STORY BEHIND THE ART OF DEBORAH DION

Abundant Future: Cultivating Diversity in Garden, Farm, and Field

Foxtail millet

Setaria italica, Setaria viridis, Setaria faberi

When I read the requirements for the Fourth New York Botanical Garden Triennial exhibition “Abundant Future: Cultivating Diversity in Garden, Farm, and Field”, I thought that a millet illustration that I did two years ago might be a good example of an heirloom food crop. Identifying the exact species of foxtail millet that I illustrated turned out to be a very challenging and educational journey. I used three different species in the composition. They depict the growth cycle from a fresh green stem in the foreground to the stem in the background shedding its seeds. Foxtail millet, Setaria italica, was easy to identify. I bought it from my local florist who called it German millet, which is one of the common names of Setaria italica. I later purchased more millet, but didn’t get the species name. I found additional specimens growing wild in an abandoned lot in downtown Philadelphia and near a park in the southwest area of the city. I learned that it is very difficult to identify wild millet without microscopic analysis. After many hours of research, looking at seeds and bristles under my digital microscope and thanks to the generous help of Dr. Elizabeth Kellogg and Dr. Ruth Kaggwa of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, I was able to identify the wild species that surround S. italica in the illustration. S. italica is an heirloom food crop. The surrounding species are S. viridis and S. faberi. Both are crop wild relatives of S. italica; S. viridis being the closest in gene pool 1, S. faberi in gene pool 2. (North American Crop Wild Relatives, Vol 2 Important Species, Greene, Williams et al, Springer, 2019.)

I was very excited to learn that I had illustrated an heirloom seed and two of its crop wild relatives.

I’ve had an interest in ancient grains for a long time and was attracted to millet because of its history as a food source in parts of the world. Foxtail millet is grown as a food crop in China and India today and is believed to have been used in China for nearly 5,000 years. Millet is mentioned in the Bible (Ezekiel 4:9) as one of the ingredients for making bread. “Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof…” Foxtail millet has been grown for animal feed and birdseed in the United States since 1849.

The illustration was done on Moulin du Roy hot press 640gsm watercolor paper. I used graphite and watercolor with some gouache in the panicles.

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Read more about this artist’s work: 21st Annual