Welcome to Tree Whispers

Treewhispers is an international collaboration involving paper, art and stories relating to trees as a symbol and resource. The project was created in the year 2000 by Pamela Paulsrud and the late Marilyn Sward.

Treewhispers includes on-going opportunities for papermaking and papermaking demonstrations, performance, storytelling, and site-specific installations. Be sure to stop by our new Gallery, our Stories section, and see how you can contribute your stories and your art!

Marilyn and Pamela at the Treewhispers exhibition
Columbia College Chicago, Center for Book and Paper Arts

Trees have a profound impact on human lives. Trees are symbols, resources, and inspirations. In remembering our own personal experiences with trees we deepen our appreciation, our awareness, our connection to trees, to the earth and to others. We all have at one time in our life experienced a tree in one way or another. We climbed trees with our friends seeing who could climb the highest, built a tree house that was our refuge, walked through a cool dense forest in the springtime, plucked a ripe red apple off a tree, speculated on what kind of a tree we would be on a hot summer evening. Did you run to a tree for safe base when you played tag?

Somewhere within you there is a tree story. Just as the rings of a tree embody the stories of the tree, so too we carry the stories of trees.

These stories inspire us to renew our sense of wonder. They connect us to one another through shared experiences as they deepen our understanding to our connection with nature. Many of us discovered that trees listen quite well and some may even speak to those who listen closely. Treewhispers allows the message to reverberate.

How have trees nurtured, calmed, influenced, affected, and protected you?

You are invited to participate.