Tree Care

Tree Care is a public art project for trees and their neighbors in Hyde Park, Boston.  A project of the Boston Public Art Accelerator in fall 2026, Tree Care celebrates and expands the community of care between urban trees and their human neighbors in Hyde Park through a series of community gatherings, textiles, and sculpture.

In small community gatherings, I will guide participants to write short phrases about what and how they care about and dream for trees, which we will print together using tree inks onto tree tags: 500 or so long plant-dyed textile ribbons that they can take to hang in trees in their local yards, streets, and parks. In addition, I will be creating over 500 tree tags printed with scores, or short poetic invitations, that invite us into multisensory and somatic relation with trees and how they live in our ecosystem.

The tree tags will hang in areas where trees are beings planted, preserved, and protected by community organizations in Hyde Park, such as urban wilds (existing and hoped for), land trusts, and parks, in addition to focusing on areas where there are fewer trees (often environmental justice communities).

When we care about trees and learn more about how trees care for us, we can work together to create a more resilient, just, and interconnected future.

Elements of the project will be on view at the Hyde Park Branch of the Boston Public Library in the main reading room. Events will be held at the library and at sites around Hyde Park. Check back in mid summer for the schedule and how to get involved.

Tree Care is partnering with 6-8 community organizations working to address tree canopy equity and preservation in Hyde Park; together we are tagging trees protected and planted in the neighborhood to invite the community into a culture of care with their tree neighbors.

Learn more about the artist, Jane D. Marsching, and the project from this profile written by Nataleigh Noble at The Boston Public Art Triennial or from this profile from her alma mater Hampshire College