The Tree of a Thousand Steps

Shyanne Diaz

A clear tree, intended to hold one's shoes when flung up, is lit at night by a colored lens.

Plan:

First, sculpting a tree out of clear recycled plastic to imitate a Cottonwood Tree (trunk: 6ft x height: 60ft x branch span: 75ft).
Second, sculpting a tree base out of recycled scraps of metal.
Third, engineering the tree trunk to hold LED lights to light up the tree with a different color depending on the lens and only be lit at dark hours.
Fourth, make glass colored lens depending on the month's birthstone colors.
Fifth, watch as shoes multiply as time goes by.

Location:

I chose this location because it is always busy with many tourists and local people driving and walking by. The State Capital is located on Congress Ave. There's also the Sunset Bat Watch on the Congress bridge. If The Tree of a Thousand Steps was located on Congress and Cesar Chavez, many people would go pass the artwork and notice it. I want the tree to gain attention and shoes from all sorts of people. Each pair of shoes can tell a story or hold a memory.

Inspiration:
"Shoefiti"

Shoefiti is the practice of throwing shoes whose shoelaces have been tied together so that they hang from overhead wires such as power lines, telephone cables, and even tree branches. There are many reasons why shoes are thrown over a wire or tree branch. Here are a couple of reasons: bullying someone with taking their shoes, representation of a "crack house," in memory of a deceased individual, and may also be a manifestation of the human instinct to leave their mark on an item. But no one knows what the exact reason is behind every pair of shoes found on a shoefiti tree or overhead wire. An example of shoefiti would have to have been the famous Shoe Tree in America called Nevada Shoe tree. It was known as the "largest Shoe Tree and the quirkiest tourist spot on Highway 50, known as the loneliest road in America." The Shoe Tree was vandalized and cut down on New Year's Day 2011.

Works Cited & for More Information on Shoefiti

- Nelson, Laura. "Shoefiti: Why People Hang Shoes on Power Lines." HubPages. HubPages Inc., Oct 2010. Web. 6 Nov 2011. <http://wordscribe43.hubpages.com/hub/Shoefiti-Save-Our-Shoe-Trees>.
- "R.I.P. Nevada Shoe Tree. May Your Murderers Lose A Shoe." Travelocafe. Travelocafe Travel Blog, Jan 2011. Web. 6 Nov 2011. <http://www.travelocafe.com/2011/01/rip-nevada-shoe-tree-may-your-murderers.html>.
- Smith, Bettina R. "The Shoefiti Story." Associated Content from Yahoo. Yahoo! Inc., 21 Apr 2008. Web. 6 Nov 2011. <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/727085/the_shoefiti_story.html?cat=46>.