“Artistic people don’t think or see things the same way as those who are not artistic,” says Mark Golomb, one of the artists who recently took part in the Raw Aspirations Project, co-sponsored by the Tamaqua Community Art Center and the Arts Barn in Schuylkill Haven.

Golomb, who lives in Bloomsburg, admits to being surprised about the robust art-centered community that has been given life in Tamaqua.

“I came to Tamaqua last year for the Tamaqua Has Heart Project tour, along with several other artists from the Arts Barn. I had no idea of just how involved the community is with the art center.”

That visit led to the Raw Aspirations Project.

Golomb’s project for the initiative was the creation of a tree, 7 feet high, crafted out of wire. He has been creating smaller wire trees, each about 18 inches high, for almost 45 years.

On the night of the artist’s meet and greet, Golomb had several of the smaller trees on display while he created a new one, demonstrating how it’s done. There was so much interest, he agreed to hold a class at the Tamaqua Art Center.

In high school and college, the artist concentrated on pen and ink pieces, with a special interest in cartoons.

He spent many years as an illustrator, including for numerous children’s books, taking up painting about 11 years ago. The wire trees came about as a gift for his mother.

“A long time ago, Mom had a wire tree. It was top heavy and fell over many times. A handyman friend took it to see if he could do anything to make it more stable and it got lost. Mom missed that tree a lot,” Golomb said.

“Our family had a garden shop business and one day I was looking at the floral wire and thought I’d try to re-create that tree. I had no model, just used my memory but made it more stable. I’ve been making them ever since. Never, in my wildest dreams, did I think I’d create one 7 feet tall.”

Golomb is offering others the opportunity to create their own dream tree.

A wire art bonsai tree class will be held July 22 at the Tamaqua Community Art Center, 125 Pine St., Tamaqua. The three-hour class will begin at 6 p.m.

For more information, call 570-668-1192.