose eagle soars with mine.
Symbols from bottom to top:
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On the roots: a blue Cinderella shoe, the ninth ring of power from “The Hobbit”, books.
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Above the roots, an inkwell spilling blue ink, an open book with the hero coming out of its pages and above it a quill. A green bookworm dangles up, towards a stack of books.
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On the left stands an immense owl that observes everything.