Kirk Crippens & Gretchen LeMaistre

In 2013, an alarming number of redwood trees in America’s national and state parks were shorn of their knobby protrusions, called burls. The trees were disfigured by thieves aiming to sell distinctive burl wood to luxury furniture retailers. Kirk Crippens and Gretchen LeMaistre read about these trees in the news and were motivated to go and see them. Rangers from the Redwood National and State Parks assisted the two artists in accessing and photographing each site. Between 2013 and 2016, they made many visits to the redwood forests of Humboldt County, California.