Prairie strips as art: MiSTRIPS program inspires local artists and strengthens community connections

Rooted in sustainable agriculture and scientific discovery, MiSTRIPS has reached far beyond the original audience of farmers and agricultural conservation groups to cultivate creativity and community connection at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station.

While originally focused on increasing understanding and adoption of the conservation practice of prairie strips, MiSTRIPS now crosses disciplines and inspires artists to interpret the beauty and meaning of agricultural landscapes while highlighting how conservation can bring people together through both science and art.

Native plantings in agricultural fields a muse to visiting artists

Local artists, visiting KBS through the the KBS LTER Artists-in-Residence program, have drawn inspiration from the prairies, creating works that celebrate the resilience and value of native ecosystems. Through their art, the message of MiSTRIPS continues to spread: Restoring prairie habitat benefits not only the land, but also the people who live, work, and create within it.

In 2023, KBS hosted Trevor Grabill from Flat Mountain Press in Kalamazoo. Trevor uses relief printmaking by creating hand-carved stamps of drawn images, which are then filled with ink and put through a small press to create a print. Trevor’s images from their time at KBS incorporated native prairie plants and highlighted the feelings that emerge when researching world-altering processes such as climate change and biodiversity loss.

The following year, KBS hosted another Kalamazoo-based artist, Erica Bradshaw, owner of To Draw Attention Illustration. Erica is a lifelong artist who has created murals and public art installations, authored two children’s books, and illustrated a graphic novel based on the LTER Main Cropping System Experiment.

Erica produced prairie-themed art from her time at KBS focused on the minute details differentiating prairie plant and animal species.

From a prairie’s edge to a Sanctuary mural

In addition to artists from the Artist-in-Residence program, MSU graduate student Stephanie Clark was inspired by her research with butterflies and prairie plants, and contributed a large mural on the side of a building within the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary. The mural (“Complementary”), which took over 100 hours to paint and was completed in the midst of Stephanie’s dissertation work, features butterflies, birds, and prairie plants that are all native to Michigan.

Stephanie says, “During my doctoral studies at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, I spent many days on the edges of Michigan prairies researching the plants and butterflies within. I used these brightly-colored scenes from my life as inspiration for Complementary, and would like viewers to understand that we are not separate from our local ecosystems. We can acknowledge this connection best by treating the Earth with gentle admiration and respect.”

In its first five years, the MiSTRIPS program has sparked collaborations that blend research, agriculture, and artistic expression. Looking ahead, MiSTRIPS aims to foster even more partnerships between farmers, researchers, and local artists. These collaborations keep the human connection to the land at the forefront, and ensure that the story of native prairies continues to inspire creativity, stewardship, and community.