Field Museum, Helianthus, 1905

Terry Evans, artist

born 1944

Field Museum, Helianthus, 1905, 2000

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: Iris print

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 55.7 x 43 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 21 15/16 x 16 15/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 60.8 x 48.2 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 23 15/16 x 19 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 32 x 24 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: R. Charles and Mary Margaret Clevenger Art Acquisition Fund

Accession number: 2012.0063

Not on display

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Images

Label texts

Big Botany: Conversations with the Plant World

In 1998, Evans began photographing herbarium sheets in the collections of the Chicago Field Museum where she encountered this dried sunflower specimen. While documenting species from Midwestern prairie ecosystems, Evans also turned to other parts of the Field Museum to record collections of insects, birds, fish, reptiles, and mammals. The project culminated in 2002 with an exhibition at the Field Museum, From Prairie to Field: Photographs by Terry Evans.

Evans was drawn to the taxonomic details of herbarium sheets as well as the method of mounting the specimens. Through her photographs, Evans asks us to consider a variety of activities—research, collection, and consumption—as well as aesthetic considerations when reflecting on our relationship with the natural world.

Exhibition Label:
"Cabinets of Curiosity: Musing About Collections," Jun-2006, Joseph Keehn and Madeline Rislow
Between 1998 and 2002, photographer Terry Evans mined the collections of the Field Museum in Chicago for her series, "Prairie Specimens." This series includes photographic images of pressed plant specimens, drawers of birds, snakes preserved in jars, insects pinned in boxes, and this swan, swaddled for safe storage for over a century. Evans's photographs invoke our response to the beauty inherent in natural forms, but further invites us to reflect on the nature of our intervention as collectors, scientists and curators.