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The Appalachian Forest Museum Arc of Appalachia Preserve System
Displays at the Appalachian Forest Museum are currently under development to interpret the world significance of America's Temperate Forest -- the forest that once covered the entire eastern third of our country. Geoff Mowery, a skilled wildlife artist from Northeastern Ohio, has been selected to paint eleven mural-sized paintings to tell the story in a dramatic visual format. The tale begins 33 million years ago when one large contiguous
temperate forest spanned the Northern Hemisphere. By 2000 years ago,
this once-great forest was fragmented into three major forest
centers: Eastern North America, Europe and Eastern Asia. Today, only
the forest of Eastern United States survives outside isolated parks
and refuges. Although greatly fragmented, the U.S. temperate forest
is the most intact representation of the biome in the
entire world.
Mural-sized Fine Art Paintings will focus on the following themes:
the forest during the Ice Age spectacles of the old forest: April wildflowers and fall colors the rich aquatic biodiversity of the Eastern Deciduous Forest the 19th C. removal of Ohio's great forest extinct and extirpated forest creatures the returning of the forest in the 21st century preserving the forest for the future the forest mission of the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System
Photo above. Completed Painting: Forest Spectacle: Spring Ephemeral wildflowers Visitors will be invited to follow a deer path through a recreated ancient forest grove, the likes of which is no longer found in Ohio. Trail signs along the path will interpret the significance of each painting:
Photo below. Completed Painting: The Temperate Forest Falls in
China,the sister forest to Eastern North America 
Recreating an ancient forest grove One of the biggest missing pieces of today's living forests are the giant old-growth trees. In the Museum, floor-to-ceiling tree trunk replicas have been built to recreate for visitors a majestic grove of immense trees. It was quite an artistic challenge! The trees had to be constructed so that they were not too heavy, yet botanically realistic in detail. Local artist, Bradley Gray of Rome Hill Studios, designed the massive trunk replicas, and built them of wood, wire, plaster and paint. Brad Gray and two more local artists, Angel McIlwain and Bill Brown, painstakingly crafted and painted the barks of the ancient trees to be true to the selected species. The entire process took six months to complete. Major funding for the trees was provided by the Ohio EPA's Ohio Environmental Education Fund. Financial support also came from the Highland County Convention Visitors Bureau and Wilderness East.
Additional funding is required to complete the project The quest for the perfect artist to complete the eleven planned murals took a new path when we realized that what we really needed was neither a muralist nor murals, but immense, detailed fine art paintings. Only masterful oil paintings would fulfill our goal of captivating future visitors: paintings with dramatic use of light, accurate biological detail, dynamic movement and alluring depth. After searching for one and a half years, Geoff Mowery of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, was selected. He is an extraordinarily skilled painter with a keen talent for exquisite wildlife art and natural landscapes. Geoff is now a "resident artist" at the Highlands Nature Sanctuary, and if sufficient funding is procured, will be so for the next two years! He is contracted to complete the first four paintings by the end of October, 2009. Donations and grants to fund the remaining balance of Geoff's contract are currently being sought from private donors. An additional $85,000 is needed to complete the Museum and keep Geoff in residence.
Designing the display system How to effectively tell such a big story in just eleven pictures and eleven associated small "trailside" signs, has been a major design challenge at the Appalachian Forest Museum. Designer Bruce Lombardo first proposed the idea of recreating the the ancient forest and telling the tale through pictures. With the help of the Ohio EPA grant that he wrote on behalf of the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System, he is now hired to oversee the Museum production, partially as a part-time contractor and partially as a dedicated volunteer. Bruce has considerable experience in natural resource interpretation and design. He has worked as a park ranger at several national parks, and his latest major endeavor was in Zimbabwe, Africa; where he designed an ecological interpretive Museum for the Painted Dog Conservation project.
When will it be finished? The interpretive displays are slated to be completed by May 2011. However, visitors will enjoy seeing the work in progress and talking to the artist during the Appalachian Forest Museum operating hours.
Connecting is the
first step.
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