Art in the ‘hood

I think it was about a year ago when we noticed the first piece of tree art in our neighborhood. Across the street from one of the local expat hangouts, a tree trunk had been carved to look somewhat like a Native American totem pole. Pretty interesting, we thought. And a hopeful sign that Kyiv was moving in the right direction, if they had figured out the idea of turning nature into art, rather than just plowing down a dead tree and leaving an ugly gap. A few months later, another one appeared - a woman and child that appeared to be hailing a cab (although there was a bird on the woman’s outstretched hand - I’m not really sure what that was about). Both of these were tastefully done, leaving the tree trunk intact and simply varnished so that the wood grain was visible. Then they did the typical Ukrainian thing and took it a step too far, right into crazy-land.

This guy was next. Cool? Yes. But how many trees had to die in order to construct him? The stump that he’s resting on had been there the entire time we’ve lived here. But I guess it needed to be jazzed up. By the way, the cart he’s pulling is currently holding a small Christmas tree. Very festive.

And the latest installment…

Again, she’s perched on top of the stump of the tree that was removed, rather than turning the stump itself into art. And as you can see, the tree art has become multi-media. Her tutu is made out of chicken wire and I’m not sure what her hair is. I was pretty sure it was going to get disgusting the first time it rained or snowed, but it’s held up fairly well.

The story behind this one is actually kind of cute. A day or two after they cut down the tree that used to be in it’s place, a note was left on the stump. Roughly translated, it said: “Please make this one a ballerina because I love ballerinas.” This isn’t exactly the land of people who appreciate suggestions, so I figured that was a waste of paper. But sure enough, several weeks later, she appeared. And the next day there was a note left saying: “Thank you very much!”