Juniper Remix

Whew! I have been knitting up a storm but it is all holiday gift knitting that I can’t show you just in case the recipients are looking. But I also did a little Great Basin knitting in the in-between times. I wanted to play with a different colorway for the Juniper Tam I made for my residency. I like the effect of mixing the colors of the berries. I think I will show both in my upcoming exhibition this summer. More details soon about the exhibition!

San Rafael Cactus

I have been accepted in the 2017 Statewide Annual Painting and Sculpture exhibition here in Salt Lake. And my piece won honorable mention! This is Species of Concern: San Rafael Cactus and depicts a very rare and endangered species of cactus that only grows on a small strip of Utah’s San Rafael Swell. It spends most of its life underground during cold or dry seasons. Its rare appearance and diminutive size makes it easily overlooked during the few days it emerges to flower every year.

I made the sculpture out of paper yarn to emphasize its fragility. Another sculpture that was not accepted focused on the state flower Sego Lily. Here is a picture below. I have a pattern for the sego lily to be knit in wool and converted to a brooch that will be published soon. But the cactus was too improvisational to make a pattern of…maybe later I can work on the pattern.

Edited to add: I have published the pattern for the Sego Lily Brooch. You can find it on my ravelry page here. 

Juniper

My new favorite from my Great Basin inspiration mostly because of the colors. Last year the berries on the juniper almost outnumbered the needles! Juniper is one of the most abundant and widely scattered trees in Great Basin National Park. It is typically found growing among pinyon and sagebrush. They are very hearty and can live to be 650 years old. Juniper berries are the female seed cone (not a true berry) with unusually fleshy and merged scales making it look like a berry. The berries can be dried and made into beads for jewelry and are also deliciously eaten by jackrabbits, foxes, coyotes and people. This artwork was produced under the Darwin Lambert Artist in Residence Program at Great Basin National Park.

Desert Colors

The dazzling colors of September in Great Basin National Park are not only limited to the high mountain aspens. The lower sagebrush ecosystem is vibrant with colors that sing under the intense blue sky of the dry desert.

I used some reclaimed silk I had dyed with natural dyes several years ago for this project. The yarn was the same as the West Desert Hood I created years ago (see picture below). The colors truly echo the muted desert colors in the fall. This artwork was produced under the Darwin Lambert Artist in Residence Program at Great Basin National Park. 

Still Knitting Great Basin

Although my residency is over at Great Basin National Park, I have a few more pieces inspired by the park that I want to finish before I have an exhibit next year on all my inspiration. I had to go to Southern Utah to teach a workshop last weekend and took some time out to go up the canyon in Leeds and knit among the juniper. As luck would have it, I was knitting a piece inspired by juniper! This one is now my new favorite. Stay tuned for finished photos soon.

Pinyon Nuts

I missed the Pinyon nut harvest when I was in Great Basin National Park last week but I remember the work last year that was involved just to harvest a small bag. The park allows visitors to harvest pine nuts up to 25 lbs. I wanted to create something inspired by my tiny nut harvest that was maybe not as much work to knit as the nuts were to get. Hence this neck warmer of piney textures (and pine wood buttons!).

From the pattern: Gathering pinyon pine nuts is a great way to experience the fall bounty of Great Basin National Park. The single-leaf pinyon, Pinus monophylla, is an abundant tree found between 6,000 and 9,000 feet. The nuts produced by these pines have been important to Native Americans and animals for millennia. Gathering pine nuts within Great Basin National Park is allowed in the fall only and is limited to 25 lbs per household. The goal is to ensure that plenty of nuts remain for Clark's nutcrackers, pinyon jays, and ground squirrels. This artwork was produced under the Darwin Lambert Artist in Residence Program at Great Basin National Park.

Tundra Swan

I totally forgot to mention that I had another piece on display for the Lambourne Prize Exhibition with Friends of Great Salt Lake. My Tundra Swan was on display last month. Unfortunately the exhibition is over now but you can still see pictures of it above and purchase a pattern if you want to make your own here. This is one of my all-time favorite patterns.

Great Basin Astronomy Festival

Took a quick trip to Great Basin National Park on Friday and Saturday to present the artwork I am giving them at the Astronomy Festival. Despite cloud cover and below freezing temperatures there were quite a few people there! The photo above is the piece I gave: Great Basin Sky. And the one below is a pict of my Great Basin Sky piece waiting for me to give it before everyone got there.

Great Basin Sky is my favorite piece so I am happy that it has a home at the Park.

I also camped at Gray Cliffs on Friday night – 17 degrees and I was the only one there. But it was so beautiful and I got to see some of my favorite spots around the park. The scenic drive was closed because of snow above the Mather overlook but other than that, it was a good dose of nature that I sorely needed.

I am going to miss being the artist-in-residence for Great Basin NP but I am so glad I was able to be a part of this amazing park.