Opinion: Crystallized Ozarks leaves artistic impressions

I planned to check another topic off my list – the one about business consultant Ellen Rohr’s taping of an Ozarks Public Television special. There is the next edition.

For this issue, I’m compelled to put on paper the awe in which I’ve operated under the past week and a half. I walk around in complete wonder of this ice storm that crashed down on us Jan. 12–14.

The juxtaposition of tragedy and sheer beauty was immense. It tore me up.

Here’s why: I saw beauty in many of these crystal trees and the power lines, stop signals and street signs adorned with icicles. If not snapped, tree branches were seemingly bowing to a greater force. Younger trees were simply preserved in glass as they were the night of Jan. 12.

Thoughts of glass blowing artist Dale Chihuly immediately surfaced. In July, Springfield Business Journal contributor Kenny Knauer reported for the After 5 page on Chihuly’s Glass in the Garden exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. I was fortunate to have viewed a preview of the stunning $10 million exhibit in April. I also viewed his “Crystal Tree of Light” at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Ark. I think I saw Chihuly’s “Crystal Tree” and another piece titled “Antlers” on the Springfield square the other night.

The obvious tragedy is that 75,000 City Utilities customers were without power at the peak of this crisis, and 20,000 of them were still down almost a week later.

That’s the part that tears me up. I begin to wonder, do I have this view because my south-side home was relatively untouched? I say with some guilt that we’ve only gone 16 hours without power. Friends and co-workers are quick to remind me that my wife and I are caring for an infant, who needs every bit of that warmth. But there are other infants out there not as fortunate, I respond.

Then I look around my department at SBJ. All but one of my seven staff members lost power for three days or longer. Four of them hadn’t seen it since Jan. 12 and were among the 20,000 still in the dark and/or cold at press time Jan. 18. To their credit, their focus was unwavering through it all.

SBJ Features Editor Maria Hoover showed me a picture of her North Benton Street property. Taken from the street, the trunk of a 100-year-old tree consumed the frame, making it difficult to notice a home beyond it. Other tree limbs, big and small, covered the front yard.

Sadly, this is the view for many in Springfield and surrounding towns. Some streets are extremely difficult to navigate.

I empathize with those experiencing a frustrating loss. I guess I’m simply trying to offer a positive spin to a bleak situation at its core.

On a recent lunch-hour walk around the downtown square, I discovered a beautiful tree – I think it’s a Red Jewell crabapple – young enough that all its branches were still intact. It commanded my attention with its dignified pose and the angle at which I noticed it. The backdrop was Hagerman New Urbanism’s office building. The architectural lines on its façade perfectly complemented the young tree before it. This is the beauty of the storms. Sure, you have to go out and find it, but it’s there.

I hope Ozarks artists captured these crystal city images. There is both tragedy and beauty – two great inspirations for art. I can’t wait to see some of the pieces.

I know of only one artist who could have created such a majestic scene.

Eric Olson, Springfield Business Journal editor, can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.