When I'm entering into dialogue with Nature, the “human factor” of the sculpting process appearing due to the usage of chisel, axe or chain saw leaves the track of creation in a symbolic form which I bring out. I'm aware of this fact during my work, and watching the changes of tracks left by the tools I am constantly open for reinterpretations, I let the element of unexpectedness to appear, I carefully watch the moment when I put the tools away to avoid the unwanted destruction of an element of Nature. I keep in my memory how a tree was fighting for its life. A special structure of fibres, intervention of ants, scars after broken branches, places decayed and rotten, a shape chosen while searching for light – thus obstacles the tree must overcome to survive are being revealed. All these elements are preserved in the trunks I use for sculpting as a token of my artistic declaration concerning material.

Nature is a magnificent, impressive form, but it manifests in imperfections and uniqueness. The respect for this tenacious individuality represented in forms and shapes used by Nature underpins my work. My dialogue with Nature strives for a balance that can be obtained by carefulness oriented towards it. When I'm sculpting I'm trying to preserve the basic outline or gesture of the tree, demonstrating symbolically its history within the ultimate form of the artwork. The symbolic shape it gets boasts this life cycle being at the same time a metaphor of human experience.

Emilie Benes is a graduate of Wellesley College Faculty of Fine Arts in Massachusetts. She had her first solo exhibition in 1981 in Washington D.C. Most of her sculptures are wooden; she works with axe, saw and other heavy tools. Her monumental work from 1993 titled “Lintel” was sculpted in cherry wood and then cast in bronze; it is now in the collection of Grounds for Sculpture, a 35-acre sculpture park at the museum in New Jersey. In the 1990s she was an active member of an international art group working at the Museum of Artists in Łódź. She created and displayed her works within the art action “Construction in Process”. In 2003 she took part in the biennial in Florence, and in 2005 in the International Sculpture Biennial in Vancouver.