Artwork of Jude Valentine / Reindeer Lichen / Acadia National Park Featured in New Exhibit at U.S. Botanic Garden in DC

(Belfast, Maine) — A new exhibit at the the United States Botanic Garden (USBG) in Washington, DC, displaying artworks depicting familiar, rare, and iconic plants and trees of America’s national parks includes the painting, “Schoodic Forest 2,” by Maine artist, Jude Valentine, depicting the Reindeer Litchen / Cladina mitis, an iconic green moss-like fungi lichen species found throughout Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine. Valentine’s work is handled by the Maine Farmland Trust Gallery in Belfast, Maine, and the painting was first exhibited there as part of the curated exhibition, ’Intimacy of Place’, during the summer of 2013.

Flora of the National Parks opened Thursday, Feb. 18 at the USBG on the National Mall. Free and open to the public through Oct. 2, 2016, the exhibition features more than 80 illustrations, paintings, and photographs that showcase key plant life in national parks across the country. The USBG is staging the show to mark this year’s centennial of the National Park Service (NPS) and to highlight the diversity of the nation’s flora protected within national parks. [Info on the exhibition is linked here: https://www.usbg.gov/floraofthenationalparks]

Jude Valentine’s painting depicts a carpet of lime green Reindeer Lichen in a dark wooded landscape. The East Machias, Maine, artist was an artist in residence at Acadia National Park during the fall of 2010 and painted throughout the Schoodic Peninsula during that time.

“We are thrilled to present this exhibit showcasing the biodiversity of plants and landscapes in our national parks,” said Ari Novy, United States Botanic Garden executive director. “

“From the giant sequoia of Yosemite National Park to the cypress of Everglades National Park, America’s national parks showcase the diversity of our nation’s plant species,” said Bob Vogel, National Park Service regional director. “We are pleased to partner with the U.S. Botanic Garden on this exhibit that celebrates the flora at our nation’s parks as we mark the centennial of the National Park Service.”

The show includes vegetation both rare and familiar in parks from Florida to Alaska and from Maine to Hawaii. The artworks represent national parks such as Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Manassas National Battlefield Park, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, Homestead National Monument of America, and Acadia National Park.

The works by 77 artists were selected from among submissions by hundreds of artists last fall for the eight-month show, which is installed in the USBG Conservatory. More information about the exhibit is available at www.USBG.gov/FloraoftheNationalParks.

Founded in 2008, the Maine Farmland Trust Gallery has become known as “a gallery with a mission” to increase public understanding of farming and to secure Maine’s agricultural future. For more information on the work of Jude Valentine or the Maine Farmland Trust Gallery please contact Gallery Curator Anna Abaldo at 338-6575 or anna@mainefarmlandtrust.org or visit: http://mainefarmlandtrustgallery.com/. The Gallery is located at 97 Main Street, Belfast ME, 04915