Tiny Forest in a Suitcase Pops Up at Grand Central Station

Urbanites passing through Grand Central Station will be able to get a little taste of nature this week thanks to a temporary art gallery that popped up there on Monday. Called "<a href="http://artfortrees.tdforestnyc.com/">Art for Trees</a>," the <a href="http://tdforestsnyc.com/">TD Bank</a>-sponsored installation has transformed Vanderbilt Hall into an oasis of arboreal artwork benefiting urban green spaces. Click through our gallery for some of the pieces we enjoyed most like a tiny forest in a suitcase by Kathleen Vance and a resiliency-themed vertical garden by Ivan Stojakovic.

<em>Gifford's Forest</em> is part of <a href="http://kathleenvance.com/kathleenart/">Kathleen Vance</a>'s “Traveling Landscapes” series of nature vignettes enclosed in travel-worn suitcases.

"Displaced elements indicative of natural landscapes are presented in partially opened cases, as to not fully expose the delicateness of what is contained within. "

"Streams and rivers activate the scenes as they course through the landscapes contained within the cases. The illusion of life and growth, illuminated within, reflects the desire to capture a part of nature untouched by humans."

<a href="http://www.ivanstojakovic.com/">Ivan Stojakovic</a>'s Super Storm Barrier fuses live succulents with deconstructed composite panel to depict an aerial view of NYC flood zones and proposed post-Sandy storm barriers.

The succulents depict a green flood barrier for Manhattan.

A side view of Super Storm Barrier.

Dustin Yellin's ZULU CAVE NO. 2 is a 3-dimensional collage glass, greenery and acrylic.

A closer look at the piece's profile gives a better look at the layering effect used by Yellin.

BOUND, V57 by Philippa Lawrence.

Elizabeth Whalley's THE FOREST CARBON CYCLE, 2014.

11:11 A.M. by Federico Herrero

<a href="http://artfortrees.tdforestnyc.com/artists">Ten New York City artists</a> donated works for the "Art for Trees" exhibit, and all of the pieces are currently for sale with proceeds going towards New York Restoration Project, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Trees New York and Friends of the High Line. If you spot one you'd like to see hanging in your own home, contact the <a href="bridgettemayergallery.com">Bridgette Mayer Gallery</a>.

If you aren't able to catch Art for Trees at <a href="http://www.grandcentralterminal.com/">Grand Central Terminal</a> this week, TD Bank will also be displaying replicas of the pieces in many of its NYC branches this month. The mini-gallery will also be showing for one day in the High Line's 14th Street Passage on October 24th.