Gene Bauer: The Golden Natives 1972-1974 October 1, 2011

From 1972 to 1974 Gene Bauer, an artist, teacher and gardener, created a remarkable series of screen-printed booklets on California native plants. As the first Chairman of California Native Flora for the California Garden Clubs, Inc., she launched this project to educate and stimulate an interest in native plants among the club's membership. Ultimately, she created 27 unique booklets – 27 native plants profiled in total. Thirty nine years later, these booklets are being recognized for their creativity.
The Theodore Payne Art Gallery will host “Gene Bauer: The Golden Natives 1972-1974.” a three-month long exhibition of her work beginning October 1. A reception and book signing with Ms. Bauer will take place Saturday, October 8, 2011, 2:30pm to 4:30pm during the foundation’s annual Plant Sale and Fall Festival.
“The complexity and artistic quality of Gene Bauer's work cannot be overstated,” said Pamela Burgess, board member of the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants and the Theodore Payne Arts Council. “When you consider that it was created by hand without the advantage of today's technology, it makes you appreciate her work all the more.”
The exhibition will display the booklets themselves, enabling visitors to see the different parts that make up each booklet – a cover with a serigraph of the plant printed on heavy, often colored paper, a tissue paper insert printed with a slightly different version of the cover serigraph, a written description with scientific and folkloric information, as well as a map showing where the plant grows. Even the envelopes the booklets were sent in were designed, coordinating with the stamp.
In 2010, ESRI Press published Botanical Serigraphs: The Gene Bauer Collection, which contained all of Bauer’s serigraphs in book form.

Official Website: http://www.theodorepayne.org/calendar.html