Art Featured

The IPaintMyMind Print Project #3: The Prometheus Tree by Vidhya Nagarajan

Written by:

Evan La Ruffa

Apr 27, 2012

We’re thrilled to announce the release of #2 in IPaintMyMind Print Series. Sonny Kay kicked it off at the beginning of 2012 with “Animal Pharm,” and we couldn’t be happier to keep it movin’. Vidhya Nagarajan is a friend, and was previously featured on IPMM.

Her foodie map of Chicago got attention locally, and her illustration has graced various pages, including those of Sauce Magazine (STL).

Here’s a little back story on “The Prometheus Tree” from Vidhya herself:

“In 1964 a scientist was doing climate change research. He wanted to study the width between tree rings to see the temperature at different times in history. He had ordered a special drill to take a core sample of a gnarled, old Great Basin Bristlecone Pine tree. He began twisting the drill into the tree, but it became too difficult to turn. Finally, the drill broke into the tree. The drill was a special order item, and the scientist needed it to finish his research. He found a district ranger nearby and the ranger tells him not to worry, “we’ll just cut down the tree.” He takes a big slab of the tree home and counts over 4, 800 rings. He learns that he had cut down the oldest living organism in the world.

This story was heard on an episode of WNYC Radiolab about a year ago and has been on my mind ever since. I cringe every time I think about all of the people and events the Prometheus Tree outlived only to be cut down in a short time.”

We’re proud of the IPMM Print Project model. We invite artists we love to create any print they want, we pay for it, then split the proceeds 50/50. It’s a completely open forum for the artist to do what they do – we love their work in the first place, so no need to get in the way.