Introducing Myrtle Tree Arts

Hello Friends of the Arts,

We want to share a bit about ourselves, our vision and purpose with you in this first post.
We're a collaborative group of artists, musicians, and experimenters seeking to create and elevate cultural activities through communal participation in the California Foothills and beyond. 
We, the co-founders, Paul Godwin and Ameera (Amee) Godwin, and along with longtime partner composer, Miguel Noya, are building on 
artistic efforts over the last decade--from hosting Talking Tree Ranch Artist Residencies to performing concerts in California and in Europe, we're continuing on a journey into the spirit of creative evolution through this new venue for collaboration. 

We welcome you to this venture in intentional creativity with community members as fellow artistic inventors. 

Join us and learn more! 

Email us: myrtletreearts@gmail.com

Insta: @myrtletreearts

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RIPE AREA: Renewing Relationships with Water Through Art

RIPE AREA is a play on the term "riparia", the land adjacent to and influenced by water. The waters of the South Fork of American River tumble downstream in the crush of ice melt, rushing in currents, propelled by dam releases, and slowing along sandy flatlands. Wet, fluid fingers fan out among cattails, quietly seeping into sodden ground. Over time, h umans have changed the river, eroded its banks, mined its tributaries, drained its meadows, and farmed its floodplains. The waters of the South Fork of the American River , for example, are contained by t hree major reservoirs and other smaller man-made reservoirs El Dorado County. The major dams are at Slab Creek Reservoir built in 1967, Chili Bar Reservoir built in 1964 and Folsom Lake Reservoir built in 1955 . Headwaters of the South Fork of the American River collect in high-altitude Lake Audrain, captured in the image I created, above, for the music and underwater sound art installation, Music for 33 Dr...

Ramparts: Centrum Artist Residency, Part 2

Arriving at Fort Worden sent me on a hunt about fortification history and architecture. Following trails through the woods to the top of Artillery Hill, Paul and I encounter the ramparts, solidly built gun emplacements known here as “batteries.” “Bulwark” is another term that feels related to the work from my first week at Centrum: large pencil drawings of entangled old growth cedar and spruce branches and roots. The “bul-” part of bulwark is related to bole, “tree trunk,” while -wark is related to English work, wrought, and wright. The last of the guns at the fort were removed in 1945, and the defunct battery enclosures, tunnels, stairwells, rusting doors and pipes, lichen-stained concrete, a stately sign with the name, Cornelius Tolles, a captain who died from his wounds in a Civil War battle—comprise these eerie tombs. We start to hymn and sing into the dark reverberating chambers. “What a performance venue!”, our eyes circling in their sockets as we imagine the possibilities....

The Botanist: Where Science Meets Song in California's Riparian Zones at RIPE AREA 2025

From underground fungal networks to the secret communications of native plants, our new musical performance imagines some of the hidden conversations and mutual relationships happening all around us. When the Land Speaks, Who's Listening? In California's foothills, where systematic conversion has stripped away much of our native riparian habitat, something remarkable persists: the intricate web of relationships between plants, pollinators, and the soil itself. It's here, in this landscape of both loss and resilience, that The Botanist: A Plant-based Song Cycle takes root. Each season has its ripening—a time when seeds break from their shells, when black crows and phoebes feast on millions of seeds, when tight young buds burst open with endless colors, smells, and flavors. This is the world of Ripe Area , our one-day festival celebrating the profound interdependence between humans and the native plant species that sustain us. The Science Behind the Songs What began as an...

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