A Tree House Grows in Brooklyn

  Brooklyn Botanic Garden has a new art installation under construction by Roderick Romero.
   Romero has built tree houses for the likes of Sting, Donna Karan, Val Kilmer and Julianne Moore.
   On a recent visit to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden I was dismayed by all of the big, beautiful trees that were lost during Hurricane Sandy. You can't imagine how delighted I was to come across Roderick Romero and his tree house project.
   Romero told me that 99% of his materials are salvage and reclaim. There are over 50 different species of trees from the garden being used in this project. Even a persimmon tree that is over two hundred years old! Romero is also using the old art installation "Natural History" by Patrick Doughtery as building material for his tree house. It is being woven about the base to give it the look of a bird's nest. The nest concept is Romero's signature.
   A group of students gathered around and Romero explained to them what was going on. Afterwards he invited me up into the tree house to have a look around.
   It's a feeling that I haven't had since I was ten years old. It brought back many happy memories of my childhood. I was a tomboy and loved climbing trees and my brother and I built a tree house in a big old oak tree in our backyard.
   We spent many happy hours playing there and camping out. It was exciting being up among the branches and feeling as free as a bird. Now children all over the city will be able to experience that feeling through Romero's tree house.
  BBG president Scot Medbury and members of the board stopped in for a look around and a chat with the artist.
  Romero explained that he is also a musician. He and his wife are lead singers in the band "Sky Cries Mary", which is an American trance rock group. He described his music as "kind of like Pink Floyd" to the puzzled board members who asked for a desciption of his music.
  The treehouse will open to the public on April 6, 2013.