The history of botanical drawing in Western art developed in relationship with Western academic learning institutions and the natural sciences. A fundamental aspect of this drawing style is to build knowledge by isolating “specimens”. Botanical drawings relate shape and detail and other formal qualities extremely well. But what knowledge is lost when living beings are described only in isolation? 

The works comprising this exhibition describe a human relationship with our natural environment. How it has shaped who we are; our memories and experiences. How it comforts and challenges us, how it changes, and how we are fundamentally connected to it. 

Overgrown is part of a series of events at USask to recognize 2026 as the United Nations International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. In Saskatchewan, Rangelands are a part of our endangered native grassland ecosystem. These grasslands developed under the influence of major interacting forces: climate, fire, and large grazing animals. (Robert E. Redmann,Indigenous Saskatchewan Encyclopedia) 

To develop this expanded drawing exhibition, Senior Drawing and MFA students had the opportunity to visit a Fescue Prairie (Kernan Prairie) and a mixed forested grassland (Beaver Creek Conservation area) with the Ag Bio Grassland Soils and Vegetation course.

| Princess Agbon | Müveddet Al-Katib | Atrayee Basu | Emma Benoit | Savanna Blackwell | Mickey Bourque | Jewel Charles | Aldeneil Espanola | Mary French | Owen Ish | Tess Johnson | Payton Kachur | Abigail Lam Cervantes | Lejo Liimatainen | Avery Neumiller | Hailey Pankratz | Julianna Phillips | Gracyn Torgerson | Marlo Turk | Ella Zentner |

Reception: Friday, January 16 from 5 - 7pm