At 4 p.m. today, Maine College of Art will host an reception for “The Tree Man,” a site-specific outdoor installation by Dao Chau Hai and Nguyen Ngoc Lam, two visiting sculptors from Hanoi, Vietnam.

By using tree branches as their medium and erecting their sculpture atop an open grass field, the artists hope to call attention to man’s delicate balancing act with nature.

People will be invited to walk down the long narrow tunnel – made from beech, maple and oak saplings – and consider the human form who hides inside. It is held together with nails.

They call their piece “The Tree Man.”

The twisting sculpture, which measures about 40 feet long, stands in the green space at the corner of Casco and Shepley streets, one block off Congress Street. The small open field is adjacent to an apartment building owned by Maine College of Art, which helped arrange the installation with Indochina Arts Partnership of Wellesley, Mass.

“We hope this helps people find clear thoughts, so we can become one with nature again,” Hai said through his translator, Long Nguyen.

Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be reached at 791-6457 or:bkeyes@pressherald.comTwitter: pphbkeyes


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