Lakebone
Nancy Winship Milliken Studio
2026, wood, steel, pollinator-friendly plants
Main Street, above the intersection with Pine Street
Floating between earth and sky, Lakebone transforms a full-sized tree and pollinator habitat into a reflection on the connections between forests, waterways, and communities in the Lake Champlain watershed. The sculpture evokes Burlington’s history as one of America’s busiest lumber ports while also looking to the future health of the lake. Today, sustainable forestry and watershed management, including restoration of floodplain forests and maintaining deadwood along rivers and lakes, helps protect water quality, reduce erosion, and increase resilience. Lakebone invites us to consider how the choices we make today will shape the future of the waterways that sustain us all.
Pollinator Habitat
The pollinator meadow was developed in partnership with Bee the Change. This bed of living plants brings bees and butterflies to the sidewalk. As plants reach upward toward the suspended tree, they filter rainwater, honor Vermont’s agricultural landscape, and offer an invitation to connect with nature in the heart of the city.
Conservation
Nancy Winship Milliken Studio is a place-based environmental art practice dedicated to strengthening connections between community and the natural world. Through sculpture and landscape restoration, the studio creates opportunities to reflect on and learn from conservation and the ecosystems all around us that sustain life.
This installation represents an extraordinary collaboration between artists, engineers, fabricators, transportation specialists, environmental partners, and community supporters. Thanks to Anthony and Associates, Artisan Engineering, Bee the Change, BFG Designs, Building Heritage, Clemmons Farm, Industrial Four, Logic Engineering Associates, Vermont Rail System, S.D. Ireland, Talbert Outdoor Maintenance, Teacher’s Tree Service, and the many partners who helped make this ambitious public artwork possible.
Commissioned by The City of Burlington