Kalona’s MaxCast makes a tree

By Mary Zielinski
When Fay Vittetoe of the Friends of Lake Darling mentioned a donor tree to honor those who had made the Lake Darling four seasons lodge a reality, Doris Park responded immediately. After all, it sounded quite familiar.
“We (she and husband Steve Maxon) had one one for the Kalona Library,” she said. While it was a similar idea, the process itself “was quite different” and much bigger.
Park also wanted the tree to be a significant art work that she started designing in July. Maxon, who with Park owns and operates MaxCast in Kalona, helped with the casting, but he stressed “this was Doris’ work.”

The tree was done and installed at the lodge November 22. The leaves bear the names of the donors and, as further donations come in, more leaves can be added.
Essentially a donated work, the tree is worth about $10,000, noted Park.
It covers a 7 x 8 foot area on the wall near the lodge’s kitchen, a space that more or less determined how it would be designed.
“It had to fit the wall,” said Park.
The “tree” is framed in four kinds of wood, noted Park, provided by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Central Shop Staff, Bryan Oaks and Tim Schutt. The woods are black walnut, red oak (stained green), cedar and birch. The leaves, used to create the molds and the bronze castings, “were all collected at Lake Darling”, said Park.
Since the completion of the tree, Park and Maxon have started work on a new commission: a life size statute of Abraham Lincoln to be ready for the bicentennial of his birth.