WASHINGTON, D.C., September 16, 2014 — A large solo exhibit of sculpture by artist Emilie Brzezinski opened to the public at Washington D.C.’s Kreeger Museum today.

The exhibit, titled “The Lure of the Forest”, is a collection of more than ten installations of Brzezinski’s maple, oak, cherry and poplar wood sculptures and hanging bark print.

Ranging in size from her musical Temple Bell xylophone-like hollowed branches, to works of great magnitude like her towering 15-foot-high, three piece installation, Lament, “The Lure of the Forest” exhibit has installations even the non-artistic mind can appreciate.

Above: Brzezinski’s maple Ukraine Trunk in place at the entrance to The Lure of the Forest exhibit at the Kreeger Museum. Photograph by Helen Chason.

After all, it is not every day that you find a chainsaw-wielding 82-year-old who takes to felled trees in order to sculpt monumental compositions. It is for this very reason that Stihl Inc., the number one selling brand of chainsaws in the world, took favor to Brzezinski’s artistic process and chose to sponsor the exhibit at the Kreeger Museum. Stihl’s support of Brzezinski spreads even further than the exhibit at the Kreeger Museum and in spring 2014  the German-based manufacturer will feature Brzezinski in their “Real People, Stihl People” marketing campaign.

Brzezinski’s talent to reveal the secret shapes, lines, hollows, and patterns of tree trunks and her perspicacity to create monumental sculpture from form that the casual observer would overlook, allowed her to create one of the highlights of the exhibit, her maple Ukraine Trunk.

The work was inspired by a photograph Brezezinski found in the New York Times showing an overcrowded Kiev Square during the recent uprising in Ukraine. The image, taken by Turkish photographer Bulent Kilic, is an expressive document of the strife of the Ukrainian people and moved Brzezinski to create her monolithic trunk. The work stands in the center of a stairwell welcoming viewers to the exhibit in the lower level of the museum.

While the exhibit at the Kreeger Museum currently hosts the largest collection of Brzezinski’s works outside of her own studio, it is not the only buzz of her artwork around Washington. Last week, Brzezinski’s Cherry Bench II was installed in The Phillips Collection courtyard, and a subsequent program about Brzezinski’s artistic career will be held there on October 1. Moreover, Brzezinski’s bronze Arch in Flight greets observers just two blocks from the White House in front of the Federal Reserve building on New York Avenue.

Curated by Milena Kalinovska of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum, “The Lure of the Forest” exhibit runs through December 27, 2014. For more information about the exhibit at the Kreeger Museum, including upcoming programs about Brzezinski, her recent monograph, The Lure of the Forest – Sculpture 1979-2013, visit www.kreegermuseum.org.