Sunnyhill's tapestry

The Sunnyhill Tapestry, also called the "Uni Uni Tree" or the "Fellowship Tree" hung for many years in the main room of Sunnyhill and was considered a potent symbol of our group, representing our sense of community and of extended family. It was designed by Tippi Comden, and created by the members of the community expressly for the main room. It was based on an actual happening as we celebrated Earth Day in 1970. Here follows the story behind the tapestry and it's creation.

In the early days of the church, when we were still a fellowship and meeting in rented space, we would occasionally rent a lodge in South Park for an entire Sunday. Our communal Thanksgivings were held in there, as were our spring picnics. In 1970 our spring walk coincided with the country's first "Earth Day". We took an "Earth Day Walk" up through the woods. On our return, we approached the lodge walking down a steep hill. Some of the youth spotted a maple tree isolated from the woods, and ran to it, clambering up into the branches. A few of the more adventurous adults joined them.

The Comden family and the Squilla family presented a multi media show every spring in another of the lodges at South Park, and that day found Joe Squilla busily snapping slides for the upcoming show. After the show, his slides were moved to Tippi Comden's vast collection of Fellowship images.

Tippi has often been asked exactly who were the people in the original tree. The man straddling the limb kept his identity and UUism a secret, and so she changed the face to resemble that of her husband, Larry Comden (who actually never climbed the tree). The young boy on the limb with him is Bobby Newstadt, son of Mort & Irene Newstadt. Vijay Chandhok is the man standing on the limb. (slide A) The three children climbing the main trunk were: Celeste Cornie, daughter of Jim and Norma Cornie, reaching upward; Kari Carter, daughter of Bruce and Be Carter, climbing halfway up the tree, and Lynn Squilla, daughter of Joe and Bobbie Squilla, high in the tree, looking downward.(slide B) The toddler under the tree is Eric Swanson, son of John and Marcy Swanson. (slide A). Tippi can be seen at the extreme right of slide B, in the red bell bottoms wtih a movie camera in her hand.

The following year, Tippi took a woodcutting class from Sunnyhill member Bruce Carter, a faculty member at CMU and a nationally known graphic artist. Looking for a subject of a woodcut, she went through her slide collection and spotted Joe's slide of the people in the tree. The slide was projected onto a paper the size of her woodblock, and the image traced. With Bruce's help, the design was strengthened and transferred to the woodblock and became her woodcut, which she called "The Uni Uni Tree". When we bought Sunnyhill. Bruce suggested that "The Uni Uni Tree", enlarged, with color added, would make a magnificent hanging for our main room. A slide was made of the woodcut, and projected onto the backing of the tapestry. Bruce created the color scheme and Bobby Squilla bought the wool used to latch the tapestry. The tapestry, on a frame, was started in Bobbie's living room, but later was moved to the front room at Sunnyhill. Everyone in the fellowship was welcome to work on it, and most did. The tapestry came to symbolize the spirit of community within our fellowship, showing both young and old sharing the tree climbing experience and also communally creating this beautiful tapestry. It hung in our main room from 1972 - 1994 when the main room was enlarged and the beams interferred with a clear view of the tapestry. It also had to be taken down whenever the room was rented for a wedding, and we felt it might not survive too many more take downs. It is now hanging in the stairwell at the church.