EDITOR'S NOTE: This continues a four-part series on artists and their environments. The locations were selected from "Art on Site" by Marina Harrison and Lucy D. Rosenfeld.

By KRISTA GROMALSKI

NEVERSINK - Sculptor Richard Rulli's interaction with his art occurs on a cellular level. When he works with a piece of wood, he is exposing a system of life rather than carving. "[I am showing] the perspective, the proportion, the motion... everything," he said. "It's in there. Exactly."

Rulli's interpretations of trees are so precise, the grain patterns built into the structure of the wood actually add a sketch to the shape. "The images are described not by edges but by converging contours that are not separated from the structural integrity of the tree," he said in an artist's statement.

Simply put, "I don't do what I want to do, I do what the tree wants me to do," he said. "... the formula is already there; all you have to do is be, and allow yourself to follow it."

Since childhood Rulli has been interested in nature. His carving began with the usual whittling of sticks. Strangely, it was through a serious accident almost 30 years ago that he became aware of his intense relationship with trees.

"A tree fell on me," he said. "And after that I saw everything."

Rulli likens the experience to the resettling that comes from shaking a box of mixed rocks. "If you vibrate it correctly they stratify into their natural order."

Following the accident, life changed drastically in a very short time for Rulli. In essence, he gave up everything in order to answer the questions his encounter with the tree had stirred.

Rulli's greatest challenge came when he encountered the 83-year-old Black Walnut tree that now sits almost 11 feet high, in the form of an elegantly fluid eagle, in the center of his rustic home and studio.

The tree, which was being removed from a property near New York City, was offered to Rulli through a distant acquaintance. The woman who gave it to him had helped her grandfather plant the tree when she was five years old, Rulli said, but she died a few years after he began the eagle sculpture which has since consumed almost 30,000 hours over a seven-year period.

Upon seeing the tree for the first time, Rulli was instantly overcome by his connection to it. And, he said, he clearly saw the eagle figure waiting to come out. "It took me about a month to get up the courage to do it, because I knew what it would take."

Realizing that he might never again witness an opportunity of this magnitude, he hired a crew to transport the tree to its current location in Neversink, which at the time was simply a plot of land Rulli has hoped to use as a getaway or retirement property. "This building was constructed just to do the job," Rulli said of his home.

In the fall of 1986, with a studio to work in, he began the monumental task of freeing the eagle from its wooden casing. Working primarily with hand tools, Rulli has "produced a graceful illusion of living action" while preserving the tree's natural form.

The eagle, which he has toyed with calling "Fishing in a Stiff Wind," was completed two years ago, Rulli said. "Because I was finished."

The title came because "the tree grew according to the prevailing wind," said Rulli. "She ended up with the same tension."

Creating such a work, Rulli said, is like being in love. "You don't care about anything else."

"It makes no logical sense to do these things," he said of his pursuit, but "I can tell you about trees."

Some of Rulli's work is for sale and his studio is open by appointment only. The artist can be reached at 845/985-2397.