New Interpretive Panel for Muir Woods National Monument
(Clicking these images should show you a larger view.)
I can say clearly that I’ve never painted anything like this before. For more than forty years I’ve always painted and written about glorious living nature, not the industrial slaying of our national legacy. But this is Muir Woods National Monument afterall, which is turning into somewhat of an Eifert Gallery in the California redwoods. Thanks to the good folks who work there, you’d be hard-pressed to NOT bump into an Eifert on the trail or in the visitor center.
So here’s the set-up. They have an enormous slab of redwood sitting against the visitor center’s wall. An old, worn-out interpretive sign showed how it was cut, and, after many years of duty, it was time for a new one. Here’s what the old sign looked like and a corner of the enormous slab that goes off to the right for many feet.
Now, after looking at the corner of the slab, go back to the top picture and look at the whopper of a tree that this piece of wood would have come from. That was some tree, but not unusual back when many more of these legacy redwoods were still standing. These two guys would have cut it using custom-forged hand saws, first cutting a wedge on the near side, then cutting a second cut above this on the far side. The tree would have fallen towards the viewer.
The painting shows them cutting this slab section out, and it’s been on display here at Muir Woods for many years. Now my painting is part of it too, the ancient tree, the cutting of it, and the history of showing this amazing piece of wood to millions of visitors in what is the busiest redwood park in California. Thanks, Brett and Mia! This is why I paint interpretive art.
Click here to see lots of other national and state park interpetive art on our website.
Click here to see some of the other paintings at Muir Woods National Monument near San Francisco.
Or, send us an email to opt in or out of our email family – or just ‘talk’ with us.
Thanks for reading. More soon.
Larry Eifert
