Ulmus – The Peaceful Wizard

Ulmus was born into a tree around the turn of the century (2000) and took the form of a wizard in May of 2025.  This was my first time chainsaw carving but I’ve used chainsaws most of my life for heating our home.  Ulmus stands 10 foot tall to the top of his hat.  Carved from a fresh cut (very wet) American Elm while I was deeply immersed in Chinese philosophy, especially the Tao Te Ching – credited to the legendary sage, Lao Tzu.  This philosophy of Taoism reads, at first, like a series of contradictions, right from the very first line, “The Tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao.”

Have you ever experienced something that can’t be described?  Something that just came from nowhere and perhaps disappeared as quickly as you tried to grasp it?

The “Tao” can be translated as “The Way” or “The Path”.  In our attempts to label, control, describe and understand everything, we often lose sight of “The Way” and find ourselves swimming against the current.

Eternal and unconcerned with all of our trials and tribulations, the Tao is constant, not in a hurry, and has nowhere to go.  It is already here now.  Ulmus was my first attempt to represent, in sculpture, what is already here, and which needs nothing because it already has everything.  Ulmus didn’t need me, to “come to life”.  In fact, out of desire for more sunshine on the gardens, I nearly erased the evidence he existed.  I left what remains to help us remember.