Garden Blues is the last artwork I completed in 2024. It is very different from my other artworks and the process for making it was also different than what I usually do. I used raw-edge and hand-appliqué with some piecing.

This piece represents flora and fish that have some blue hue in them and/or they are threatened or on the endangered list. I researched online to find images and information about these. Because of the environmental content of the piece, I wanted to use as many found fabrics as I could. Included are fabrics from a shirt, skirt, table linen, velvet, found shibori fabric and a sheet. I also used some of my hand-dyed fabrics and scraps of commercial fabric, as well as buttons.

I don’t usually create artwork for a specific theme, but this one I made to submit to an exhibition with the theme of “blue.” I started by drawing sketches and collecting blue fabrics. I was excited to find a shibori fabric at our local ReUse market, which I ended up fashioning as the border for the artwork.

Endangered and Threatened

Five species are represented in Garden Blues. The first is the Fender’s Blue Butterfly. It is found in Oregon and was listed as endangered in 2000. I used hand-stitching to represent its fuzzy body and black and white antennae.

Kearney’s Bluestar flower (Amsonia Kearneyana) is found in Arizona and has been on the endangered list since 1989. I used paint on the fabric to help create dimension.

Next is Pale Blue-Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium Ballum). It is a flowering grass which is found in Washington and Oregon and was petitioned to be listed as endangered in 2007 by Wild Earth Guardians. I used hand-stitching and buttons to help accentuate the flowers.

Then, there is the Aleutian Shield Fern which is not blue-hued like the others. Polystichum Aleuticum is found only on Adak Island in Alaska and was listed as endangered in 1988.

Last, but not least, is the Devil’s Hole Pupfish. It is found only in Devil’s Hole in Nevada, has been endangered since 1967 and listed as critically endangered in 2014. It is unique in that the males are an iridescent blue and they live only in the Devil’s Hole water which is a constant 91 degrees Fahrenheit temperature and has low oxygen levels. The body of the fish is made with velvet and hand appliquéd on. I used hand-stitching to help define the fish.

Garden Blues was not accepted into the juried exhibition in which I entered it. But I hope to show it elsewhere.

This artwork was a challenge to make, just like it is a challenge to save these species. With all the recent cuts to environmental programs, national parks personnel, funding and research, I might have to make more artwork like this. Species that are already endangered are currently in more peril and many more will be, too, if we don’t seriously address climate change immediately (which the current US administration has no interest in doing, unfortunately.)