Mindelheim - For years tree lovers, citizens of Mindelheim and city gardener Martin Honner feared for the future of the copper beech opposite the city parish church of St. Stephan - until the end could no longer be stopped.
For reasons of traffic safety, the beech had to be felled in October last year.
Now it can be admired again, only in a different way.
Initially, attempts were made to save the tree, as it was part of the cityscape for many Mindelheimers.
The slightly hilly location did not improve the situation, however, because the trunk only had healthy wood with a depth of up to six centimeters.
That was clearly not enough and posed a risk to road safety. Experts initially recommended a radical cut, but the decay could not be stopped, so it was decided to cut the tree completely.
That was in October last year.
Less than a year later, it is as if the beech tree has risen from the dead.
Only the shape in which it appears has changed.
But it did not lose its radiance - on the contrary.
The way to the artist
It all started when wood artist Bernhard Schmid from Rettenbach received a tip from Schreiner Engel from Erisried.
The latter informed Schmid about the planned felling of the beech.
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The Mindelheim copper beech shortly before felling
© Springer-Restle
Schmid had already breathed new life into numerous trees and staged them artistically. The copper beech on the city moat spoke to him immediately, which is not a matter of course. First of all, he hadn't worked with beeches until now and, secondly, a spark has to jump out. That depends not only on the tree itself, but also on the place where the tree once stood. And here it was immediately clear to the wood artist: “The copper beech stood in a place of joy and life.” The tree was a silent witness to many events. That impressed the artist. He immediately picked up the phone and called the city construction department to secure the tree. He received the promise on the condition that he would be there for the felling work and take the tree with him right away. On October 20 last year, Schmid arrived with tools and a trailer. It was important to himto cut the trunk at the root run-up yourself in order to take as much of it with you as possible. The felling work took just under one working day.
In the end he had two large pieces that he transported to Rettenbach on his trailer. The piece with the root run-up is still in his workshop and waits for the artist to lend a hand. The red spots on the root approach are impressive. “You know why the tree is called copper beech,” speculates Schmid. From the other piece he made a high table with a hollow trunk and a glass top. What particularly appealed to him about it was the wound closure at a point where a branch had been sawed off some time ago. Schmid has preserved this place and only restored the bark, but not removed it as was the case with the rest of the trunk. But his personal highlight on the whole tree is the so-called tree pearl. Tree beads grow on tree trunks when a healing process is underway. They look like small knobs or bulbs.If the pearl can be easily detached from the tree, this is a sign that the healing is complete.
The magic of the tree pearl
Schmid reported that the wart-like growth at the base of the copper beech was easy to remove.
“Touching them felt like holding the pommel of a riding saddle,” enthuses the artist.
“The other works of art are nice, but the pearl is concentrated power, pure energy,” he says, visibly touched.
He has therefore processed the pearl separately and transformed it into an energetically impressive hand flatterer.
He made a few smaller works of art from the inside of the bar table: a blue-painted drop that can function as a bowl or just a decorative work of art, a boat and a bow - all works of art are smoother than a baby's bottom when you touch them.
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That is the aforementioned tree pearl in Schmid's hands.
© Springer-Restle
When our editorial team asked how long the artist worked on a work like the table, he said: “Until it's finished.” Schmid doesn't measure his work in time. For him, the focus is on the process that he enters and that usually has something to say to him. Bringing a work into the desired form - he can reveal that much - takes around half of the total processing time. Then it is sanded and oiled. Again and again Schmid goes into resonance with the plant. Grinding and polishing set an emotional digestive process in motion. The thoughts about it always come after the feeling. “I always ask myself: What do I see in myself?” Only when Schmid has answered this question can he approve a work for sale.
His works of art can be admired live, including those from the copper beech, soon on the day of the carpenter on November 6th and 7th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the carpenter's workshop of Rudolf Engel in Erisried.
Those who are very curious can also admire Schmid's works at a current traveling exhibition.
There the artist worked on, among other things, the original Jakob Fischer apple tree, the original tree of the apple trees.
Further information is available on Schmid's website kuenstler-holzgestalter.de.
If you want to see the copper beech again as a whole tree, you will find a video about the felling on the KURIER's Facebook page.