Rebecca Rutstein
Canopy Adventures: The Crum Woods Through Time

My work celebrates life and its tumultuous journey. Mappings, diagrams and other visual

languages of science interweave with personal iconography to form layered narratives.

Plate tectonics is the fascinating story of continents drifting from place to place, breaking

apart, colliding, and grinding against each other, always in a state of dynamic flux. So,

too, are human relationships. I am captivated by the metaphorical play between the forces

that catalyze change in my daily life and the more powerful (yet slower moving) geologic

forces at work in nature.1 Nature’s volatility is mirrored in our lives which are constantly

moving, melding, wandering, shifting, growing, eroding, separating and coming back

together. That my brief adventure is somehow connected to an infinitely complex system

of epic scale is both comforting and hugely humbling.

The Crum Woods, a 200-acre woodland preserve on Swarthmore’s campus, is one of the

last surviving natural habitats in southeast Pennsylvania, a microcosm of the vast forest

that once covered the entire region. Interestingly enough, it is situated on a piece of land

that has endured especially dramatic changes throughout earth’s history. It has withstood

over four episodes of major collisions with other landmasses, been ripped apart, eroded,

weathered, and covered by sea; it has straddled the equator, survived fiery volcanoes,

encountered colossal mountains rivaling the Himalayas, and endured both tropical and

freezing climates.2 Among countless others, it has been home to the giant horse, woolly

mammoth, elephant-sized ground sloth, jaguar, and the extinct giant short-faced bear, the

largest land predator since the dinosaurs. The rocks that form the foundation of the Crum

Woods are almost 500 million years old (some of the oldest rocks in Pennsylvania and

North America), and have gone through great deformation and change over time.3

The arrival of Western civilization has proven to be as dramatic as a geologic force rather

than just a population shift in one species. However, the steeply sloped walls of the Crum

Woods have created an ecosystem of thin, rocky soil, unconducive for agriculture or

development, proving to be an important, self-protecting feature. While the forest has

certainly sustained abuse, the ledge has protected it from total devastation. Recent

conservation efforts to protect this special piece of “living history,” along with my

ongoing fascination with geology and history, led me to create this visual narrative.

To make maps and chart history are attempts to bring order and permanence to a wildly

unpredictable and ever-changing world. The Crum Woods is a thriving oasis of the past

in a desert of cement and suburbia. It provides a home for a host of migratory birds,

mammals and fish, as well as a coveted sanctuary for human beings.4 In this List Gallery

exhibition (appropriately situated on the edge of the Crum Woods), a mixed-media

timeline and canopy bed installation portray my personal responses to the Crum's rich

present as well as its vast and varied past.

- Rebecca Rutstein, 2004

1 Baker, Alex. Love & Subduction, Essay, 2004.

2 Barnes, John H., & Sevon, W. D. The Geological Story of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg:

Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 1996.

3 Latham, R. E., D. B. Steckel, H. M. Harper & D. C. Rosencrance. Conservation and

Stewardship Plan for the Crum Woods of Swarthmore College, Report for Swarthmore

College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania by Natural Lands Trust, Media, Pennsylvania and

Continental Conservation, Rose Valley, Pennsylvania. 145 pp. + 19 maps. 2003.

4 Latham, R. E., D. B. Steckel, H. M. Harper & D. C. Rosencrance. 2003.

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