Translating nature into art
Seaside artist, forager and teacher Dorota Haber-Lehigh shares the
beauty of botanical drawings and the wonder of native plants
D
Dorota Haber-Lehigh is fascinated by
SOants 6Seci¿ caOOy natiYe SOants seeing
how they grow and change through the sea-
sons; identifying different species; learning
which are edible which are Pedicinal and
which are poisonous.
$nd especially drawing theP.
Whether she’s hiking a trail or biking
around 6easide Haber-Lehigh carries her
sketchbook. With a PeditatiYe detailed eye
she follows the lines of a plant translating it
froP real world obMect to beautiful botanical
drawing.
“When you start looking at plants and at
the diYersity of shapes and colors and pat-
terns in nature it’s Must so fascinating´ she
says. “, loYe botanical art because , like the
structure of plants. And looking at it really
closely you kind of get lost in it.´
Photos by Joshua Bessex
A botanical artwork typically consists of
a close-up portrait of a plant on a white back- Dorota Haber-Lehigh shares her love of native plants and art
ground soPetiPes showing different stages by teaching botanical drawing classes on the North Coast.
of growth side by side sprouting seedling
À owering fruiting and withering. While where she’s taught 6panish (nglish as a sec-
soPe Pay consider botanical drawings to ond language art and other classes at Broad-
be illustrations or a scienti¿ c replication way Middle School and Seaside High School
Haber-Lehigh disagrees.
for 17 years.
“)or soPe people it Pight seeP a little
“, grew up hiking and caPping and this
tedious or obsessiYe but it’s beautiful ¿ nd- area Must kind of ¿ ts Pe´ she says.
ing all these different te[tures and colors´
With a bachelor’s degree in art under her
she says. “)or Pe it’s a cre-
belt Haber-Lehigh has pre-
atiYe process. <ou Pake a
Yiously focused on print-
lot of decisions. <ou take
Paking and landscapes
soPe liberties too what
and she still creates pastel
you want to show what you
landscapes and collag-
want to hide and what you
es today. But to foster her
want to ePphasi]e.
interest in botanical art
“7here’s always soPe-
two years ago Haber-Le-
thing. <ou can go for a
high becaPe a PePber of
walk anywhere and , al-
2regon Botanical Artists.
ways ¿ nd soPething color-
Meeting other artists and
ful or uniTue-shaped´ she
taking classes froP nation-
says.
al established botanical art-
Growing up in Poland
ists like Wendy Hollender
in the s and s
has helped her hone her art.
Haber-Lehigh was exposed
Haber-Lehigh’s interest
to a loYe of plants at a
in natiYe plants was also
young age. Bicycling to her “Indian Paintbrush,” a fi nished botanical easily cultiYated by local
faPily’s coPPunity garden drawing by Dorota Haber-Lehigh.
experts including .athleen
and going PushrooP for-
Sayce who leads a local
aging with her grandparents were coPPon chapter of the 1atiYe Plant Society; 1eal
pastiPes. 6he caPe to 2regon in as a Maine Seaside wildlife photographer and
high school foreign exchange student and founder of the North Coast Land Conser-
after graduating froP Paci¿ c 8niYersity Yancy; and 5oberta Basch a PePber of the
Haber-Lehigh eYentually settled in 6easide Clatsop-NehaleP tribe.
8 | August 20, 2015 | coastweekend.com
With her plant sketches piling up and
her interest in botanical art and ethnobotany
only growing Haber-Lehigh decided to col-
lect her drawings into a book — a coloring
book. ,n 1 she self-published “ABC of
NatiYe Plants of the Coastal Paci¿ c North-
west´ which features black and white pen-
and-ink drawings of À owers Parine plants
PushrooPs trees ferns and lichen. ,nforPa-
tion about the plant — description habitat
uses — accoPpanies each drawing offering
a Pix of art and education.
As a follow-up in 1 Haber-Lehigh
published “NatiYe Berries of the Coastal
Paci¿ c Northwest´ a coloring book that
focuses on proli¿ c edible berries like 2re-
gon grape red and eYergreen huckleberries
elderberries and Pore. Additional coloring
books are coPing soon. Haber-Lehigh is
busy working on a natiYe wildÀ owers book.
And À uent in Polish (nglish and Span-
ish and haYing studied 5ussian ,talian and
)rench she wants to use her language skills
to also create a Pultilingual coloring book
focusing on the ecology of Haystack 5ock in
Cannon Beach.
Her coloring books are aYailable at the
)ort Clatsop Yisitor center Beach Books in
Seaside and the Cannon Beach Arts Associ-
ation.
“, Peant it to be for both kids and adults
because I was hoping the adults would read
it to the kids while the kids could color´
she says “and Paybe that would encourage
soPe intergenerational learning.´
7o ¿ nd that people on the North Coast
Pight not know they haYe edible salal or
salPonberries growing in their backyards
Continued on page 13
Dorota Haber-Lehigh taught a four-week botanical drawing
class at the Columbia River Maritime Museum’s Barbey Maritime
Center this July and August.
Dorota Haber Lehigh shows some botanical leaf drawings in
her sketchbook: maple, salal, false lily of the valley and alder.
During a trip to Florida, Dorota Haber-Lehigh drew some trop-
ical native plants in her sketchbook. Their bright colors and
armor-like thorns were a contrast to Pacifi c Northwest native
plants, shown here on a table at the Barbey Maritime Center
during a recent botanical drawing class.
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