The Art of Prairie Flowers: hope of spring

The Prairie Flowers Organic Top is new for our spring 2014 Soul Flower collection. The screen printed design is a simple silhouette of long, branchy flowers. But where did these flowers come from? The prairie, naturally!

I went to college in a small town in Minnesota, surrounded by stretches of farmland and prairie. Big, blue, wide-open skies. Wind whipping through your hair in the midday sun. Long, bitterly cold winters. Lots of snow.

The town is filled with college students, and I was one of them. Campus is small, so it's easy to make friends and feel like everyone is a familiar face. Anyone living anywhere in Minnesota can attest to the harshness of winter. I spent a lot of time inside, laughing with my dorm friends and keeping warm. It seems like everyone in Minnesota bonds over the cold weather; it's a quick conversation starter and because the season can be long and brutal, supporting each other is crucial for emotional survival.

One winter day during my freshman year of college, I tagged along with some friends to the Pomme de Terre River dam right outside of town. While they built a snowman pushing around the freezing snow, I tried to keep my hands warm while snapping some photos.

The thing about winter, anywhere, is it can be depressing. When everything is dead, or everything is white for weeks and weeks? It can be tough to stay cheerful. While tramping through the snow that January day, I saw something that caught my eye. I took a photo.

Over the years, I kept thinking back to those flowers. Those dead, spindly-looking shoots that somehow escaped the piles of snow around it. Stiffly shuddering in the icy wind like a reminder that Hey! spring will be back soon! Everything will liven up, you'll see!

They look springy in this bright coral ink, and I love how a simple change of perspective can turn these cold, dead sprouts into something alive and hopeful. When you look for the best in what may seem like the worst, you can always find something beautiful. Just hold out for Spring.

❤ Leiah
artist at Soul Flower