Holiday Gifting, Native Plant Style
Looking for holiday gifts for the native plant or wild Florida enthusiasts in your life? Cuplet Fern has gathered a few recommendations of local artists with work you can support.
Kim Heise
From the artist: “I paint relationships between Florida native plants and animals through watercolor, as realistically as possible, but not without some colorful watercolor washes here and there! My work is a celebration of the beauty of Florida species.
Florida's natural landscape is one of the most beautiful towering pine forests, rolling grasslands and cool swamps at the mercy of runaway urban sprawl. Seeing this biodiversity destroyed at an alarming rate prompts me to conserve through art what I can't save from bulldozers. I hope that by bringing these stories to light they might be better protected.”
Kate Dolamore
About Kate: “Kate Dolamore is a self taught artist who grew up in the woods of Central Florida, homeschooled, spending her time creating art and exploring outside. Her main inspiration has always been nature, and in 2010 she started doing the field guide paintings in order to become better at identifying birds. This collection of paintings has since gone far beyond birds and continues to grow. She creates watercolor paintings using tiny paintbrushes for fine details and careful research for accuracy, albeit giving the animals a friendly smile and a twinkle to their eye.
Kate's hope is that bringing her art into your home can enhance your experience of nature!”
Rose Trellis Boutique
The Rose Trellis Boutique is a mother and daughter team from the Titusville area that makes beautiful art pieces from native flora and can even help you preserve your wedding bouquet.
The owners say, “All native flowers used in my jewelry and art are sustainably sourced from private land and my native home landscaping located in Central Florida.”
Kevin Shea Songer
About the artist: “Florida Nature Artist. Kevin Shea Songer, Florida wildflower and nature lover and aortic dissection survivor (Marfan Syndrome) works with a variety of media, including; wood, canvas, metal, fire, oils & acrylics. His favorite genre include; monotype & linocut, mixed media & digital graphics, and wood torch & metal etching. Kevin spends much of his life hiking into and studying nature's ecosystems, from the ocean dunes to the Everglades, Fakahatchee Strand, Ocala National Forest to Northwest Florida's pitcher plant bogs. His representation of wildflower's and native flora and fauna bridge the gap between realism and abstraction, botany and spiritualism. Kevin especially appreciates the art of nature mandala.”
Ivanna Knox
About the artist: “I started Pufferfish Print Shop to combine my two great loves - art and science! I love using my art as a means to spread conservation awareness to vulnerable species and the issues surrounding them. I have worked in wildlife research for the last 3 years and will be attending graduate school for environmental science! I am using this shop to help fund my education while having a blast carving all sorts of critters!”
Claire Radigan
About the artist: “I’ve lived and studied Art near Washington D.C, and in Richmond Va., and San Francisco Ca. In San Francisco I was a curator and board member of a non-profit alternative art space known as A.R.E. This was at a time when “alternative” often meant a strong dissent among the art disciplines, particularly performance art and visual art. I staunchly defended-and still do-the importance of artistic expression in all media.
After moving to Florida 25 years ago, I soon began teaching art at Daytona Beach Community College, where I worked for 9 ½ years, while raising my family. Within a few years I also became a teacher for Volusia county Schools. I began the current phase of my artistic production in 2010, and renewed exhibiting my work. All of the work in my current portfolio is from 2010-2019. I retired at the end of 2017 in order to produce art full-time. “
Polly’s Studio
About the artist: “A lifetime of artmaking in many media has led me to handprinted woodblocks. This is a relief printing process, similar to linoleum block printing or stamping. I enjoy carving the block, rolling the ink and seeing the image emerge. The texture of ink and wood, the graphic qualities of the images, and the overlapping layers make this process a delight. Recently I've been creating collages made from my own prints. Textures, patterns, human figures and animals are cut, snipped and pasted together to create one-of-a-kind mixed media work"
Hid-N-Tangles by Michelle Barker
Her intricately detailed drawings feature landmark and spotlight key features hidden each design.
Kara Driscoll
Represent FNPS through the work of local artist Kara Driscoll: “The State-Threatened Pine Lily (Lilium catesbaei) is one of our largest and most charismatic wildflowers. Represent the Florida Native Plant Society with this tee and art by Naples Chapter member and milkweed researcher Kara Driscoll!”
Veronica Steiner
Many of Veronica Steiner’s pieces feature our crucial Florida wildlife as subjects juxtaposed with our amazing native plants, *and* have a portion of proceeds donated directly to Conservation Florida from Freehand Goods by the artist! It’s a win win supporting a talented artist and giving back to the environment at the same time.
About the artist: “I'm Veronica, a Florida born and raised painter and illustrator. Watercolor, acrylic, oil, basically anything that will hold still long enough, I'll paint! My passion is for animals that aren't typically seen as beautiful.”