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Photo by Chrstine WheltonFrom Spacing magazine, Spring 2008.
In 2006, the City of Toronto commissioned [Colin] Partridge, a wood spirit carver, to carve figures into the dying trees in High Park (carving living trees would leave a permanent wound, likely shortening the lifespan of a tree). He spent two weeks working with a chainsaw, hammer, and chisel.
“When I did the first carving in High Park,” he explains, “this gentleman came up to me, put his arms around me, and said, ‘I’ve lived here for 20 years and that tree has always been my favourite. When it died, I was devastated. You have just given it new life.’”