The banners finally came down today! After an amazing and touching Saturday evening reception at the Maryland Institute College of Art we made our gracious exit from the banners of Baltimore: The Urban Forest Project to the TreeBaltimore’s campaign to plant trees. The banners came down last week and were placed from basement to sky in the Brown Center.

All photos were taken by Doug Retzler

The outside of the Brown Center getting prepped for the evenings festivities

We had installations from each of the events and have two wonderful speakers; Tom Stosur, Assistant Deputy Mayor and Wanda Durden, the new acting Director for Department of Recreation and Parks. We were presented with a beautiful plaque on behalf of the city written by our dear friends Anne Draddy, the Jones Falls Watershed Association and Emily Ellickson-Brown, the Community Outreach Coordinator for the Department of Recreation and Parks.

E. Rachael Baird, Wanda Durden, Jessica M. Pegorsch, Carolyn from Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, and Tom Stosur posing for a photo!

It was a night to remember. While a bit windy, the weather held and the light generously spilled out into the Leidy Atrium, covering the room with warmth… we were all amongst friends. Those who love Baltimore City, those who love the arts and those who truly want to make a difference in our world came from all over the country to be at our event. We are so honored to have been surrounded by such a great mix of people!

An overview of the Atrium

We are almost sold out of our banners! There are another 30 banners left, which is an incredible feat, but the rest are going fast! Visit the remaining banners online at our store and purchase all custom orders before July 7th! That is just one week from today!

So, you can see… it is almost the beginning. TreeBaltimore is taking root in Baltimore and is here to stay! SUPPORT THEM as much as you can (money, time, effort, spreading the word, etc.)

Click here and visit the rest of the photos online! See a sampling below.

Shopping in our Tilt Tent with some of the pre-made sample bags!

Mike Weikert’s daughter spinning in front of our PowerPoint. She is already a performance artist!

E. Rachael Baird & Jessica M. Pegorsch enjoying a moment during the speech.

A special thank you to:
-Baltimore City Mayor’s Office for the incredible opportunity to have this project and recognition for our efforts
-Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks for assisting with coordination from start to finish and helping to volunteer at the event
-Baltimore City Department of Transportation, Street Lighting Division for assisting us with the entire project and the exhibition put up and take down
-Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts for ensuring that we had all of our t’s crossed and our i’s dotted
-Serigraphics for printing the banners and the t-shirts and pushing through the bag design with us to make this a success! Thank you for your endless hours!
-Designers, artists and K-12 students for their amazing talent and innate ability to be creative. Keep it up!
-Sponsors for helping to assist us with making this project possible.
-All of our volunteers that have helped at all of our events
-Our parents and team for their endless amount of effort and time put into making this project a success. We are forever grateful.

And a thank you for Saturday evening:
-Maryland Institute College of Art for lending us a space and assisting us with the exhibition put up and take down and event coordination
-Parkhurst Dining Services for the delicious food and alcohol serving
-AIGA Baltimore for sponsoring a table during the event and being such a great support at the end
-Lady G’s for local organic wine and beer
-Doug Retzler for photography coverage
-Scott Wilburn and Kris Vandevander for their amazing sound equipment and music

And the most special thank you of all: Thank you to our very own TreeBaltimore for having a message that we could get behind and help to support. We look forward to the results for years to come!

SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP SHOP and support TreeBaltimore and Tilt Studio Foundation Initiatives

The space at MICA’s Brown Center is the perfect space to showcase all of the banners from Baltimore: The Urban Forest Project. It is expansive, deep and over powering to be in this space. Please feel free to stop on by as we are working or to join us as we close the exhibition on Saturday from 5-7pm.

Thank you to everyone that has been involved. This has truly been an amazing exercise in community, design and sustainability. Tree love forever!

Photos courtesy of our Banner God and friend Brent Hooper!

First level of banners!

First, second & third levels!

The late night team: Brent Hooper (Baltimore City Dept of Transportation, Lighting… i.e. our Banner GOD), Jessica Pegorsch, E. Rachael Baird & Anthony Snead

Will Blake & Joe Onheiser from Brent Hooper’s team putting up banners. Jess preparing for them.

12-4pm at the Berry Festival

Come see all 185 K-12 Banners and Recreation and Parks Labyrinth.

Join us as we celebrate the annual Berry Festival at Herring Run Park. Spend the day amongst the trees and enjoy activities for the whole family. Pick up a tree during their annual give away and experience Baltimore: The Urban Forest Project’s last park event.

K-12 students who participated should report to the Orange Tilt Tent from 2pm-2:30 for a photoshoot.

K-12 School Participation:
Girl Scouts of Central Maryland
Margaret Brent Elementary
Mt. Washington Elementary
The Green School of Baltimore
Baltimore Lab School
The Park School
Roland Park Elementary/Middle School
Roland Park Country School

Sponsors:

Our very first design award winner! Chad Miller from Harbor Hospital has been our signature Baltimore: The Urban Forest Project designer since the beginning last year. His Think Green Hon banner design won the gold award under the Pro-Bono category for the Hermes Creative Awards. This award is presented by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals and Chad won the 2008 category. Everyone should give him a huge round of applause for this incredibly special award.

We are all looking forward to great things from you, Chad! CONGRATULATIONS!

And it has started… the Gensler installation has taken over Patterson. Literally taking the meaning of tree canopy to a new level, Gensler has created an installation that has furthered the mission of Baltimore: Urban Forest Project. They have brung together 3 unique elements: Burlap (symbolizing the tree canopy), Stakes (symbolizing the shaft of a tree) and sod (symbolizing the root of a tree). The entire park has been transformed into a living, breathing exhibition. Rooted in the center of the park where the Saturday event will take place, there are “points” from each corner of the park that draw the community into the event space below the boat basin lake.

Thank you to the amazing volunteers who have been integral in the success of this installation.

The installation has already started taking shape, so feel free to go out and take a look. Make sure you come out this weekend and play! 12-4pm on Saturday, May 10th!

Check out the photos below for a sneak peak at the installation in progress!

Hi all–Danny here! Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who came out in support on Saturday April 12th at Hopkins! It was a great, relaxed event. Check out some of the shots here below of our Create Change Tree and the crowd! Don’t forget to visit the events page to learn about all the events surround the Urban Forest Project. And since the weather has been great, its a perfect time to take a drive around the city and see what we’ve been up to!

Hi all you greener cleaner city lovers! Denise here to tell you we had our fundraising party for TreeBaltimore at AVAM Wednesday night (April 2nd) and it was amazing! We heard from these great speakers:

Tom Stosur, Assistant Deputy Mayor of Baltimore, who was impressed with the Urban Forest Project’s collaborative success and it’s relevance to the Mayor’s new Sustainability commission’s efforts
Mark Randall, the founder of the original Urban Forest Project in NYC shared his excitement at how we took his seed of an idea and grew it into a tree via our community stewardship approach
Myra Brosius the coordinator of Tree Baltimore (beneficiary of the Urban Forest Project) talked about our success raising awareness for their campaign
Maryland State Delegate Jon Cardin spoke about the value of our initiative and its relationship to Baltimore and Maryland leading the nation as a green state

A HUGE thank-you for the generosity of our sponsors whose donations made the evening wildly successful! Please click here to the “Plant Our City Green” party page to see all these amazing businesses and let them know how much you appreciate their support of this great initiative.

A great shot of the crowd and the digital banner display:

Click here to check out the photos of the event, taken by Emily Ellickson-Brown!

NEXT is “GROW” on April 12th!!! The Opening Exhibition for Baltimore: The Urban Forest Project takes place on the Johns Hopkins University Beach (corner of 33rd and N. Charles) from 12 - 6 pm! Please click here to learn more about this kick-off event!

Hello all! Danny here. So last night we hung the first banner and had a little banner preview reception. Despite the weather and traffic, we managed to kick off The Urban Forest Project! Check out these photos by Zoe Draddy of the event!

Diana Cohen’s Banner ready to go up!

A close-up!

Rachael leans out to secure the banner on the pole

DDGgreen’s banners at Skylofts

A few more banners on display upstairs

I would like to thank everyone who came out in support last night and who continue to support us in this endeavor! Want to get involved at our next event? RSVP today for our preview Gala on April 2nd!

Baltimore: The Urban Forest Project at ECOFEST Druid Hill K-12 banners and Labrynth

Location: Druid Hill Park by the Reservoir
Date: Saturday, April 26th (raindate – Sunday April 27th)
Time: 11am – 5pm

More Information

Celebrate Sustainable Living with Food, Music, Information and Fun for the Family and Everyone!

Baltimore Green Week kicks off with an EcoFestival, April 26th, 2008, as a celebration of our regional environment. Attendees will find fun family events and resources that promote sustainable living. Held in Druid Hill Park, near the Woodberry light rail stop, bus lines and Jones Falls trail, the EcoFestival will include workshops, demonstrations, vendors with sustainable products, healthy food, music and art.

Most of all, serve as Baltimore’s Premier Green Event –fun and educational!

Stop by Tilt Studio Foundation’s Booth and learn more about the Urban Forest Project and take the Create Change Challenge.

Please join us on Wednesday, April 2 from 7p to 10p at AVAM’s Sculpture Barn. Tickets are $45 online in advance and $55 at the door – all proceeds benefit TreeBaltimore. The theme is “Plant our City Green!” This party will elegantly celebrate the sustainable life – nature and people alike. Enjoy live music, scrumptious appetizers, delicious drinks and an eco-inspired silent auction. Guests will be able to bid on green lifestyle products and experiences that nurture our bodies and minds, like renewing spa moments and amazing restaurant meals. In addition, guests are automatically entered in a raffle that evening, and we will announce one Grand Prize winner (concept and contents still being developed)! We have several speakers scheduled: Senator Cardin, Mark Randall (Urban Forest Project founder) and city representatives (TBD).

Click the image above and RSVP today!