The Standard

Issue date: 11/6/07 Section: Features

Associate professor of art and design, Judith Fowler, and her husband, Jon, have added a unique lawn sculpture to their front yard. On Jefferson Avenue before Bennett Street there is a 7 by 8-foot meat cleaver at the top of a tree.

To find it, one only has to look for pedestrians and passers-by with their heads turned upwards to marvel at the meat cleaver 42 feet in the air.

"After the ice storm of January 2007, we decided to build something in this tree and since we are all artists, we didn't want to be boring and cut it down," Judith Fowler said. "So we thought that we could do something creative with it."

"My son wanted a pirate ship but my husband decided to put a meat cleaver to signify that Mother Nature had been pruning." Judith Fowler said.

The Fowlers and their son Gerald have all contributed to the creation of the meat cleaver; which is made out of a welded steel frame and wrapped in fiberglass.

As for the neighbors, Fowler said that they just love it. People have driven up in any driveway to take pictures of this oddity.

The actual tree is very old and was there when Fowler's great-grandparents lived in the house. The tree was lost during the ice storm and the Fowlers could not bear to cut it down.

Jon Fowler, a retired professor from Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, constructed the cleaver in about a month, Judith Fowler said.

The actual process included sketches, photos, expert advice and the labor to make the tree the way it is now.

"We had a couple arborists come out to make sure the tree was dead," Fowler said. "I then took pictures of the tree and 'Photoshopped' them with the limbs cut off so we could decide what we really wanted for sure."

At the base of the tree lay the limbs from the top. These were cut into 3 to 4-feet sections with the ends painted red to make it look like a living thing.

The meat cleaver was put into place with the help of a tree trimming service along with Fowler's son Gerald. The cleaver is anchored into the tree about 1 ½ feet to 3 feet. The cleaver is also bolted into the tree on either side.

Still a work in progress, the Fowler's are waiting for the remaining bark to fall off and then they will put varnish on the tree and paint the top of the tree red.

"We call it Environmental Humor and the arborist said the tree will last another 50 years," Judith said. "We are a family of artists, my husband created it, I helped design it and then our youngest son help put all of it together."

The Fowlers want the Meat Cleaver to stay up as long as possible because it is another artistic addition for their art-influenced home.

Along with the tree, a wall-sized mural that was painted by Fowler's other son lies upon the exterior of her studio.

"My next project is a labyrinth in the backyard that is going to be made out of stone. There is also a tree swing that my students have often enjoyed." Fowler added.

"Next Halloween I want to get a really large skeleton to hang from the tree," Fowler said. "For Christmas we're probably going to hang lights on it. We're going to have fun with it and if anyone finds a nice large skeleton be sure to let us know."

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