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Of the Earth

Of the Earth has concluded. Enjoy a new large-scale sculptural exhibition, Vivid Creatures, opening May 17, 2025.

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Please note: Of the Earth concluded and is closed as of March 1, 2025. A new exhibition, Vivid Creatures, opens on Saturday, May 17, 2025.

Five large-scale sculptures by Polish American artist Olga Ziemska were created exclusively for an exhibition, Of the Earth, at The Morton Arboretum.

The exhibition explored the artist’s expression and philosophy that, she says, “We are nature.” Ziemska said that her aim is to remind people that “everything in life is derived from the same basic elements that form everything in nature, including ourselves. There is no separation.” In Polish, Ziemska means “of the earth.”

The artist’s work was created from reclaimed and pruned tree branches and other natural materials gathered from various locations throughout the Arboretum’s 1,700 acres. “I am giving reclaimed natural materials a new life and transforming them from nature into new forms,” Ziemska said.

Of the Earth was the largest exhibition to date for Ziemska, who lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio. Ziemska has exhibited and created public installations in Poland, Taiwan, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, and other locations globally in a career spanning more than 20 years. Her work entwines and melds the human body with other natural forms, which she notes, “reminds us of our own physicality of seamless connection to the earth and nature.”

The Arboretum’s tree-filled landscapes inspired Ziemska because areas of the Arboretum remind her of the landscapes of Poland, where she previously lived and the majority of her family remains. She has built her career in the male-dominated sculpture world, exploring her multiple identities as a first-generation child of immigrants, an American, an artist, a woman, and a human.

The exhibition ran through Saturday, March 1, 2025.

 

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Olga Ziemska, Sculptor and Artist

Olga Ziemska is a sculptor and artist who lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio. Her newest and largest sculptural exhibition to date, Of the Earth, is now open at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois.

Olga’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States, as well as in Poland, Taiwan, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, and other international locations. She has had residencies with the Centre of Polish Sculpture in Poland, YATOO International in Korea, RespirArt Sculpture Park in the Dolomite Mountains of Italy, and the Taoyuan Land Art Festival in Taiwan. 

She approaches her work by drawing on her multiple identities as a first-generation child of Polish immigrants, an American, a woman, an artist, and a human.

Among her prestigious grants and awards were a Fulbright Fellowship and a Creative Workforce Fellowship. In 2007, Ziemska was selected as a Wendy L. Moore Emerging Artist by the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. The Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery selected her as its 2018 Women Artist to Watch. She is a graduate of the Columbus College of Art and Design and an alumnus of the Rhode Island School of Design.

Behind the Build

Take a look at the process behind the sculptural exhibition in the video Of the Earth: Behind the Build. Hear artist Olga Ziemska’s insights into how the exhibition was created and learn about the materials and ideas that inform her work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Accordion List

  • The five large-scale sculptures were placed throughout the Arboretum grounds. All of the sculptures were within a short walk from a parking lot.

    Three sculptures—Stillness in Motion: The Matka series, Hear: With an ear to the ground, and Strata—were within a two-mile round trip walk from the Visitor Center.

    Oculus was located in the Beech and Maple collections near Parking Lot 14, and Ona could be viewed at
    the European Collection on the Arboretum’s West Side.

  • East Side

    Stillness in Motion: The Matka series, Of the Earth’s signature piece, is the newest in Ziemska’s Matka (“mother” in Polish) series, following versions in Romania and Poland. Located outside the Arboretum’s Visitor Center, the 6-foot-tall female figure is composed mostly of willow tree branches.

    Oculus comprised two 10-foot-tall human head profiles fit with hundreds of varying sizes of tree cookies, or the cross-section of a tree, and mirrored eyes that reflect the surrounding Maple Collection.

    Strata is inspired by a recurring theme in Ziemska’s work that considers the “body as landscape.” The 45-foot-long reclining female figure emerged from the ground at the base of a hill in the Crabapple Collection.

    Hear: With an ear to the ground, featured thousands of white river rocks that pattern the surface of a 5-foot-tall horizontal human head that appears to be at rest in its natural surroundings, with Meadow Lake as its backdrop.

     

    West Side

    Ona (“she” in Polish) was the sole sculpture on the Arboretum’s West Side. The 14-foot-tall piece depicts a woman with windswept hair of tree branches and eyes of mirrors.

  • Both are Polish terms. Matka means “mother” and Ona means “she.”

  • The names were chosen by the artist, Olga Ziemska.

  • Outdoor sculptural exhibitions are included with member passes and general admission tickets to the Arboretum.

  • The sculptures are made of both organic and manufactured materials, including steel and glass-fiber reinforced concrete necessary to withstand the Midwest’s weather variations. Arboretum volunteers spent several weeks laying the groundwork for creation of the unique pieces by collecting, pruning, and preparing natural materials, such as fallen tree branches from sugar maple, hackberry, linden, willow, elm and wild black cherry trees at the Arboretum.

  • The artist, Olga Ziemska, owns the sculptures and has removed or relocated them.

  • The goal of the Arboretum’s outdoor large-scale art program is to provide a range of artists with an opportunity to be inspired by its beautiful landscapes and tree and plant collections, and to present their works to new audiences. Rather than retain art in permanent collections, the Arboretum seeks to enhance the ways members and guests experience the Arboretum through an ongoing rotation of exhibitions.

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