Featured Paintings (L-R): “Amanita Muscaria” by Laura Blackman (oil) and “Longeared Sunfish” by Lin Cameron (acrylic)
Frame Gallery is proud to present the 5th annual art exhibit by the Nature Journaling Group, sponsored by the Sewanee Herbarium. The exhibit, titled "Nature, Red in Bird and Bough," will open with a reception on Friday, March 28, from 5:00 to 6:30 PM at the gallery. The show will run through Saturday, April 25. The public is invited to attend.
Mary Priestley, leader of the Nature Journaling Group, explains the inspiration behind the exhibit's title:
“In contrast to Tennyson's line ‘Nature, red in tooth and claw,’ which refers to the sometimes violent natural world, ‘Nature, Red in Bird and Bough, calls the viewer's attention to some of the more delightful occurrences of this beautiful color in the natural world. From red-headed woodpeckers to colorful autumn leaves and diminutive Amanita mushrooms, red surrounds us. It glows in the pale pink morning sky and vibrant sunsets. It serves as protection from bright sunshine or as a warning of inedibility. It also may attract pollinators, seed dispersers, or even mates. This show explores all of these features of the color red in nature and more.”
A total of thirteen artists from the Nature Journaling Group will display their art in the exhibit: Laura Blackman (oil), Lin Cameron (acrylic), Yolande Gottfried (ink, color pen) and Mary Davis, Margie Gallagher, Martha Lee McCarthy, Deb Partee, Mary Priestley, Andrea Sanders, Carol Stoney, Tisha Tiller, Deb Tucker, Marlene Wilkinson (watercolor).
About the Nature Journaling Group
Sewanee’s Nature Journaling Group was formed nearly 25 years ago when former Sewanee resident Jill Carpenter wrote an article about the journaling practice for the Sewanee Herbarium’s newsletter.
The Plant Press and several of her friends asked Carpenter to head up a nature journaling group. Calling themselves the Dead Plants Society, the friends met weekly at Jill’s home to work in their journals and talk about nature-related occurrences. Some drew or painted; some wrote; and all gained an appreciation for nature and for documenting and reflecting on their observations.
After several years of crowding around Carpenter’s kitchen table and drinking her coffee, the group came under the sponsorship of the Sewanee Herbarium, with Mary Priestley as the coordinator. People came and went, and presently, there are around 20 members. They meet on Thursday mornings from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., usually somewhere on the University campus. In nice weather, if they’re not on a field trip, the group enjoys gathering on the porch at Stirling’s Coffee House.
Besides meeting and working in their journals, the group hosts workshops on various topics, including drawing, journaling, natural dyes, and making altered books. They exhibit their work twice a year: a show at Stirling’s Coffee House in January and a second at Frame Gallery Gifts and Art in April, which is timed to coincide with Earth Day and the arrival of spring.
The group welcomes all newcomers. All it takes is pencil, paper, and an appetite for paying attention to and documenting happenings in the natural world that surrounds us. As member Yolande Gottfried has commented, “You never know what the treasure of a particular place is.”