3 blue images of seeds in a row - Cyanotypes by Arielle Rebek
Cyanotypes by Arielle Rebek
Oakland-based artist and educator Arielle Rebek uses cyanotype printing to create these images of seeds from typical Central Valley native species. From left, is purple owl’s clover (Castilleja exserta), blow-wives (Achyrachaena mollis), and fringe pod (Thysanocarpus curvipes).

Exhibit blends art and science to shine new light on seeds

Blue seed inside a white circle - Cyanotype by Arielle Rebek
Cyanotype by Arielle Rebek This seed of purple owl’s clover (Castilleja exserta) is shown surrounded by other plants, both native and invasive, that grow at the same site at McLaughlin Natural Reserve.

Seeds in the ground store genetic memories of plant communities going back in time, and bank possibilities for plants of the future. Now, a project twining the science and the beauty of seeds will be on display at the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity during the university’s annual Picnic Day celebration.

“Through the Lens of Seeds” will show from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 23, in the lobby of the Science Laboratory Building. It presents an artist’s images of seeds collected in California grasslands by a plant scientist. This exhibit and other Picnic Day events are free and open to the public.

Nearby, microscopes will be set up for visitors to view both the seeds and other aspects of the larger plants those seeds produce, chosen from specimens archived at the Center for Plant Diversity.

“A lot of my research involves looking at seeds under a microscope, and, oh my gosh, these things are exquisite!” said plant community ecologist Marina LaForgia, who collected the seeds. “I wanted to bring these seeds up close to people.”

Oakland-based artist Arielle Rebek views the seeds in a fresh light, using the technique of cyanotype printing. The process creates a blue image by exposing light-sensitized paper to the sun. It was used by another woman fascinated by plants, the pioneering 19th-century botanist and photographer Anna Atkins.

Arielle Rebek and Marina LaForgia
Plant ecologist Marina LaForgia (bottom) collects bits of plants, while artist Arielle Rebek (top) makes a cyanotype print, at McLaughlin Natural Reserve.

Some native seeds favored after extreme drought

LaForgia did her doctoral work with the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences and now is a post-doctoral researcher at the university. She seeks to understand how plants in dry regions are responding to invasive species and increasingly variable climate. She has found that long-term drought, followed by heavy rainfall, favors seeds from some of California’s native wildflowers over those of invasive grasses. Native seeds are better adapted to surviving for years in the ground, patiently awaiting the right conditions of water and temperature to sprout, she said.

LaForgia counted seeds in soil scooped up at the Donald and Sylvia McLaughlin Natural Reserve, part of the UC Natural Reserve System in Lake, Napa and Yolo counties. In soil collected during the record-setting drought of 2012-2017, LaForgia found fewer invasive seeds, and more than double the native seeds, compared to samples collected before the drought started.

LaForgia and Rebek were roommates during their graduate days at UC Davis. Later, when LaForgia became entranced by the visual richness of the little objects she was counting, she asked Rebek to collaborate. Rebek found inspiration in the conceptual connection of sunlight for both seeds and photography.

 “A lot of my work is responding to a specific place,” said Rebek, who earned her master’s degree in fine arts. “When I was thinking of making cyanotypes of Marina’s work, I suggested going to the same location where she had collected the seeds… because plants rely on the amount of sunlight they receive, and so do these images.” Rebek made her prints on location, in some cases as LaForgia collected additional material to include in the art.

The collaboration offers a unique introduction to the concept of seed banks that lie hidden in the ground and the future challenges plant communities face.