"Flor
de Mayo" Watercolors
"Cucurbit Harvest with Tohono O'odham Ha:l"
Burgess
volunteers time with Tucson-based Native Seeds/SEARCH, and a favorite theme of
her art is Native farmers and conservation of ancient endangered crops. A gardener
herself, he is inspired by sculptural forms and colors of these rare plants, and
her paintings capture moments of botanical, geological, and architectural beauty.
Close friends know her by the nickname "Muffin" and others by her nom
de plume "Flor de Mayo".
"A favorite subject for
my paintings is ancient heirloom cultivars of the Southwest. For many years I
have been multiplying out seeds of endangered SW crops for the seed conservation
organization Native Seeds/SEARCH. In some cases there may only be a handful of
these precious seeds available, passed down by Native American families or pioneer
families from one generation to the next and given to Native Seeds/SEARCH for
safekeeping. Seed banking cannot work forever for living things so we grow out
the seeds to keep the irreplaceable genetic material alive and well, and to have
seed to share with other gardeners via the Native Seeds/SEARCH catalog."
NS/S
heirloom Apache Red Corn, traditionally grown
in theirhigh desert hoemlands,
can range in color from
deep purple through red and rose.
"When
I grow out these incredibly venerable vegetables (corn, beans, squash, chiles,
melons, etc.) I am always struck by their beauty, their desert survival, and their
role in the life of ancient desert people. I feel such overwhelming honor for
the plants and for the people who selected them and grew them over the centuries
here in the Southwest. Their beauty and nutrition are so transient that I've been
driven to express my respect by painting them at harvest, somehow capturing a
reminder of their importance in the past and their continued potential for the
future of desert agriculture and horticulture. I hope that the heirlooms in my
artwork can be a pleasurable eye-opener for Arboretum visitors sharing a love
of desert plants."
"Another area of interest to me is special geological landscapes, landmarks, and arches. Such places draw me to them and encourage me to express myself in painting."
"Art
Deco Mariposa Lily"— a rare treat to encounter
a desert Mariposa
lily! Only in springs after perfect
winter rains are the bulbs of Calochortus
kennedyi
triggered to send up sinnuous leaves
and butterly-vivid petals
"Carrying
my love of desert plants into a more practical realm,
I have created two herbal
bath soaps, one made with heirloom lemon basil and the other with wild desert
lavender, both using jojoba oil as a gift from the desert. I also produce refreshing
hydrosol sprays of several different aromatic desert plants. These sprays are
refreshing nutritive tonics for the skin--another way to rejoice in the diverse
attributes of our desert flora. To me the fragrances elicit an almost artistic
visual effect!
"Where Eagles Soar"
Lower
Canyon of the Dolores River
Martha
now has 30 of her historical SW architecture, SW landscape, Native heirloom food,
and Native floral images as notecards and as matted mini-prints, available via
her email (MarthaAB@aol.com) or phone (520.907.9471), or at special shops
throughout the Southwest: Arizona Inn Gift Shop, Tucson Museum of Art, Tohono
Chul Park Museum Shop, Tucson; AZ Metamorphosis Gallery, Patagonia, AZ; Overlook
Gallery, Moab, UT; Edge of the Cedars Museum, Blanding UT; Free Range Gifts, Norwood
CO; and Cimarron Books, Ridgway CO.
All works © 2003 Flor de Mayo (520) 907-9471