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Sunday, December 21, 2014

it takes a forest

In winter, cold dim days are slight punctuation for long nights; things in the forest are at rest.

Some twelve thousand years ago a cool damp clime held the northern Great Plains in a richly speciated tapestry of Spruce trees (Picea glauca), Twinflower (Linnaea borealis), Stair-step moss (Hylocomium spendens) and the like. Today, while most of that Spruce forest has retreated to more northern latitudes, certain elevations along with often steeply pitched and northerly aspects create the cool dampness that allows the great boreal spruce forest to linger here in the Black Hills of western South Dakota as a refugium.

 

 
In winter, these special spots hold a little more snow, a little more cold, and the promise of something amazing. It is the Fairy slipper orchid, Calypso bulbosa.  Over the winter and early spring only a single ragged leaf sprung the summer before is evidence of the magic to come.  In late May and early June, an energetic shoot bursts forth past the weathered leaf, erupting into a charming purply-pink gem.  Tiny stripes of red and white decorate its throat in celebration of a brief time in a dark forest.
 
 
In winter, these special spots hold a little more snow, a little more cold, and the promise of something amazing. It is the Fairy slipper orchid, Calypso bulbosa.  Over the winter and early spring only a single ragged leaf sprung the summer before is evidence of the magic to come.  In late May and early June, an energetic shoot bursts forth past the weathered leaf, erupting into a charming purply-pink gem.  Tiny stripes of red and white decorate its throat in celebration of a brief time in a dark forest.
 
 
The name ‘Calypso’ comes from the Greek word meaning ‘concealment’ a reference to the sheltered and somewhat hidden areas where they grow.  ‘Bulbosa’ refers to the tiny bulb-like corm from which it grows. 
 
As with all wild orchids, transplanting should never be attempted.

~ Mary
 
Calypso bulbosa

From my series of Native Orchids of the Black Hills – this is an original relief print ~ 6” x 11” ~ printed from multiple hand-cut linoleum blocks, and signed as a numbered edition of 100.  Made using archival ink on Okawara MM neutral pH paper and printed on a Whelan Pro Press at Green Ink Gallery & Studios in the Black Hills near Nemo, South Dakota.

Artist and amateur botanist, Mary Wipf lives and works in the Black Hills of South Dakota creating drawings, collages, fine marbled papers and silks, and original prints.

All materials and pigments used meet the highest archival standards.

Green Ink Gallery & Studios • happily by appointment
.Mary Wipf & Mark Zimmerman – artists:
paintings, drawings, original prints, and fine marbled silks & papers

Vies more posts from the orchid series...

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Bear Butte - Autumn Evening

Bear Butte – Autumn Evening
acrylic on board  ~  36" x 66"  ~  private collection
A great slumbering beast, a Dreamtime colossus, lifts from the heart of the land and sprawls out across amber Plains. Stony skin of the slopes aglow, ethers streaming radiant above, the mountain’s powers pulse bare and plain; its sunset incarnation whispers, stilling the soul. Bear Butte is a force. 


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All materials and pigments used meet the highest archival standards.

Green Ink Gallery & Studios ~ by appointment
605 342-2552 ~ www.greeninkgalleryandstudios.com
Mary Wipf & Mark Zimmerman - artists:

paintings, drawings, original prints, and fine marbled silks & papers