A new art display at UC Riverside’s Student Success Center pays tribute to the region’s Indigenous tribes and the trees sacred to them with a wood carving made from oak trees that once stood at the site.

A celebration and unveiling for the oak tree art display, which was installed in July, will be held Sept. 23.

The installation, mounted on a wall on the building’s first floor, combines several wood pieces to create a 20-foot-wide and 10-foot-long display.

One of the most prominent elements of the display is a map made up of wood planks that lists tribes with their names on acrylic panels placed over their historic territory. The map covers a large area from the Chumash in Ventura County to the Kumeyaay in San Diego County to tribes from what is now the Catalina Islands.

“We wanted to showcase the oak and highlight the Native nations,” said Josh Gonzales, director of Native American Student Programs, or NASP, which helped create the concept and design for the display. “UCR is surrounded by Native nations, it shows these tribes are from here, that we’re on Native land, and features tribes throughout the Southern California.”

A top panel of the display features UCR’s Native American Land Acknowledgement, in which the campus recognizes its responsibility to the Cahuilla, Tongva, Luiseño, and Serrano peoples as the original and current caretakers of the land, water, and air.

A bottom panel features an apology to the oak trees that once stood there, promising that UCR will “continue to remember and honor the oak trees through the beauty they provide in this art installation.”

The top and bottom borders feature decorative artwork of acorns while a TV monitor next to the map will display photos and play videos. Four benches, made from the same oak wood, sit in front of the display.

The art piece is almost six years in the making, conceived when the university began planning for construction of the Student Success Center in late 2019. As part of the site preparation, several oak trees were removed to make way for the new building.

For many native tribes, oak trees are considered sacred as they provide acorns for food and material for tools and shelter. After NASP and other faculty, staff, and students raised those concerns, the campus agreed to save wood from the felled trees for a future project.

Gonzalez said the project was delayed initially due to the pandemic, but NASP worked with students, staff, faculty, and community members to come up with an idea for how to best use the wood. Joaquin Torango, a coordinator with NASP, sketched out the idea for the map display, and NASP sought a custom woodworker who could bring it to life.

They selected Chagrin Valley Custom Furniture, an Ohio-based company that specializes in bespoke handcrafted furniture. The company’s creative director, Sky Ironhorse, who worked with UCR on the project, is Native American, another important factor for NASP in selecting the firm. 

During a visit to Riverside for the NASP’s annual Pow Wow, Ironhorse was able to see the quality of the stored wood and take measurements at the display’s planned location at the Student Success Center.

“It was obviously sacred to the Native tribes, using this wood,” she said. “Bringing it to life in this beautiful art piece was a challenge and it was fun.”

Using the original sketch for the layout, Ironhorse added artistic touches such as the design of the mountains, rivers, and lakes on the map that evoke Middle Earth from the Lord of the Rings.

Earlier this year, UCR shipped two pallets of wood, weighing 1,200 pounds, to Chagrin Valley to begin making the display. 

Woodworkers processed the lumber to make it flat and straight and then pieced it to together like a puzzle to create the different panels, said Zach Schulte, president and owner of Chagrin Valley Custom Furniture. They sanded and sprayed the wood, adding an epoxy resin for a smooth surface, and used a natural finish to bring out the oak wood’s rustic color. Although not continuous, the whole process took several months, he said.

Lina Tejeda, who was a UCR student in 2019 when the oak trees came down, said it’s meaningful for her now as a program coordinator with NASP to see the results of those early efforts.

“It’s so beautiful to come back and see it come into fruition,” she said.

The project was funded by Student Affairs, the Chancellor's Office, and the HUB Cultural Event Funds with project management through the Office of Planning, Design and Construction.

The oak tree art unveiling will be held Sept. 23 at 10 a.m. at the Student Success Center.