Tree sculpture celebrates local wildlife

When Broyhill Crest residents Storme and Joe Sixeas realized the big beautiful oak tree on their front lawn had to be taken down, they decided to save the trunk and have it turned into a sculpture featuring local wildlife. 

“The tree was a focal point for the house for a very long time,” Storme said. “Unfortunately, the roots started to decay, it got some kind of oak disease, and started to die.” The Sixeas family lived at 7206 Masonville Drive in Annandale for five years, but they bought the house from friends who had lived there for 20 years, so they had a long history with the tree. 

“We knew we wanted to do something to respect the life of the tree and the beauty of the tree,” said Joe, who noted that he and Storme both grew up reading The Giving Tree. 

They preserved about eight feet of trunk and first thought about having the wood milled and using it to create something functional like a dining table, then the “internet trail led us to Andrew Mallon,” Joe said.  

Related story: Chainsaw artist carves dead tree trunk into a tower of woodland creatures at Hidden Oaks

Mallon, a professional chainsaw artist, had transformed a tree trunk at the Hidden Oaks Nature Center into a sculpture featuring woodland creatures and also carved trees into sculptures in several front yards on Downing Street in Annandale and throughout Northern Virginia. 

Joe and Storme decided their trunk should celebrate the wildlife of the neighborhood and also the theme of their home: “wisdom and love.” 

They worked with Mallon to develop a design with five owls representing wisdom and five rabbits representing love.   

The names of the owls reflect Storme’s strong relationship with England – she lived there for six years and goes back for frequent visits – and her position as chair of the British American Project. 

Three owls are named for former prime ministers: Winston [Churchill], Maggie [Thatcher], and Tony [Blair]. The two baby owls are named for potential future prime ministers: Rishi, for Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, and Sadiq, for Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London.  

Related story: Tree art enlivens Annandale street

Four of the rabbits are named for fictional romantic characters: Beatrice and Benedick from Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and Lucy and Henry from the movie “50 First Dates.” The other rabbit, who looks more like a cartoon character, is named Roger from “Roger Rabbit.” 

A group of owls is called a parliament, and a group of bunnies is called a fluffle, so the name of the sculpture is “Parliament Fluffle.”