Native Grasses
of the Apache Highlands

My journey as an artist has always been inspired by the integrity of land-based cultures. My inspiration to focus on grasses came from hearing a senior steward, rancher John Donaldson, talk about his 30 years of working to restore the land health on the Empire Ranch. While unable to see the different species he was pointing out, I could clearly hear in his story an amazing perspective of how, over time, the return of native grasses, with their deep root systems, had helped to bring back the groundwaters. Eager to learn this “language of the earth,” I combined my traditional background in painting and drawing with the modern tools of digital scanning, and began to explore grasslands and watersheds throughout the greater American west.

Each species, each character, has a story to tell about how and why it is adapted to its particular biotic niche in this challenging, arid landscape. In large format, people can encounter the grasses face to face—head to head— and discover that there is as much variation to this thing called “grass” as there is to humanity. From their beauty, we may glean lessons of resilience.

I trained for years as a classical painter—using only north light and grinding my own pigments—an archaic purist. My interest in natural science illustration, however, sparked the hybridization of my creative method. While I originally began scanning my subjects in order to better see and draw them, I found the scanned imagery so inspiring that I resolved to elevate the scan itself to an art form. While drawing communicates one reality, the scan communicates another – a direct expression of the life form, with its own intuitive message. In offering a fidelity that transcends my own hand, I am hopeful that the experience of seeing the grasses here will inspire the viewer to likewise discover them in nature.