Frame Gallery Gifts and Art hosts an opening reception for its Sixth Annual Nature Journaling Group art exhibition, Sewanee Purple Through the Year, on Friday, March 27, from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. Inspiration for the show came from the 2025 discovery of a new plant species, Phacelia sewaneensis, a purple scorpionweed that blooms in Sewanee’s Shakerag Hollow each spring.
Director of the Sewanee Herbarium and University of the South Biology Professor, Dr. Jonathan Evans, will give a special presentation about his research team’s discovery of Phacelia sewaneensis at 5:15 p.m. Evans says their discovery “underscores the incredible diversity right here at Sewanee on the southern Cumberland Plateau.”
Artist and head of the Nature Journaling Group, Mary Priestley says, “the plant had literally been hiding in plain sight for as long as people have visited Shakerag Hollow to admire the spring wildflowers. Many have commented on the scorpionweed's two distinct colors — purple and blue.”
Curious about the difference in Phacelia flower colors, Dr. Evans and his research team studied the differences in the plants’ habitat preferences, blooming times, and — most importantly — distinct genetic profiles to confirm that this purple-flowered scorpionweed variation was, in fact, a new species.
“For years, people thought there was only one species of Phacelia in Shakerag Hollow,” the blue-colored Phacelia bipinnatifida, explains Dr. Evans. “But thanks to detailed ecological and genetic research over the last four years, we’ve confirmed that the purple-flowered variety is actually a separate species.”
The common name of Phacelia sewaneensis is Sewanee Scorpionweed, because of the plant’s location and its early purple flower cluster, tightly coiled like a scorpion's tail. Admirers of the plant should know that, despite its name, it does not sting.
The Sewanee Purple Through the Years exhibition features Priestley’s original watercolor drawing of Phacelia sewaneensis, along with works by the Nature Journaling Group that explore the purple hues of spring—larkspur, hepatica, violets, and other blooms—found across the Sewanee Domain. The other artist-members in the exhibit include: Laura Blackman (oil), Lin Cameron (oil and acrylic), Mary Davis (watercolor), Margie Gallagher (watercolor), Joni Gordon (watercolor), Yolanda Gottfried (watercolor), Deb Partee (watercolor), Mary Priestley (watercolor), and Deb Tucker (watercolor).
Frame Gallery owner Harriet Runkle intentionally plans Frame Gallery’s annual Nature Journaling Group exhibition, now in its sixth year, to coincide with the Trails & Trilliums Festival in Beersheba Springs on April 10-12 and Earth Day on April 22, 2026. The Sewanee Purple Through the Years art exhibit will remain open to the public through April 25, 2026.
Runkle says, “I am thrilled that this beautiful, newly discovered wildflower on our Plateau inspired the exhibit and that its artistic representation will be on display while Professor Evans gives a presentation of his research team’s findings at the reception on March 27.”
Prints of Priestley’s Phacelia sewaneensis will also be available for purchase, in addition to other artists’ original works and prints.
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 nature journaling for the Sewanee Herbarium’s newsletter, The Plant Press. Afterwards, several 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 discuss 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.
In addition to meeting and working in their journals, the group hosts workshops on topics such as 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 a pencil, paper, and an appetite for paying attention to and documenting happenings in the natural world that surrounds us. As member Yolande Gottfried has said, “You never know what the treasure of a particular place is.”
About Dr. Jonathan Evans and the Sewanee Herbarium
University of the South Biology Professor Jonathan Evans directs the Sewanee Herbarium, which “contains a collection of over 9,000 plant specimens and serves as a center for the study of plant diversity on the Cumberland Plateau. The Herbarium has catalogued 1,120 species of vascular plants on Sewanee's 13,000-acre campus [known as the Domain] as part of the Domain Flora project.”