Who, what, why: Jack Elliott’s sculpture gives voice to the trees

Who

John (Jack) Elliott pauses at each tree and shares its origin story. His studio — a graffiti-covered former skate park — houses his “arborworks”: tree sculptures in various stages of completion, from newly found trunks to finished pieces.

“I keep coming across these amazing trees,” said Elliott. “Just last week, I was driving by Washington Park, and they were cutting down this sugar maple, and it had the most amazing intertwining of branches I've ever seen.”

Each of Elliot’s works begins with a similar story. He never cuts down trees. Instead, he collects specimens that are diseased, damaged, being removed or already fallen, but which possess a quality that calls to him.

Elliott, an associate professor in the Department of Human Centered Design, grew up in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies where old-growth forests, craggy mountains and outdoor recreation shaped his youth. He studied physics and sculpture before earning master’s degrees in architecture and in product design from the University of Calgary.

After working in professional practice, Elliott transitioned to academia. In the early 1990s he developed one of the first sustainable design courses in the United States.

What

On a brisk April afternoon outside his studio, student research assistants who are all design and environmental analysis majors, hand-strip bark from a two-ton oak tree that fell during a windstorm.

“I get to know the piece through the process of cleaning and debarking it,” Elliott said. “That way, I've been over every square inch of the tree. By then, ideas just start coming while I'm working, and they tend to coalesce into some kind of intervention.”

Elliott’s process is completely subtractive. He uses 3D cuts and positionings to reveal the form within each arborwork. Sometimes he imports photos of the tree into 3D modeling software before deciding how to intervene.

He brings a similar ecological approach to his teaching. In Visual Literacy and Design Studio, students explore form through a series of projects that introduce principles of visual literacy across two-and three-dimensional design at all scales. From the first day of class, students make sustainability choices as part of every assignment, from sourcing materials to eliminating waste.

“Decisions we make every day have environmental impacts including materials in the studio,” Elliott said. “Are they toxic? What do you do with them at the end of life? Can they decompose? Foam core is the worst.”
Elliott’s research also focuses on ecological design. He has created two sustainable building materials: Triakonta System and a carbon-neutral concrete.

Sophie Bai and Jack Elliott jack a tree trunk up for cuttinb

Why

Over the past decade, sculpture has returned to the center of Elliott’s practice, and his arborworks have been exhibited across the Northeast.

“I'm trying to get people to go beyond themselves and have a more biocentric view,” said Elliott. “Then maybe they can start appreciating the world they live in a little more deeply. You don't see the tree's roots, but they're amazing, and when you do see them and appreciate them, you realize that this is an amazing thing that you're looking at.”

Elliott points out a rust spot on an ancient maple where a Union farmer leaving to fight in the Civil War once hung a scythe. When the farmer didn’t return, the tree grew around the tool.

After teaching Ecological Literacy and Design for more than three decades, Elliot has seen the conversation shift. Students are more aware of climate urgency now, but their anxiety has increased and enrollment has decreased. He believes that reconnecting to the natural environment is essential to combatting climate change and fostering activism, especially amidst climate-related angst.

“It's really about engagement. Go out there and find some little thing, some issue that you find important locally, and get involved with that,” Elliott said. “Volunteer a little time, clean up a roadway, you'll feel better when you are part of the solution.”

Elliott has shown his work at galleries throughout the Northeastern United States and Canada; permanent installations are on display in Atkinson Hall and the Human Ecology Building in Ithaca, New York.

"Devoro" is Latin for "devour", as expressed in the production of its straight edges and the rotting of its center. These express the two major forces that are leading to this tree's extinction. Cuban mahogany, the"king of woods" is listed as endangered, with no commercial stands left in its native territories. This deteriorated, but noble figure is postured along diagonal axes with its organic edges giving way to geometric, as its forests gave way to lumber.

Jack Elliott teaches students to sand a bench

Elliott teaches student research assistants proper sanding technique. Many students appreciate that the work is often outdoors. Photo by Ryan Issa.

Elliott and 2 others pose with an arborwork sculpture

Stella, a permanent sculpture installation in Atkinson Hall, with Jack Elliott (left); Jill Lerner ’76, Atkinson Advisory Council member and sculpture patron; and David Lodge, former director of Cornell Atkinson. Provided.

Xiang Meng '28, a design and environmental analysis major and research assistant helps Elliott to remove bark from a tree. Photo by Margaret Tsai.

Burst olive tree following a forest fire in Provence, France. On sabbatical, Elliott traveled through the United States and Europe to study trees affected by climate‑driven weather and pests. Provided.

John Elliott's studio is a graffiti-covered former skate park containing tree sculptures in various stages of completion, from newly found trunks to finished pieces. Photo by Margaret Tsai.