As Lyles writes in her curatorial statement, the material is “a major part of our Emerald City history (nick-named, after all, for our verdant profusion of trees).” Lyles, who curated the popular Like Mother exhibition, explains how she “sought variety in style, technique, even attitude: from cultural, environmental, political, playful, to just plain ol’ pretty.”

The exhibition’s title refers to the superstition, perhaps first used by the Celts, that knocking on trees might wake the spirits inside, thus providing protection or scaring away evil spirits. Curatorial advisor and artist Joel Colvos recognizes how wood is “a material of paradox: both common and precious, temporary yet long-lasting and remarkably pliable,” in essence a metaphor for the creative process.