It is one of nature’s most challenging, enduring, and essential lessons — that nothing lasts forever.

Just as mountains rise, they eventually crumble to the sea. Trees grow to the size of skyscrapers and, one day, they will fall and return to the earth; perhaps with no human being ever setting eyes on it.

It is this kind of self-reflection that artist Anthony Heinz May hopes people will ponder when walking past his newest public art exhibition, located just outside the Weaver Library on Grove Avenue.

May, who grew up among the tree-laden forests of Oregon, was chosen through a public bidding process in June to transform the large and historic copper beech tree — which was rapidly ailing towards an undignified death after at least 120 years of life from multiple ailments, including beech leaf disease — into something that would save as much of the trunk and limbs as possible and hopefully create a lasting monument to its memory.

His job, essentially, was not to stop nature, but rather to hit pause for a moment.

During a visit to the tree while May was in the midst of finishing up the project last week, he could be seen situated high atop a scissor lift hammering a piece of rebar into the base of one of the tree’s thick limbs. Onto these structures, which resembled steel fingers reaching outwards from the trunk, May slid wooden cubes into place. Those cubes were cut from the branches that had been removed, each piece meticulously catalogued and organized so that they could be slotted back into their original placement, albeit at new, chaotic angles that create a profound artistic effect at the ends of the branches.

“It’s an homage to the tree. It’s an epitaph. It’s a celebration of its life,” May explained of his artistic vision. “With my help it has been rearranged in such a way where the limbs that originally grew have become sculptures, and slowly become more abstract over time.”

In addition to preserving many of the limbs, which were continuously falling down and posing a safety hazard for those observing the tree, May stripped the tree’s bark and coated it in a wood sealer, which will help preserve the tree for years to come. The result of revealing the tree’s inner wood, and all of its unique coloring, also adds to the striking appearance of the finished product.

May said that he hopes the project encourages people to talk about the importance of trees, spreading awareness about ailments like beech leaf disease, and humanity’s relationship with nature (the good and bad) as we progress into a future defined more and more by technology.

“I feel like my relationship with nature and my relationship with all of this is a shared ownership with everyone else,” he said. “This is really more of a mirror than it is anything else. Because it's nature going back into its natural cycles, but it's also bringing awareness to it so we can all re-claim it and re-discover it.”

May said that he has been to 35 different states constructing tree sculptures like this one. He said this is his first project in Rhode Island, and the Weaver copper beech was the largest tree he has ever worked on. The city hired May through its allocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.

May said that he had spent the better part of three weeks working on the project, working 10-12 hour days when the weather behaved.

Starting a dialogue

Meredith Bonds-Harmon, East Providence Public Library Director, said she was thrilled with May’s artistic direction, and how generous he was with his time talking to curious onlookers and those wondering what was happening with the tree while he was working on it.

“People have a lot of deep feelings about the tree,” she said. “So they want to connect with him, and it takes him away from his work, but it also feels like it’s a part of his work; to be open to the emotional experience everyone is having as the transition happens.”

Bonds-Harmon said that reactions from people have been mostly positive.

“I definitely temper that because there is a sadness, too. A lot of people have their initials carved, or their grandparents met under the tree…But that's also matched with a curiosity,” she said. “And those questions start a dialogue. I think when you can talk about something or have a response to it and watch what other people's responses are, it just kind of opens up a conversation. And that's kind of where the magic happens.”

May agreed, and said that was why he loved bringing public art to more places around the country.

“That’s a reason why I think public art is so great. Because it offers accessibility, and it’s not just for the people seeking art,” he said. “It’s just there, and so it might have the most impact because it’s for everyone…It’s bringing art to peoples’ front door; for better or worse.”