From Plant Press, Vol. 23, No. 4, October 2020.
The Dyer Arts Center, part of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, has put together an online exhibition focusing on deaf artists and plants. The exhibition, “Palettes of Nature,” went live on September 22. Among the artists featured is Regina Olson Hughes (1895-1993). Hughes was a scientific illustrator who came to the Smithsonian’s Department of Botany after retiring from her position in 1969 as a staff illustrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). She continued to work at the Smithsonian until the age of 95.
At the National Museum of Natural History, Hughes worked as a contract illustrator for scientists at both USDA and the Smithsonian. She painted orchids from the National Orchid Collection for Robert W. Read and a large number of Asteraceae for Robert M. King and Harold Robinson (for example, see The Genera of the Eupatorieae (Asteraceae), https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/57564021).
Four of Hughes’ orchids appear in “Palettes of Nature” including Encyclia (Spring), Lockhartia (Early summer), Huntleya (Fall) and Vanda (Winter). The exhibition features images by season and subject. Hughes’ watercolors were provided courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution. The exhibition can be viewed at https://dyerartscenter.omeka.net/exhibits/show/palettesofnature/intro.
Many illustrations by Hughes are found in the Department of Botany’s Botanical Art Collection. Her works are available for viewing in the Botany Online Catalog. A selection of 67 works by Hughes are currently included in the catalog, with 33 orchid watercolors and the others in pen and ink. An additional 20 or so orchid watercolors have not yet been scanned.
Botanical Illustrator Alice Tangerini fondly remembers Hughes, “She had a sense of humor which served her well in the speaking world of the botanists. She could foretell what a person would say before they said it.” Tangerini shared an office with Hughes for over 20 years. “I learned so much from her, in art, science, and dealing with scientists,” says Tangerini.
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