Growing Your Curriculum From a Seed
A Reflection on Tree University
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Introduction
Lately, a clear memory keeps coming to mind. My mentor and inspiration, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, once handed out a printed reading by writer Yvonne Vera. They often brought in works of fiction along with the academic theory we covered. Sitting in a graduate seminar with a room of peers, we listened as she expressed that a practice could be fueled around a single passage—not for a day, month, or season, but for a lifetime. As someone who often felt the pain of deadlines and underdeveloped ideas, this resonated deeply with me.
One of my current reads is The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape, an anthology authored by Katie Holten. When I came across the story "Tree University" by the FutureFarmers, I was struck.
“We had been wanting to create a whole ‘curriculum’ from a tree for a while” (Holten, 2019-2020).
They started this piece by expressing their desire to create a curriculum from a single tree (Holten, 2019-2020). I immediately thought back to that memory. Intrigued by the idea, I connected the focus on this physical object to centering a practice around a single exploration, theory, and philosophy; often represented through literature. I found it fascinating to realize how much one tree can hold. A single tree functions as a living theory; holding our speculation, lived experience, new understanding, connectivity, and most importantly its inherent individual experience.
During their time together, the Futurefarmers found liberation in the way the scope of the project aligned with the nature of their process. The decision to work with a specific tree matched the site-specific approach they usually took while organizing (Holten, 2019-2020). Reading, I realized this echoed their developmental approach, which I began calling ‘fractal-specific organizing’. Instead of zooming out and focusing on larger systems, they moved through processes of zooming in. Although they do not explicitly acknowledge it in their writing, I took notice that their framework could align with the idea that the micro reflects the macro.
In another article from the book, Fractal Vision, by James Gleick, the most famous sentence written by the founder of fractal geometry, Benoît Mandelbrot, states: “Clouds are not spheres… mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line” (Gleick & Holten, 2019-2020). In layman's terms, the field Mandelbrot established posits that wholeness is a perception. If we peer deeply into anything, we will see basic shapes folding into one another. Circling back to Tree University, they could have chosen a patch of trees, a small forest, or a whole ecosystem. Reading between the lines, I felt their desire to acknowledge the materialism in their process led them to choose to focus on the single Norwegian spruce tree. One that had fallen during Hurricane Sandy at Walden Pond (Holten, 2019-2020).
That materialism pushed them into a process that can’t be described as negating, subtracting, or removing but, exploring through a fractal lens.
A Materialist Process
Two Definitions of Materiality
1. “According to a school of thought, the materiality of art involves the matter used in forming art (be it painting, sculpture or another visual art). The materiality of any art is said to have an impact in its meaning for a spectator. ...It is not only a question of how the substance of the art’s message intersects with the society and gives rise to new ideas but the revolution that comes through the medium itself” (Cossio, 2022).2. Exodus's Definition: The relational exchange between artist and spirit (deep ecology, interconnectivity, or sensory input); as explored through material.
The outcome of their workshop was built on a foundation of materialism. In the article As A New Materialist Practice. Intra-Active Becomings And Artistic (Knowledge) Production by Dorota Golanska Geoart states, “Art, in that sense, should be understood as an intra-active becoming, where the examination of “intra-activity” lets us grasp, in Karen Barad’s view, how subject and object emerge in the process of complex “material-discursive” entanglement...” (Golanska, 2018). They go on to express the additional aspect of the work being a fluid byproduct of the journey of that relationship (Golanska, 2018). Geoart explores the idea of New Materiality through a lens of Western culture; bringing a different perspective to what I hold as spiritual.
For myself, materialism is rooted in deep ecology but, different perspectives also carry truth. Encountering Things: Design and Theories of Things, by Leslie Atzmon and Prasad Boradkar flipped my practice on its head when they told me about it while in development in 2015. Their work affirmed what I couldn’t name in my practice at the time. They explored from the perspective of design the interdependence we have with the things in our environment. It was the first time, I considered the relationships I built with my materials and tools (Atzmon & Boradkar, 2020). That understanding grew into materiality being a vital component of Exodus’s Core curriculum.
While reading about FutureFarmer’s project their materialism first came through in the relationship they sought to build with the spruce tree. They hired experts who helped them learn to listen to the tree (Holten, 2019-2020). This is something uplifted by their objective to connect their time to the history of Henry David Thoreau’s life. Thoreau had a shared legacy with his father of being a pencil maker. Influencing Tree University, Thoreau shared sentiments that men had become the tools themselves. In early conversations, work shoppers explored questions like, “-what tools do we have among us, what tools scare us, oppress us, liberate us, etc.” (Holten, 2019-2020). There was a consideration that things or the matters we work with impact us both individually and collectively. After they went to the river to gather clay. It was used for a series of pencil-making making. They held a competition to slice the remaining wood. With the wood from the competition, they created type forms from wood blocks. The wood blocks were used to print broadsides inspired by a passage from Thoreau (Holten, 2019-2020).
At every point, there was deep consideration of what the material held, how the material was used, and the exchange taking place. While the original quote that inspired them framed an unbalanced relationship between man and their tool, their exploration of a single tree presented a curriculum that challenges that perspective. Their lived experience together was an example of the symbiotic relationship between humans and their tools. It left them with an archive of beautiful fractal artifacts.
Fractal in the way that organizers connected history and process. Their curriculum allowed participants to start with a larger form of what something is and to break it down into smaller forms. With the integration of deep intention, the wholeness was not lost but better understood in the breakdown. This curriculum is not fractal in terms of simple geometry but, inward exploration.
Conclusion
As I reflect on these explorations, I invite you to consider how your practices—whether in the arts, organizing, or education—might benefit from a similar focus. What would it look like to center your work around a single object, idea, or passage for an extended period, allowing it to evolve with you over time? How might this deep, sustained engagement alter your approach to creativity, problem-solving, and community building?
Prompts for Artist, Arts Organizers, & Educators:
For Artists:
What material or symbol resonates with you deeply? How can you explore its many facets, letting it inform your work over time?
How does your relationship with your tools or materials shape your creative process? Reflect on the give-and-take between you and the mediums you use, and how this exchange influences your outcomes.
For Arts Organizers:
How can you apply a "fractal-specific" approach to your organizing efforts? Instead of focusing on large-scale change, try zooming in on smaller, more manageable aspects of your work. How might this shift in perspective reveal new possibilities or pathways?
What is the 'tree' in your project or community? Identify a central element that could serve as a focal point for deeper engagement and connection. How can this focus foster stronger, more meaningful interactions within your community?
For Educators:
What single text, theory, or concept could serve as the foundation for a long-term curriculum? What passages have stuck and continue to inform your understanding of practice? Consider how a focused exploration of one idea might inspire your students to think more deeply and critically.
How does the material you use in your teaching influence the learning experience? Reflect on how the choices you make in terms of texts, tools, and methods contribute to the overall impact of your lessons. Where can you simplify as an intentional prompt for you to build a deeper connection to the material?
By zooming in, we may discover that the smallest detail can hold entire worlds of meaning, shaping our understanding and practice in profound ways. I encourage you to explore this idea within your work, allowing the micro to inform the macro and, in turn, enriching the creative and relational exchanges that are at the heart of what we do.
-Taylor Simone (She/Her),
Founding Director | Exodus School of Expression
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