Hanging Installation of a twenty foot tree and 46 green polychromed ‘TREEGODS’, my rendition of the Celtic God Cernunnos, Lord of the Forest, also known as the antler god and the Green Man. Savage©2023

My introduction to the ‘Tree God’ was in Venice back in 1991 at the pan European exhibit I Celti at the Palazzo Grassi. The show, the second of their year long exhibits of ancient European Cultures followed the Phoenicians. Curated from museums and universities throughout the EU it would demonstrate the vast pan European significance of the Celtic culture and was a revelation to this Irishman. I soon learned my prior insular education left a lot to be desired. 

The show opened with the Celts of Italy, the Boiis, the Senones and all the other tribes surrounding the Etruscans, who’d all later become dominated by the Latins and Rome. Another floor saw the Celts of the Danube, the Hallstatt and the La Têne cultures. Further levels were devoted to the Iberian Celts, to the Gauls and Galatians. By the time we reached the top floor, in my irritation and surprise that the Irish had yet to be mentioned I’d declare,

“They’re stealing the Celts!”

My fears were allayed when on the top floor the works of the island Celts, the Britons, the Gaels, the Scotti, their stonework, bronze work, exquisite goldsmithing and enamelwork, masterful bejeweled books and magnificent illuminated manuscripts were exhibited. The apex of a cultural sophistication developed over two millennia. It ended in a large room, an installation of a dark forest and a light glowing in the center. A little glass pillar like display illuminating and protecting the glory.

Found in an Irish bog, perhaps from the 2nd century shone a glistening gold, beautiful and delicate, a fit in ones hand little boat, with oars and sails and delight.

‘And the Journey Continues’ read the caption below.

  Among the treasures of the show was a 2nd century BCE silver cauldron discovered in Denmark at Gundestrup, bearing very rare relief images of the Celtic pantheon of gods. Caesar, in ‘de Bello Gallico’, had them annotated and offered comparisons between them and those of Rome. The Dagda was akin to Jove or Zeus. Lugh, a Taranis or thunder god.

A rare image of the god Cernunnos intrigued me like no other. Sitting in lotus position surrounded by animals was the lord of the forest, the antlered god of liminality and transformation, meditative and sublime.

    From time to time I made a version of him. One Christmas a playfully rendered piece, pictured here somewhere, for the tree. A few years and refinements later he led to ‘TREEGOD’.

Preferring no persuasion, the trees serve us all and I see it as a little votive for all of us, a prayer, a touch wood for the Forests. 

   EarthDay fell during the show and I decided to create an installation around him. I first considered hanging this big six point elk antler I have from the rafters and hang them from that, but serendipitously, my friend Jens was replacing a dead tree in his courtyard with a new crabapple glory, a favored rest stop for migratory birds.

I took the old tree and hung it from the ceiling. From hemp twine hung 46 TreeGods all painted in different shades of green hanging leaflike from the branches. 

Initially I’d planned on a pile of earth below with fallen gods like leaves. Concerned with the logistics of an uncontained pile of dirt on the floor. I briefly considered a low scaffold plank border but anticipated a tripping hazard. Perhaps a raised bed, thought I for a minute but the piece was perfect as it was.  

The thought however conceived another sculpture shown below.