Ever Blooming: The Art of Bonnie Hall
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By Bonnie Hall
Edited by James D. Hall
Foreword by Robert Michael Pyle
2005. 9 x 9 inches. 104 pages. Full color.
ISBN 0-87071-116-4. Hardcover, $25.00.
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After a long and accomplished career in scientific illustration, Bonnie Hall turned with wonder and determination to
the art of screenprinting. Resolved to "share the privileged close scrutiny of nature" that she had enjoyed, Hall
created her first screenprint in 1992 while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. Over the next twelve years,
she created screenprints of Pacific Northwest wildflowers, ferns, and butterflies-natural history portraits in simple,
sharp-edged planes of brilliant color. Inspired by old botanical prints and motivated by a desire to draw attention
to "the overlooked, undervalued, or threatened wild things native to our Pacific Northwest landscape," Hall produced
scientifically accurate prints that revealed the personality, life stages, and the very essence of her subjects-what
a fellow artist aptly called the "gesture" of each plant.
Ever Blooming collects the thirty-three large serigraphs and five smaller ferns that Hall created in the last years of
her life, along with the artist's own text describing each plant and butterfly. Her narratives are rich in detail and
informed by thorough study into plant distribution, life histories, use by Native Americans, taxonomic discoveries, and
conservation issues. Taken as a whole, the work is a sparkling confluence of science and art.
For botanists, wildflower enthusiasts, gardeners, and artists, as well as anyone who loves the Pacific Northwest
wilderness,
Ever Blooming offers a singular glimpse of the natural world as seen through the eyes of a gifted and
inspired artist.
"Bonnie Hall and her exquisite art created one of the loveliest gardens ever grown of our region's floral
treasures. From violets to shooting stars, fritillarias to ferns, and a bursting bouquet of irises, Bonnie captured
the color, form, and personality of Northwest flowers with the simplicity of Henry Evans and the exuberance of a Dutch
Master's still life. As a beautiful bonus, splendid portraits of five special Northwest butterflies linger among the
wildflowers they love. Bonnie Hall's wildflowers are her great gift to us all-long may they bloom!"
-Robert Michael Pyle
About the Author
A native Oregonian, Bonnie Hall (1931-2004) was a graduate of the University of Oregon and the University of California,
Berkeley. She began her career as a scientific illustrator at the University of Michigan Museum, later joining the
Department of Entomology at Oregon State University, where she worked for thirty years. She and Jim Hall, now Professor
Emeritus of Fisheries at Oregon State University, were married for forty-eight years.
Robert Michael Pyle is a noted naturalist and the author of many books, including
Butterflies of Cascadia, Chasing
Monarchs, and
Wintergreen, winner of the John Burroughs Medal for Natural History Writing. He lives in Gray's River,
Washington.
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