Mary Fortuna’s Tree of Life

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By Katie Dunn

Sun contributor

The Tree of Life is one of the most universal, recurrent, and enduring of all iconographies—a visual metaphor for the interconnectivity of life forms, Earth and the cosmos. Its legacy stretches across religions and cultures. It appears throughout literature, the arts, and even modern science.

Artistic representations of the Tree of Life are seemingly countless and typically wondrous. Think: Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt’s The Tree of Life, Stoclet Frieze (1909 CE) which adorns the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna, or pre-Renaissance artist Pacino di Bonaguida’s altarpiece, The Tree of Life (1305-1310 CE) on display at the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze in Italy, or The Tree of Life tapestry (British, first half 17th century CE) exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Most fortuitously, this ancient motif now graces the Lobby Gallery of the Glen Arbor Arts Center (GAAC). It is the mixed media installation of Traverse City artist, Mary Fortuna, aptly titled: Tree of Life: Connecting the World. The exhibit will be shown Jan. 5 through April 25.

Fortuna’s Tree of Life: Connecting the World is a glorious rendition of this most recognizable of images. It is comprised of the tree form itself, which is drawn in Sumi ink on Japanese paper, affixed to which are numerous hand-sewn soft sculptures—a snake, armadillo, turtle, fox, and bee, among other critters.

Collectively, Fortuna’s installation—with all its curious and vibrant inhabitants—is nothing short of a triumphant creation of creation itself. Each component is meticulously and intricately rendered: beading, stitching, embroidery, and varying textiles. Harmony is that which Tree of Life: Connecting the World emanates and evokes.

Fortuna is a Detroit native who settled in Traverse City in 2016. Her home there, essentially, is dual-purposed: domestic and creative. Rooms are populated with beads, buttons, tools, bins of fabric, a sewing machine, and more. Fortuna is fluent in most all artistic media—painting with oil, acrylic, gouache and watercolor; printmaking; drawing; wood, metal and found object sculpture. Currently, she concentrates primarily on textiles and fabrics.

To an extent, Fortuna is very much a self-trained creative practitioner. However, she did, indeed, receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Wayne State University in 1992, at age 35, describing herself as a “non-traditional student.” There, she found both artistic discipline and guiding inspiration:

“I…learned that any idea can be a good idea if you push it enough. There’s nothing that’s not fodder, or a source of inspiration. It can be anything,” Fortuna shared with Sarah Bearup-Neal, GAAC gallery manager.

Fortuna is tremendously prolific, and has exhibited her work throughout Michigan, as well as nationally and internationally. She also has given art instruction at the Detroit Institute of Arts Education Department, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, and other Michigan based arts centers and organizations. Her creative energy and curiosity are seemingly boundless.

Fascinated with the history, symbolism, and transcendence of the Tree of Life, Fortuna finds its imagery deeply resonating for her.

“I have a lifelong interest in storytelling, folklore, and mythology…I’m fascinated with the way some version of a Tree of Life appears in different cultures and religions all over the world. Different aspects are emphasized in different religious and cultural traditions; there is not a single, unified story. Many cultures use the tree to represent the connection between the earthly, material world and the spiritual or supernatural realm…I’m drawn to the ideas of connection between different parts of life, regeneration, and immortality,” Fortuna explained.

The nascency of the Tree of Life metaphor is unclear. It likely first emerged in Ancient Mesopotamia. In the Mesopotamian mythology, Etana—the Sumerian antediluvian King of Kish (early 3rd millennium BCE)—searches for a “plant of birth” to provide him with a son. The “plant of birth” is widely interpreted as the Tree of Life, and is regarded as a connecting point between heaven and the underworld. This symbol is used to explain the realms of life and afterlife, and to imagine the universal cycle. From Ancient Mesopotamia, the Tree of Life motif flourished, and is now ubiquitous.

In Judeo-Christianity, the Tree of Life materialized in the Book of Genesis 2:9 and 3:22-24 as the source of eternal life in the Garden of Eden, and is entirely distinct from a second, inhabiting tree: the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Tree of Life reappears in the Book of Revelations 22:2-3 as part of the new garden of paradise. The tree is the most prominent feature of the new or heavenly Jerusalem—a mirror of the original Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.

“Kalpavrishka” is the term for the Tree of Life in Hinduism, which purportedly grants wishes and fulfills desires. Kalpavrishka is depicted in both Hindu art and literature as a towering tree with roots that sink deep into the earth, and with branches that reach to the stratosphere. The revered Banyan Tree of India embodies that mythology. The tree—both literally and figuratively—offers shelter, nourishment, and medicines. It is a cosmic world tree that is considered undying, eternal, and associated with positive spiritual and religious significance.

African folklore identifies the Baobab Tree as a manifestation of the Tree of Life. In that tradition, the tree provides, protects, and instructs. Essential to the arid climate, the Baobab symbolizes life in a landscape where little else can thrive. Its bark and fruit offer life-sustaining sources—literally and metaphorically.

In Neoplatonic philosophy, the Tree of Life plays a foundational role in interpreting the natural order. The Greek logician and philosopher, Porphyr of Tyre (234-305 CE), is attributed with using the visual diagram of the Tree of Life for devising the interconnections and harmonies of the material world and the divine.

The Tree of Life also remains entirely relevant in modern science. According to the science journal, Nature: “The tree of life is one of the most important organizing principles in biology. Gene surveys suggest the existence of an enormous number of branches, but even an approximation of the full scale of the tree has remained elusive. Recent depictions of the Tree of Life have focused either on the nature of deep evolutionary relationships, or on the known, well-classified diversity of life with an emphasis on eukaryotes.”

Fortuna draws inspiration from these many religious, spiritual, and scientific ideations of the Tree of Life. Also inspirational for her is a lived experience among nature’s creations.

“My inspiration comes from reading multiple accounts of the Tree of Life from many cultures, as well as my love of the natural world and all the animals, insects, birds, plants, and flowers that make up our world. I’m also inspired by representations of the Tree made by artists all over the world and throughout history. The Celtic and Norse versions are especially beautiful. I’m [also] drawn to the way Darwin and his successors have used the diagram of a tree to represent the evolution of life forms—this is probably where I got the idea to place various animals on the image of a tree,” explained Fortuna.

With respect to Charles Darwin (1809-1882 CE), he, likewise, subscribed to the utility and prescience of the Tree of Life. Darwin found it to be a uniquely inclusive and hierarchal pattern of the relationships between all living organisms based on their similarities and differences.

As for Celtic folklore, the Tree of Life is “Crann Bethadh.” The Celts viewed trees as vital to their very own existence. They signify strength with the immense power of its root system, and its branches that attempt to embrace the stars above.

Trees are in abundance here on the Leelanau Peninsula—deeply treasured, and rightfully protected by laudable organizations such as the Leelanau Conservancy. When the Celts formed a new village, the tradition was to plant a tree at its center—symbolic of the importance of community. Fortuna has achieved just that at the GAAC with her magnificent work, Tree of Life: Connecting the World. Life in all its fullness, diversity, and most significantly: its unity.