2024 Native Plant Relationships - Donna Miskend - American Society of Botanical Artists

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Native Plant Relationships

Donna Miskend

Esther Plotnik Artist Grant Award 2024

Many plants have a unique relationship with animals, ensuring the survival of both. Pressures such as climate change, use of pesticides, and fractured landscapes due to development have imperiled that survival. The goal for my project was to educate the public about botanical illustration, and conservation issues through workshops with a varied population to inspire stewardship through art.

I chose venues vital to the community serving children and adults that have been affected by budget cuts in New York City. And it was important to me to reach a range of ages. While the kids are the future stewards and champions of environmental conservation, adults have voting agency to affect changes in policies today. Together they can move the conversation towards greater advocacy.

The Workshops

Intergenerational workshop – this was held at a Self Help Community Center serving older adults, with teens invited from Sunnyside Community Services. The adults loved working with the kids. All the workshops began with an introduction to historical botanical illustration. Examples were drawn from commissions of plant collections for regal courts, plants documented for medicinal identification, to joining collection expeditions, working with researchers, and bringing attention to conservation issues. I also discussed the acceptance of new mediums including digital art used in textile, publishing and advertising industries to explain how diverse the field can be for artists.

In addition to the class time where I demonstrated techniques, I reviewed how to start a nature journal in anticipation of a trip to Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. I had the adults download SEEK, an app by iNaturalist designed for kids to help with identification of plants and animals, that the adults and kids could use together. Due to unsettled weather, we were forced to leave sooner than planned with darkening skies and rain. When I exited my subway station, the stairs were a river! Despite this challenge, my students rose to the occasion and managed to achieve productive results in their journals.

We had an exhibit at the community center. When the kids arrived, their faces lit up, excited to see their work on display. The adults marveled at how each artist approached painting the same subject.

Intergenerational program

Student’s nature journal page from botanical garden trip Obedient Plant, (Physostegia virginiana )

Teens through adults workshop – held at Prospect Park Alliance this venue offered an indoor space to work, with live animals on display, and the park itself for field study. Their native plant garden had few things in bloom for June, far fewer plants than I had hoped for. This was another sign of how climate change has altered bloom synchronization, negatively impacting the relationships between plants and animals.

I pointed out the Eastern Red Columbine on the grounds, and other native plants to my students. I also explained why some weeds like dandelions, although non-native, are important as a food source for pollinators and Canada Geese in early spring when our natives are absent or haven’t yet bloomed.

Participants said they began to look at the plants differently because of this class. On our last day I gave examples of stories they could tell about plants through their art, and how their journals would provide ideas for projects going forward. Most importantly, I encouraged them to be curious!

student work, Eastern Red Columbine, (Aquilegia canadensis)

student work, Common Dandelion, (Taraxacum officinale)

Children ages 7-12 workshop – at the Brooklyn Public Library Sunset Park branch I used animals as the gateway into the theme. We talked about milkweed as the only plant used for the eggs and emerging caterpillars of Monarch butterflies; and that due to habitat loss and pesticides the population has dropped to the point Monarchs are in danger of disappearing.

I brought plants to draw from life, and leaves of the native trees that line the streets in the city, to teach them how to measure specimens for their paintings. They learned to appreciate the life cycle of plants with the purple coneflower as an example. They understood that leaving the plant after the flower petals have gone is important, because the seeds appear and provide food for chipmunks and birds in the fall when there are fewer resources. I gave them handouts using my photos of animals and plants with the scientific names and explained why we use them. Some of the kids decided to add them to their paintings.

At the public exhibit reception, the families were filled with pride and interest as these new artists explained their work. As part of their goody bag of supplies to take home, they received organic native seeds to our region they could plant to help the animals, and postcards of their work with event details on the back as a keepsake.

painting with scientific names Obedient Plant and Rufus Hummingbird (Physostegia virginiana, Selasphorus rufus)

painting with Purple Coneflower and Eastern Chipmunk, (Echinacea

purpurea, Tamias striatus)

Adult workshop – this was held at the Brooklyn Public Library Bay Ridge branch. Participants learned how light affects the form, and that close observation of leaf margins is important for identification of the difference between one species and another. I discussed the challenge I encountered in purchasing native plants to use for the class because as one vendor said, “they’re not as profitable”. I suggested that as consumers we, the adults, can make a difference just as we succeeded in increasing the availability of organic vegetables, by requesting native plants be available in the stores. More importantly, we can ask that the vendors offer organic plants free from pesticides and fungicides. I explained that studies have proved those chemicals are taken up by the plant tissue and expressed in nectar and pollen, harming the pollinators we want to support.

student work, Pussy willow and Giant Leopard Moth, (Salix discolor, Hypercompe scribonia)

Outcomes

Despite the uncertainties and challenges of date changes at venues, and effects of climate change on the weather with storms and multiple heatwaves impacting outside activities, the programs were a success. I often hear from participants in my classes of an “aha moment” when they realize our cities are filled with nature they didn’t pay attention to before. They explained that they noticed plants not only in more detail, but became more aware of the important role they play in supporting animals, along with the impacts plants have on us. Participants also realized, that we can do small things to support our city's nature that have a great impact on the health of the plants, animals and ourselves by encouraging the use of native plants.

The Grant funds allowed me to provide each student with good quality materials – journals, paints, brushes and pencils – which they could continue to use in their journey of documenting the natural world around them. This was a gift which students really appreciated.

The outreach programs funded by the grant served to introduce the public to botanical illustration’s relevance as an art form that also embraces science. And at a time when science is discounted and the environment is most under threat, I recalled that, “Little drops of water and little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land” (attributed to Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney). Small efforts can make a great difference. As a result of these workshops, I was delighted when one of the venues suggested that they would like me to run further similar workshops in the new year.

With a note of appreciation to the ASBA Grants Committee and Sharon Field for propping me up during challenging moments, it has been a satisfying journey which has allowed me to make a difference in a small way. And now I’m excited to be able to start creating a new portfolio of work based on the theme from this project, “Native Plant Relationships” to use for future outreach and advocacy. Thank you to ASBA for the opportunity to reach a wider audience and for supporting my work.