The Blue Trees / Sacramento

Twenty trees that line the sidewalks on 13^th Street between J and L Streets in Sacramento will be painted blue this week by artist Konstantin Dimopoulos and Sacramento Tree Foundation volunteers.

Twelve of the trees to be painted are located on 13^th Street on the same side as the Convention Center. The other 8 trees are located on the west side of the street.  Forty #15 container trees will also be painted by the artist. These trees will be moved around town and the region and then planted in a site to be determined.

A non-toxic, environmentally friendly substance is used to color the trees blue, and is expected to stay on the trees for 6 months.

Dimopoulos has installed The Blue Trees in Melbourne (2006), Vancouver (2011), Auckland (2011) and Seattle (2012).  Sacramento will be the fifth Blue Trees city before the Dimopoulos takes his project to Gainesville, Florida in late October and Houston in 2013. He is currently in discussions to expand the project to New York, Boston, Liverpool and Vienna.

The Blue Trees project is a part of the artist’s effort to call attention to global deforestation, and is supported* by several local organizations and businesses because of its ability to call attention to Sacramento’s valuable urban forest and the unique benefits of visiting our city.

*No public funds will be spent on this project.

The Blue Trees project lead sponsors:

• The Sacramento Tree Foundation supports the project to call attention to plight of the city’s iconic elm population; and to encourage the public to plant and care for trees.
• The Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau supports the project to both generate out-of-market media coverage and to optimize the Sacramento experience for visitors, especially for the three upcoming conferences American Institute of Architects; California Downtown Association and the National Urban Forest conference.
• The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission supports the project as a part of its commitment to expand public experiences of visual art by installing artworks in public spaces.
• Sactown Magazine June/July 2012: “Here in Sacramento, we take great pride in our trees, but we don’t always notice them. That’s something that Egyptian-born Australian artist Konstantin Dimopoulos is trying to change in cities around the world…” The article issued the challenge, “Why not commission him to bring his ‘Blue Trees’ project to the City of Trees?”

And just a few of the “Friends of The Blue Trees”…

• The Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Partnership are helping to promote the project because it is a demonstration of the region’s creativity, enthusiasm and willingness to do something fun and interesting for a good cause. These are important factors to economic development and attracting and keeping new businesses and youthful workforces.
• The City of Sacramento, Urban Forest Division endorses the project with this message: “If you want to do something about Sacramento losing its signature canopy, then plant a tree! Even better, if you have the space, plant a big tree, like a hybrid DED resistant elm! Join the pledge to add 30,000 trees this year.”

Would you like to get involved by volunteering? CLICK HERE for more infromation.