Brown Arts
Between Past and Future
EXHIBITION
A solo exhibition by Eiden Spilker '24 made with wood from a historic Elm that once lived on the Main Green.
Between Past and Future
EXHIBITION
A solo exhibition by Eiden Spilker '24 made with wood from a historic Elm that once lived on the Main Green.
About the Exhibition
Between Past and Future
October 27 – December 12, 2025
Fribourg Family Atrium, Granoff Center for the Creative Arts
Opening reception: October 30, 2025 | 5:30 PM
Artist Statement
‘Between Past and Future’ began with a historic elm tree cut down on Brown’s main green. Initially an exploration of what it means to consider this tree as a ‘historic’ object, the body of work quickly expanded into a broader examination of the shape and narrative of history that the tree fit into. What followed was a renegotiation with the direction of history, its meaning, and the specific contours of the past that come to explain the present and define the possibilities of the future.
“ My worthy friend, gray are all theories, And green alone Life's golden tree ”
Eiden Spilker is repurposing wood from an American elm that once stood on the College Green and turning it into imaginative handcrafted sculptures. photos by Nick Dentamaro.
Brown University’s Facilities Management team branches out across campus to carefully steward and add to nearly 2,500 trees on and around College Hill in the face of threats from pests, disease and climate.
About the Artist
Eiden Spilker (b. 1996) is a Providence, RI-based artist working in wood and found materials. He holds BAs in Architecture and Visual Arts and is the 'Maker in Residence' at the Brown Design Workshop where he strives to strengthen collective craft knowledge. His work explores the tension, and often disconnect, between material record and meaning. Using primarily salvaged and reclaimed wood, he investigates the historic testimony of objects, asking how material memory can inform the way we construct narratives of the past.
October 2, 2024
News from Brown
Gone but not forgotten: Beloved elm tree from Brown sees new life in the form of handcrafted art
Eiden Spilker and others from the Brown Design Workshop are repurposing wood from a treasured American elm into sculptures and keepsakes for the Brown community.