Tree Being is an ongoing interactive art project founded by composer Lauren V. Coons in 2016. Participants send Coons directions to a tree, and she and other collaborating artists visit that tree to create new individual and collaborative work in response. The project touches on ecology and our relationship to the environment, while inviting participants to explore new parts of their city and its open spaces, engage with the local art scene, and spend time reflecting on the natural world around them.

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Tree Being began in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Coons visited twelve trees across the metro area, Algodones, Sandia Park, and parts of the Sandia Mountains and Rio Grande Bosque. These visits sparked conversation online and led to new solo works by Coons as well as collaborations with local musicians and the Abrepaso Flamenco dance company. In the years that followed, other artists began taking on the same prompt, spending an hour with a tree, which led to a series of collaborative pieces: "Cabezon" with Yakima Fernandez, "Faulty Trail 195" with Clara Byom, and "Without a Number or a Name" with Romy Keegan.

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In 2019, this body of work culminated in Tree Being: Resilience, an exhibition and performance featuring the original Tree Being pieces "Without a Number or a Name" and "Faulty Trail 195," alongside performances of work by other composers, a graphic score by Steven Diaz, resources provided by the Sierra Club of New Mexico, and an Artbox Albuquerque installation of tree-inspired works.

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Tree Being is now continuing in Portland, Oregon, where Coons has begun exploring a new landscape and its own relationships to trees, from old-growth forest to Hoyt Arboretum to the lush texture of the city itself. If you'd like to contribute directions to a tree in Portland, you can reach out through the contact form or by emailing lvcoons@gmail.com.

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