As part of the "Urban Tree Project" implemented by the Port of San Diego in an open competition,  this piece is one of thirty "art trees" on temporary loan for one year (2005)  along the embarcadero of downtown San Diego. "Germination" is an abstraction of the first stages of a sprouting tree and may be interpreted as an analogy to life and growth in the community of San Diego and that from small beginnings, great things may grow. The lower portion of the sculpture is constructed of welded aluminum that represents the "roots" of the young plant.  Above the aluminum "root" structure there is a laminated glass sphere representing the "seed" from which the plant germinates.  Above the glass sphere is a single branch, seventeen foot  twisted, carved and smoothed pepper tree painted in graduated tones from green to white at the very tip.  Attached near the base of the tree, above the glass sphere, are numerous orange/pink translucent  plastic rods encircling it's base representing "cilia" or rudimentary branch structures found in early microscopic plant forms. "The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.      -James Allen

Germination      2005 Aluminum/Glass/Wood/Plastic/Paint 31' x 48" x 48"