Upon moving to Ann Arbor a few years ago, I was immediately struck by all the large, mature trees. Watching them respond to the change of the seasons is fascinating. My eye is drawn from the excitement of the first fuschia flowers of the Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) in spring to the towering Black Walnuts (Juglans nigra) that ripen so much fruit at the height of summer, from the large Maples (Acer rubrum and Acer saccharum) that turn bright red and yellow in autumn to the Swamp White Oaks (Quercus bicolor) that hold tight their crisp browned leaves until February. There's always something beautiful to observe in the trees that live among us.

The shape and structure of plants and leaves have always interested me, and when I started working with clay, I was most often inspired by nature's forms. For this project, the process of finding the actual native leaves was not always straightforward. While the City of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan both have helpful interactive online tree maps (here and here), once I found a tree, there was still the problem of getting the leaves. If the tree was too tall, maybe I would find some on the ground, but more often than not, I would have to go back to the map and find a shorter tree. The process got a little easier when my partner, Andrew Clapper, helped me by downloading and filtering the underlying data sets using GIS software to identify the most promising specimens.

Each individual piece in this collection was made using a real leaf pressed into stoneware clay using a rolling pin and left to dry. I then carefully peeled the leaf from the clay, revealing an impression that I hand painted with a watercolor underglaze. Next, the pieces were bisque fired, then glazed, before the second and final firing.

One of the most enjoyable parts of this project was visiting areas of Ann Arbor I had never been to in search of specific trees. Many were found by walking in my neighborhood, some via biking, and a few I had to drive to get. You can follow my explorations on the map linked here, which shows where each native species’ leaves were gathered. - Artist Neha Chheda, Samaaj Ceramics

Black Walnut Juglans nigra	American Beech Fagus grandifolia	Basswood Tilia americana	Bitternut Hickory Carya cordiformis
Black Maple Acer nigrum	Black Oak Quercus velutina	Blackgum Nyssa sylvatica	Bur Oak Quercus macrocarpa
Butternut Juglans cinerea	Chinkapin Oak Quercus muehlenbergii	Cockspur Hawthorn Crataegus crus-galli	Dogwood Cornus florida
Eastern Red Cedar Juniperus virginiana	Hackberry Celtis occidentalis	Ironwood Ostrya virginiana	Musclewood Carpinus caroliniana
Northern White Cedar Thuja occidentalis	Pawpaw Asimina triloba	Pignut Hickory Carya glabra	Red Maple Acer rubrum
Red Oak Quercus rubra	Redbud Cercis canadensis	Sassafras Sassafras albidum	Shagbark Hickory Carya ovata
Shingle Oak Quercus imbricaria	Sugar Maple Acer saccharum	Swamp White Oak Quercus bicolor	Sycamore Plantanus occidentalis
Trembling Aspen Populus tremuloides	Tulip Tree Liriodendron tulipfera	White Oak Quercus alba	Yellow Birch Betula alleghaniensis