Artwork copyright Debra Davis. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Wintersleepers: Wild Onions & Butterfly, 1997

Debra Davis
(American, born 1960)

Location: North Central High School, Spokane

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Wintersleepers: Wild Onions & Butterfly is part of artist Debra Davis' 'Wintersleepers' series. She imagined the composition while walking through the sagebrush hills west of Yakima, Central Washington, during the winter. She notes, "I spent a lot of time thinking about what was going on under the snow… I drew the wild onions in February, when the daylight hours were lengthening and the snow was starting to melt. The ground where wild onions grow is rocky, so I drew cross-sections of basalt. And pictured the onions glowing inside their bulbs. The butterfly is in a chrysalis, waiting."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Spokane School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Northwest artist and naturalist Debra Davis creates paintings and sculptures that are strongly influenced by her summer job as a seasonal forestry technician with the U.S. Forest Service. A longtime resident of Central Washington, Davis received her Master of Fine Arts degree from Central Washington University in Ellensburg and taught art at Yakima Valley College.