Working in the Tanglewood Prairie

Tanglewood Prairie Series

I was honored to be a part of the Pine Needles Residency, in which I was given access to private prairie land during the summer of 2019. I spent hours wandering the acreage, learning about the plants, and harvesting. All plant material in this series was gathered from the Tanglewood Prairie in Washington County – owned and managed by the St. Croix Watershed District, a division of the Science Museum of Minnesota.

I took my bundles of fresh grasses and forbes to the Pine Needles cabin where I made this body of work — all while overlooking the St. Croix River. It was simply beautiful and inspiring. During the three weeks, I learned to create background sky and land colors on fabric pigmented with pastels and developed new printing techniques to recreate the sense of richness seen in the photo below.

The atmosphere of each harvest day was recreated on the background material – sunny in July; cloudy, with a storm on the horizon in August. Pastels and painted ink enhancements were added after the grass prints dried. A variety of materials were used for this printing series, including cotton muslin, tissue paper, and organza.

The details of my botanical prints can be seen best on desktop or laptop devices.