“Grandmother Cottonwood and Her Clan” is July’s offering at WallSpace-LNK. Digital color photographs taken over one year will introduce you to this very large, very old cottonwood tree and her relatives and their home at Nine Mile Prairie northwest of Lincoln. 

Photographer Michael Farrell has made images of the Grandmother and other cottonwoods over several decades. The Nebraska State Tree, the cottonwood may live between 70 and 100 years, not unlike the humans who admire them. He notes, “time takes its toll on these trees. Wind breaks off limbs. Insects infest. Age wins and trees die because it is their time. Fungus and mushrooms grow on the remains. Here on the Nine Mile Prairie they have been allowed to begin, live and end their lives as Nature intends. We should all be so lucky.”

Farrell made this particular work in conjunction with the Platte Basin Timelapse Project that Michael cofounded in 2011. Most recently he has been working with a modern version of twin lens stereo photography that uses a stereopticon viewer to mimic human depth perception. Some stereo images are included with more conventional color views. 

“These groves are families. And they are like family to me,” he concludes. Become acquainted with this clan during regular gallery hours Friday-Sunday, 12- 5p.m. July 5-July 28, til 8 on First Friday, or by appointment (text to 402-450-9834).