The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘It’s important to find harmony in yourself ’
Arbor-artist Blackman poised to open gallery, studio
TORRINGTON — Paul Robert Blackman is an arborist and an artist, felling trees for customers and then taking them home to create furniture and art.
He’s poised to open his gallery and studio, Artist’s Tree Inc., in the Still River Plaza on Winsted Road by the middle of March. The opening is a step forward in Blackman’s quest to bring people together in any way possible, using art and music.
The son of Paul and Venice Blackman of Torrington, the artist is a graduate of the Gunnery school in Washington, Conn. He attended University of Connecticut Torrington and Northwestern Connecticut Community College, taking classes while he worked a variety of jobs.
“I got into tree work, which is all part and parcel about growing up in Litchfield County,” Blackman said. “After 20 years in the horticultural and arboring industry, I got my associate’s degree from Charter Oak College (in New Britain). I was also doing drumming with John Marshall.
“After working for other companies over the years, I started my own business as an arborist, and that was the impetus that allowed me to start Artist’s Tree in Winsted in 2020,” he said. “It’s been a full cycle, building my ideology of conservation and reclamation, making functional art.”
That functional art includes custom furniture, spoons, ladles and other utensils; wooden feather earrings; bowls and serving trays; and other pieces for the home. Each piece is made from repurposed or reclaimed wood Blackman has harvested. It often is the individual tree that intrigues him — the stately oak in a person’s front yard that has to be removed, for example.
“Everything I do in the arborist world is how I build my furniture and make my art,” he said. “All the timber I use is in the art I do. These days, people give me wood all the time; pieces of wood, trees that have to come down. Or I’ll say, ‘If you get a piece of land, I’ll do the trees.’ ”
Blackman said his craft makes him happy.
“It’s important to find harmony in yourself, and peace and soulful fulfillment,” he said. “That level
of true happiness comes from busting my knuckles and running a chainsaw. It’s a real living principle.”
Artist’s Tree also is intended to help others, either by offering lessons or demonstrations on how Blackman makes his art, or providing support to people who need it.
“I want to go forward with any type of outreach that helps other people and bolsters the understanding that every human being deserves the same dignity,” he said. “Music and the arts soothe people’s souls.”
The location of Artist’s Tree is also significant, Blackman said. He’s sharing Still River Plaza with Still River Wellness and MedTech at 3568 Winsted Road. “They’re both multifaceted,” he said.
“The Artists Tree only exists out of the goodness of Tom Macri and his father, the property owners,” he said. “They have the same cultural and ideological goals, and they understand that they need to help the community at large.”
At this point, Blackman is going through the permit process to open Artist’s Tree at the plaza. He can’t wait to welcome people in.
“We’ll really have the capacity to bring this out as a full-fledged maker space, a community art gallery for Torrington, Litchfield County and Connecticut at large,” he said.
The gallery will be open for classes, he said, and he will continue to create his custom furniture and commissions from a growing group of customers.
“Owning your own business is grueling, but I’m ready to shoulder the responsibility,” he said. “I can be virtuous, true, kind and sincere.”
Marketing the studio and gallery will be by word of mouth as well as Facebook, a horticultural page, Instagram and most recently, TikTok. “I started a TikTok page and I’ve got like 15,000 followers,” he said. “It’s all intended to bring people together who are looking for something in their lives.”
On this particular day, Blackman was making serving bowls and trays, choosing from pieces of cherry, sugar maple, black walnut and ash.
“One of the bowls and a shallow tray are made from a log for a woman in Torrington,” he said. “Things have always sold slowly, but consistently. It’s been a painfully slow crawl up to now, but once I set my heart to do this, it hasn’t stopped.
“When someone says, ‘Wow, you made this?’ I make 15 more,” he said.
Learn more about Artist’s Tree at prblackman.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ blackmanhomestead2020.