STORY BEHIND THE ART OF AISLINN ADAMS

25th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and Wave Hill

After the burn - Sword fern

Polystichum minimum

This piece came as a very personal response to the devastating wildfires in 2020 that swept through the Santiam Canyon in the Oregon Cascades.

On my first visit back to the area a few weeks after the fire, I found a withered frond. Looking at the charred black tree-stumps at the entrance to one of my favorite hikes, I felt a terrible loss and deep sadness. I found myself apologizing to the plants for what we humans had caused, for what we are doing wrong. I had to find a way to bear witness to what had happened. Carefully I picked up the brittle frond of a sword fern that was withered by the intense heat of the fire, and I brought it home.

Under my studio lights, the curving, twisted frond shape danced, casting smoke-like shadows, seeming to insist that I remember what happened. I knew that my artwork had to be drawn in graphite; simple, monochromatic, unadorned. Usually I don’t include shadows in my botanical art, but I knew I had to this time.

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