The Giving Tree
An art installation with purpose, The Giving Tree was created by Leah & Michael Rzepka as a project to help cultivate relationships with giving and taking. The Giving Tree is 10 feet tall and is installed with The Waking Garden, occupying an area around 30-50 square feet. The tree functions on the honor system, encouraging you to give~~~ and then you can take something. We started with its shelves filled with pieces of art, crystals, feathers, and other trinkets that we collected for months to give away as gifts. The Giving Tree has served as an unending, unmanned 24-hour public trading post, creating infinite possibilities for sharing and discovery within a community setting. Making its debut at the 2013 Electric Forest Music Festival in their Sherwood Forest, it was always surrounded by people giving and taking. Just to give you an idea of how it could function at an event, please look at our photo gallery and watch the video below of Nahko, from Medicine for the People, interacting with and talking about The Giving Tree at Electric Forest 2013!
The Waking Garden
The Waking Garden was Leah's first installation project, inspired by a dream about being awake in a garden with similar flowers. After its 2012 summer debut, Leah took The Waking Garden wherever she could. This project led her to meet her husband, and together they created The Giving Tree before they got married. The Waking Garden was truly a meaningful project meant to subconsciously inspire others to plant gardens with intention.
Zen Table Garden
The sacred Zen Table Garden was created by Leah and Michael Rzepka in the fall of 2017. It was a project that is meant to inspire moments of inner zen in a community setting. Meant to be interactive from both sides of the table day or night. Enclosed in the golden box under the sand there is a light box that illuminates the sand when it’s turned on, making it come alive with color at night. It creates a fun, interactive, zen garden moment for those that choose the push the sand around with the tools. It is really an amazing, fun and interactive project perfect for weddings, festivals, or any community gathering or ceremony.
