Native Grasses of the Apache Highlands

Essig combined her background in classical painting and drawing —using only north light and grinding her own pigments— with the modern tools of digital scanning, and began to explore grasslands and watersheds throughout the greater American west.

Each species, each character, has a story to tell about how and why it is adapted to its particular biotic niche in this challenging, arid landscape. In large format, the grasses are encountered face to face—head to head— and discover that there is as much variation to this thing called “grass” as there is to humanity. From their beauty, we may glean lessons of resilience.

"In offering a fidelity that transcends my own hand, I am hopeful that the experience of seeing the grasses here, in art, will inspire the viewer to likewise discover them in nature." Matilda Essig