Lecture: “Natural Flows: A History of Nature and Water in Iowa”

Don't miss Cornelia F. Mutel's lecture: “Natural Flows: A History of Nature and Water in Iowa” on Tuesday, October 26 at 11:00 AM at the Kirkwood College - Iowa City Campus in the Main building, Commons Area.

Cornelia F. Mutel is the editor of A Watershed Year: Anatomy of the Iowa Floods of 2008.

An Interview with George Olson: Part 1

How long have you been illustrating prairie plants? What other subjects do you focus on?
I started using prairie plants as subjects in the early 1980s after about a decade of drawing houseplants, garden flowers, woodland wildflowers, and weeds. My interest in native grasses and prairie plants was greatly enhanced by a one-day tour conducted by a local naturalist in about 1982. At the same time, I was becoming more aware of other artists at home and abroad who were illustrating the native plants in their immediate area. Prairie plants have held my attention because I am always discovering new subjects as I travel around the Midwest, and each plant subject is a rich collection of folk tales, colorful common names, practical uses (including food and medicine), and literary associations. My nonprairie subjects have been limited to covers and illustrations for books and calendars. In 2004, I did a series of medieval plants for Paul Christianson’s The Riverside Gardens of Thomas More’s London.

What has changed in the outdoor world since your first days of illustrating these plants? What’s better, what’s worse?
There is good news and bad news. The good news is that many new prairies have been established (or restored) during the past 40 years by corporations, universities, botanical gardens, government agencies, and parks. It is much easier to find prairie plants now than it was 40 years ago, although these small parcels are no substitute for the original tallgrass prairie that covered millions of acres. The bad news is that many small remnants of original tallgrass prairie are being paved over, plowed up, or otherwise destroyed as cities and farm fields expand and roadways are widened.

PLATE 5. OHIO SPIDERWORT, Tradescantia ohiensis
Source of specimen: Roadbank near Hickory Barrens
Spiderwort, with its delicate blue or purple flowers and its long sickle-like leaves, has been a dependable and fascinating subject since my earliest attempts at rendering it in pencil. The name Tradescantia is especially meaningful to Pat and me because of our long association with the Museum of Garden History in London. The museum occupies a former Anglican church, complete with a church yard where both of the Tradescants, father and son, are buried. The church is located in Lambeth, which was also the site of the Tradescants’ garden and museum.

PLATE 7. COMPASS PLANT, Silphium laciniatum
Source of specimen: Munson Township Cemetery
One of the most eloquent statements of all time about the compass plant is the short passage entitled “Prairie Birthday” in Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac. Leopold describes a single ancient specimen growing in the angle of a cemetery fence along a Wisconsin highway. Alas, on a fateful summer day the fence is removed, and the compass plant is cut down by a highway maintenance crew. Leopold compares this vandalism to burning a massive history book, although he doubts that the departed plant will be missed by the 100,000 people who hurry past the cemetery every summer.

PLATE 11. BLACKBERRY, Rubus allegheniensis
Source of specimen: Bishop Hill Timber
There are at least two attributes of Rubus that artists find attractive. One is the random (almost chaotic) position of the individual branches and twigs (compared to a very rigid form such as a tulip or an iris). This makes the composition on the paper much more flexible and open to endless variations. The other is the subtle “bloom” on winter brambles, which lends a bit of pale blue color to the stark winter landscape and to the resultant watercolors.

—George Olson, The Elemental Prairie: Sixty Tallgrass Plants

Come See the Scarths!

Don't miss Robert and Linda Scarth's presentation on Deep Nature: Photographs from Iowa at the Toledo Public Library in Toledo, Iowa on Thursday, October 21 at 6:00 PM.

206 East High St
Toledo IA 52342

This Week in Iowa Nature

Turtles begin to hibernate in soft mud; snakes retreat to dens in burrows and rock crevices and under logs.

Jean C. Prior and James Sandrock, The Iowa Nature Calendar

Plant of the Week

Yellow flax

Linum sulcatum Riddell

other common names: grooved flax

Linum: the classical name for this well-known genus, which includes the species known in ancient times for supplying the fibers for making linen

Sulcatum: meaning “furrowed,” from the conspicuous ridges or grooves of the stem

Flax family: Linaceae

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition

An Interview with Thomas Rosburg: Part 2

What advice would you give to younger nature photographers? What are the particular challenges of being a botanical photographer?
I teach nature photography at Drake and Lakeside Lab, so there is a lot I could say. In short, I stress 3 components that make an image aesthetic – 1) understand your equipment and how it works, what to use when, correct exposure is critical; 2) understand the role of content in an image, especially elements of design and light quality; and 3) understand the key features of composition, for example, depth of field, perspective, and viewpoint.

Plants are very accessible, but photographing them can be challenging due to bad light and wind. There are several ways of dealing with these problems with the use of accessory equipment. Or quite often, getting out in the field early in the day can make the difference. There is a lot of truth to the saying “the early photographer gets the image.”

What are your favorite natural areas in Iowa and the Midwest? What areas do you return to constantly, and what’s your favorite newly visited area?
The state preserves are generally my favorite areas because they offer the best examples of our native ecosystems. These are the places that provide the best opportunities for plants and landscapes. On a larger scale, both the Loess Hills and Paleozoic Plateau landforms offer exceptional opportunities for nature photography.

Areas close to home are the places I return to repeatedly – Ledges State Park and Doolittle Prairie State Preserve are good examples. A newly visited area that has a lot of promise is Whiterock Conservancy in Guthrie County.

Thomas Rosburg, photographer, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie

Dickcissel - Art by Claudia McGehee

Dickcissel, Spiza americana

This colorful bird, which looks like a miniature meadowlark, sings a song that sounds like its name, “Dick-dick-cissel."

Come see Claudia next week at the Iowa Author Fair in Coralville, Iowa!
Date: Wednesday, October 13
Time: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Location: Meeting rooms of the Coralville Public Library

Claudia McGehee, A Tallgrass Prairie Alphabet