Amergin and Norra (30"x24"x12")

Once upon a time (actually not very long ago) there was an urban yard with an ancient stump of a formerly magnificent maple tree.

With sadness, the tree had been cut down; the stump, however, was too large to move. Well, that is until one year when the family's first daughter was to be married. Now, all parents have different ways of facing the marriage of their children... especially their first. In this family the father decided that he would remove the ancient stump. No one is exactly sure why this became so important — but it did. The wedding was to be in late July.

So, as Spring thawed the ground, the project began. Every weekend father, and occasionally son and son-in-law-to-be, would excavate a little, remarking that 150 year old maple trees have an awesome root system. For, of course, as the months passed, the small section above ground level was dwarfed by that below ground. Then the chopping and sawing of the roots began.

Gradually a mountain of pieces, large and small, of old root began to grow next to the excavation site. Occasionally work would stop to plant bulbs, flowers, mow the yard, then pick flowers and cultivate vegetables. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months.

At the July Fourth family celebration talk focused on, of course, the stump. Would it in fact be out by the wedding? Should it be covered up and planted to enhance the front yard? Well, the dad made it very clear that this project (unlike some others) would be done. The stump was going to come out before the wedding. By now, of course this was not just a family saga but a neighborhood event. And so, the work continued.

Finally, now quite close to the wedding, the stump was at last severed from all connection to the nether world. Only one problem (well, actually one for now) remained—how to lift it out. The yard would not allow large machinery...and this was a manual project! Through ingenuity and brawn, a system of pulleys and levers was created that one grand day defied the doubting female members of the family (who had found other ways to deal with the marriage of the first daughter) and the stump was freed!

End of story? Well, not quite... you see the gaping hole was easily filled in and planted with the roses in honor of the granddad who had died that year. The stump, on the other hand, was now above ground, but still very much in the yard. You will remember that no machines could come into the yard without destroying the flower bed on opposite side—carefully planted for said wedding.

Well, to make an already long story short. Daughter number one was married in July of that year and the children who came to the house at the time of the wedding thought the large stump in the yard was a cool play mountain and the adults thought it made a good story. The mother of the bride and the bride? They learned that a sense of humor is always a good thing.

Years passed. In an effort to turn a slight source of family controversy into an asset. The mom planted the stump with morning glories raised by the dad. Soon the floral mountain became such a fixture of the yard that everyone would have been upset to see it disappear. The bits and pieces of root and wood had been put in large pile in a far corner of the back yard. Mushrooms grew, transforming the stump into a perfect backdrop for photos of the mom's creations.

Upon the return of the family from a trip to South America where daughter number two was married and more intricacies of family dynamics were observed, the artist mom thought, once again, about the need for humor, perspective, and creativity when facing life's challenges.. Inspired by sights and sounds of mountains and countryside the mother started to make new four-legged creatures. Looking around the studio she caught sight of the bits and pieces of root, stone and wood from the ancient stump which by now were also in her studio. Hmmm.......a way to combine philosophy and art perhaps?

And so it happened that the Stump Critters were born. Each critter incorporates a bit of the root or wood from that now legendary ancient stump adding individuality to its head.

Of course each Stump Critter is unique, just as all of life's situations and problems are unique, but equally, all critters are movable...changeable...offering inspiration for solutions...and perhaps the bit of the legendary ancient stump in each piece will bring with it a little help in problem solving, with love, creativity and humor!