In honor of 2009 Year of the Trees, Wave Hill presents an exhibition that celebrates the glorious and majestic trees that anchor the garden. Arbores Venerabiles draws on traditions of tree portraiture and landscape painting with artworks created specifically for the exhibition. Visitors will find paintings and drawings of trees in Wave Hill’s collection and then may roam the grounds to observe magnificent specimens of copper beech, sugar maple, American elm and many others. To develop the exhibition, the curators invited twelve artists to create new paintings and drawings inspired by Wave Hill’s arboreal treasures. The artists visited Wave Hill in October to tour the grounds with interpretive horticulture staff. Since then, they have made multiple visits to observe, sketch and photograph these living treasures, while delving into the characteristics of the species. The resulting work focuses on particular trees in the collection and employs a wide range of interpretive approaches and techniques, from pencil to computer stylus.