Object Details
- Artist
- Helen Hornberger
- Description
- Artist, Helen Hornberger, revived the techniques of French tole to create naturalistic representations of the state flowers. The artist used thin copper sheets as her base, and painted them with oil paint in the natural colors of the blossoms and leaves of the Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentate or trifida). Three separate stalks of tiny yellow flowers and thin, lobed leaves combine at a single stem which continues to layer leaves to about the midpoint. The artist signed the stem about halfway down.
- Label Text
- The Congress of Representative Women at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago proposed that each U.S. state and territory select a flower to represent their state in the “National Garland of Flowers.” This resulted in the National Floral Emblem Society. Each state has adopted to represent the state and its people based on their importance to the state’s history, economy, folklore, or native varieties. Tole artist Helen Hornberger created each artificial flower representing each state to create for a bouquet displaying America’s floral diversity.
- NEVADA: Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentate or trifida) was designated the official state flower of Nevada in 1917. This was an obvious choice for the state with the nickname "The Sagebrush State." Sagebrush is also seen on the Nevada state flag and the Nevada state quarter. The Nevada state flower grows on an aromatic, woody shrub also called Big Sagebrush, Common Sagebrush, Blue Sagebrush, or Black Sagebrush. Sagebrush bushes grow up to 12 feet, averaging 3-6 feet in height. They are coarse, hardy, silvery gray-green bushes that may be both deciduous and evergreen. Sagebrush is strongly scented and is especially pungent when wet. The Sagebrush flowers in small, yellow and white blossoms that are loosely spread out along the tips of its branches. They bloom from late summer into fall, bringing welcome color to the region. Sagebrush was a useful plant to the Native Americans. The leaves were used for medicine, and the bark was used for weaving mats. It is also an important winter food source for wildlife, sheep, and cattle because it keeps its leaves all year round. However, Sagebrush is not to be confused with the common Sage. The Nevada state flower’s taste is bitter and unpleasant. Even the animals wait to eat it until there are no alternatives. Sagebrush flourishes throughout the deserts and rangelands of the western United States, and is known for growing in areas where other plants cannot. It is so abundant in some areas of Nevada that it contributed to the adoption of chaps as daily working wear by cowboys to protect their legs while they had to pick their way through the densely growing brush on cattle drives.
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian Gardens, Horticultural Artifacts Collection. Gift of Helen Hornberger.
- 1980
- Accession number
- 1980.038.037
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Artificial flowers and trees
- Medium
- Copper, oil paint
- Dimensions
- Overall: 15 in. (38.1 cm)
- Stem: 8 in. (20.3 cm)
- Flower: 7 in. (17.8 cm)
- Origin
- United States
- See more items in
- Horticultural Artifacts Collection
- Smithsonian Gardens
- Topic
- copper
- tôle
- Artificial flowers
- crafts
- emblems (symbols)
- flowers (plants)
- Nevada
- Record ID
- hac_1980.038.037
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/aq4631b109e-4b8a-447b-b451-b4dacdce9eb5
