This is the second consecutive year that KNPS is offering merchandise with a logo developed specifically for Wildflower Weekend. This year, in the spirit of bringing together creative expression and love for nature, the KNPS Board decided to have a Wildflower Weekend 2024 Logo Design Contest. This was an open design contest to come up with a logo for Wildflower Weekend 2024.
We put out a call to artists and graphic designers who were members of the Kentucky Native Plant Society in early December 2023. We asked the designers to submit designs that incorporated either the great white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) or the stinking Benjamin, a.k.a. red trillium (T. erectum) or both. The submitted designs were then presented to the KNPS membership for voting during the month of January 2024.
We did not know what the response would be so we were thrilled when we received 11 gorgeous designs, well beyond our expectations! The members of KNPS responded in kind, surpassing our expectations as we received nearly 140 votes, by far the biggest response we have ever received for an online poll. Voting came down to a nail-biting close race, and we had to have a runoff between the top two designs. At the end of the runoff, the beautiful logo featured above came out on top as the winning entry. The design, a contemporary interpretation of the iconic Trillium species crafted into a logo with a care-free and breezy sentiment of Spring, was submitted by Rick Mullenix of London, KY (Rick’s bio is below the items) .
We have exciting news for all of our members and friends! KNPS is happy to announce this year’s Wildflower Weekend has been scheduled for April 12th-14th, 2024 at Natural Bridge State Resort Park!
But wait, there is even more cause for jubilation! This year we are celebrating 35 years of Wildflower Weekend! That’s right! Naturalists and nature lovers from all across Kentucky have been gathering in the spirit of botanical appreciation, fellowship and education at Wildflower Weekend since May 1989! We are proud to host this year’s event at Natural Bridge SRP, the original location of the very first KNPS Wildflower Weekend (scroll down to page 3).
Help Us Celebrate with Your Photos!
To help celebrate our 35 years of Wildflower Weekend, we are planning to put together a montage of photos from prior Weekends that we will show during the Saturday evening talks. It would be great if everyone would look through their old Wildflower Weekend photos and pick out a few that you would like to share. If any of our longtime members have actual photos from the days before digital cameras a scan of those would be extra special.
Use the link below to access the drop folder for your images. Please include the year of the Wildflower Weekend as part of the file name (e.g. WW2010).
Throughout its long history, Wildflower Weekend has been an enriching experience to our members and beyond; offering guided hikes to explore Kentucky’s rich natural history and resources in the Red River Gorge. We hope you will join us and other nature lovers, families, community scientists, amateur naturalists, and professional botanists from across the Commonwealth, to explore the beauty and diversity of our native plants this April.
The event will include guided hikes through beautiful natural areas throughout the weekend, a Friday Evening Friends & Members Social, and Saturday evening presentations.
Attendees will be able pre-register for both the event, as well as guided hikes. Pre-registration will be opened online several weeks before Wildflower Weekend. Members of KNPS will be allowed to register before the registration is opened to the general public.
iNaturalist BotanyBlitz Kicks Off Wildflower Weekend across Kentucky
The week prior to Wildflower Weekend, KNPS will be hosting our annual week-long, state-wide BotanyBlitz on iNaturalist from April 6th-14th. This week-long BotanyBlitz allows us to broaden our spring wildflower scope to the entire state of Kentucky and allows us to highlight natural areas across the commonwealth! If you work/volunteer at a natural area in Kentucky and would like to partner with us to host a Kick Off Hike at your site to kick off the BotanyBlitz week, please send an email to: WildflowerWeekend2024@knps.org
Be sure to visit and bookmark the Wildflower Weekend 2024 page where we will be posting updates to the event schedules. If you have any questions, just shoot an email to WildflowerWeekend2024@knps.org. Hope to see you in April.
This year, in the spirit of bringing together creative expression and love for nature, the KNPS Board decided to have a Wildflower Weekend 2024 Logo Design Contest. This was an open design contest to come up with a logo for Wildflower Weekend 2024. The logo will be used on t-shirts, hoodies, and coffee cups, as well as on all publicity about the event.
We put out a call to artists and graphic designers who were members of the Kentucky Native Plant Society in early December. We asked the designers to submit designs that incorporated either the great white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) or the stinking Benjamin, a.k.a. red trillium (T. erectum) or both. These charismatic species are commonly found decorating the floors of the rich forests in the Natural Bridge/Red River Gorge area. The submitted designs were then presented to the KNPS membership for voting during the month of January.
We did not know what the response would be so we were thrilled when we received 11 gorgeous designs, well beyond our expectations! The members of KNPS responded in kind, surpassing our expectations as we received nearly 140 votes, by far the biggest response we have ever received for an online poll. Voting came down to a nail-biting close race, and we had to have a runoff between the top two designs. At the end of the runoff, the beautiful logo featured above came out on top as the winning entry. The design, a contemporary interpretation of the iconic Trillium species crafted into a logo with a care-free and breezy sentiment of Spring, was submitted by Rick Mullenix of London, KY.
Rick Mullenix, Winner
“I have been a graphic designer for 19 years, and am a new member of the KNPS. I appreciate being part of this group and look forward to learning a lot. This design was a joy to work on. It is in the style of a badge design, I felt this would work well across the different mediums it would be printed in. My goal was to evoke a breezy, spring-style feel with the colors and the layout. Even though the trilliums both had distinct parts, I loved seeing the different interpretations of them in all the submissions.”
Gallery of Wildflower Weekend 2024 Logo Entries
Any of the designs would have made a lovely logo! Each of the designs feature unique and beautiful takes on some of Kentucky’s most well-known natural areas and species. KNPS extends our thanks and appreciation for all the artists that took the time to submit their creative visions.
Take a few minutes to review the rest of the designs and learn a bit about each of the designers. As you scroll through, be sure to click or tap on the images to see them full size. The submissions are listed by the artists’ last name, and do no indicate the placement in the competition.
Madison Courtney
Madison Courtney is an artist, advocate, amateur photographer, and marketer currently serving as the Communications Director at AMI/USA. With a background in marketing and graphic design spanning six years, Madison brings creativity and strategic thinking to her current role, blending her passion for art and education. Formerly a Montessori teacher, Madison created vibrant classrooms that incorporated nature and plants, fostering a connection between her students and the natural world. She is a strong advocate for children with disabilities and serves on the founding board of LEAF (Lexington Elevating Abilities Foundation) providing financial support to children in need of services. In her personal life, Madison enjoys hiking with her husband and dog, identifying and photographing plants and fungi along the way. As a new member of the Kentucky Native Plant Society, she is excited to be part of a community that shares her enthusiasm for the native flora of Kentucky.
Barbara Degraves
Barbara DeGraves is a freelance nature artist and photographer. With over 30 years of experience, she renders her realistic art in a variety of techniques but prefers colored pencils, pastels, and ink. She exhibits her mixed media artwork and photography in various exhibits around Bowling Green, KY.
Since moving to Kentucky, she and her husband have transformed their barren treeless yard into a welcoming acre for pollinators and birds. Their yard recently achieved a “Certified Butterfly Garden” status by North American Butterfly Association. The property includes pocket prairies, bird magnet hedges and a wide variety of host perennials and shrubs to support native pollinators.
While on a hiking trip to eastern Kentucky, she photographed a patch of great white trillium and captured an image of a duskywing skipper feeding on one of the flowers. This unique image combined with her other reference photographs of trillium inspired her ink illustration for her KNPS logo submission.
Besides being a KNPS member, she is also an active member and former board member of Wild Ones SoKY. Through national Wild Ones she has won multiple awards for her native plant photography.
Cheryll Frank
Cheryll Frank has been an artist and amateur naturalist from an early age. She has a BS in Sustainable Agriculture from the University of Kentucky. Her most recent endeavor is ‘rewilding’ 10 acres in Scott County, where she lives with her husband Bruce (also an artist) and a four-legged population. Earliest efforts at creating a small Miyawaki-style forest as a hedgerow has boosted the bird population to 72 species. “I tried to evoke some of the excitement old postcards from the 1930’s promised the intrepid traveler. The diminutive trillium in a limited time engagement, contrasted with the massive edifice of Natural Bridge.”
Clarissa Geaner
Clarissa Gearner is an architectural historian from Rowan County, Kentucky. The daughter of biology educators, Clarissa grew up in the woods of Eastern Kentucky and has had a lifelong love of nature and art. She received a Master of Historic Preservation degree and Cultural Landscape Conservation certificate at the University of Georgia and wrote her thesis on proposing interpretive efforts to educate Red River Gorge visitors on the Eastern Agricultural Complex, a center of plant domestication that occurred in the Eastern United States. Through her thesis writing process, Clarissa learned a great deal about Kentucky’s native plant species and developed an even greater appreciation for them. Clarissa returned to Kentucky in 2023 and was excited to participate in the KNPS logo design contest, especially since Wildflower Weekend 2024 will be hosted at Natural Bridge State Resort Park. Her design, a gouache painting, includes both the great white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) and the stinking Benjamin trillium (Trillium erectum), with a vignette of Natural Bridge.
Joy Hopkins
Joy Hopkins grew up near the Smokies in East Tennessee. Her initial loves were horses and art, and she quickly added a passion for the outdoors and all things nature. Joy received a bachelor’s degree in studio art with a minor in Appalachian studies. She has worked for over 30 years in fields of outdoor adventure and education, incorporating artwork into her projects. Joy moved to Southeast Kentucky in the spring of 2022 with her botanist husband Boyd, also a professional outdoor educator and naturalist. The two of them are daily amazed at the treasures that this trove of Kentucky reveals, from beautiful waterfalls in the Red River Gorge to exquisite wildflowers in their own backyard. They love sharing the splendor of God’s creation with others and are blessed by the opportunity to do so.
Elizabeth Mefford
My name is Elizabeth Mefford. I am a transplant to Carroll County, Kentucky via the Ohio River, originally from Switzerland County, Indiana. I am a 4-H volunteer in Natural Resources and really enjoy working with children. I recently joined KNPS, just beginning to educate myself on the wonders of native plant species. My hope is to impart what I am learning on to the next generation of plant lovers.
Nikki Nivision
Hi my name is Nikki! I’m a conservation educator with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and there I found my passion for Kentucky’s native plant species and the role they play for our many different wildlife species. I saw this design competition as an opportunity to show my love for wildflowers through my art. I hope that you all enjoy all the different designs.
Anne Proffitt
My name is Anne H. Proffitt, a 6th generation Kentuckian living in Louisville. I’ve enjoyed a lifetime of wildflowers, birds and natural beauty from our state and share my joy through my artwork. I paint and draw free hand, focusing on the wildflowers and birds of Kentucky! When I’m not painting or at work, I appreciate the great outdoors in all-weather. One of my favorite places to be is Bernheim Forest in Nelson County. I am a Volunteer Naturalist there, helping our visitors connect more deeply with nature.
Kellene Turner
“Nostalgia, expression, culture and imagination. Artistry for everyday and extraordinary circumstances, ultimately becoming an integral part of our existence. “ -Kellene Turner Art
Being a muralist and fine artist I get to capture lifestyle, culture, history and an audience sometimes with or without intention. When I am not working in the studio you can find me on the water or in the wilderness studying nature. Creating is truly raw and a personal experience and the ability to share this process with others brings me great joy.
For many years, beautiful wood carvings of native plants have been specially made by Bob Van Hoff as a fundraiser during KPNS Wildflower Weekend. Bob says he has been carving since he was about 11 years old and got serious about carving, mostly fish and birds, in 1970. He’s made carvings of over 299 species of birds! Some of his larger fish works, like musky and gar, were made for visitor centers.
Bob Van Hoff’s carving of a flowering pink lady-slipper orchid (Cypripedium acaule) at three stages of inflorescence development. Won at WW2023 by Mary Alice and Chris Bidwell, long time members of KNPS.
Bob worked as a biologist and ranger for the Army Corps of Engineers and assisted with state plant conservation efforts. He worked to establish populations of Eggert’s sunflower (Helianthus eggertii), once a threatened plant listed at both the state and federal levels, around Nolin Lake. He notes that one transplant in his yard has become about 2,000 stems over the last 20 years, a project Tom Barnes (renowned UK plant biologist who inspired conservation projects all over Kentucky) encouraged. He also worked with Tom to establish prairie at Barren River Lake and Salamone Lake in Indiana.
We thank Bob for creating this wood carving for KNPS and look forward to seeing what he creates for Wildflower Weekend this year!
If you are an artist or graphic designer we would love for you to consider entering the Wildflower Weekend 2024 Logo Design Contest. This is an open design contest to come up with a logo for Wildflower Weekend 2024 (April 12-14 at Natural Bridge SRP). The logo will be used on t-shirts, hoodies, and coffee cups, as well as on all publicity about the event. The submitted designs will be presented to the KNPS membership for voting and the winner will be awarded $200 and be recognized on the KNPS website.
In June of 2022, a KNPS member posted the image on the right on the KNPS Facebook group page of a t-shirt she had found in a thrift store. Asking among several longtime members, it turns out that in the 1990s, and into the early 2000’s, KNPS produced t-shirts for each Wildflower Weekend. Last year the KNPS Board decided to bring back this great tradition for Wildflower Weekend 2023.
In early 2023, we began the process of creating a logo by presenting our members and friends with a slideshow of 13 native species and asking them to select their top three choices. The yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum) was the narrow winner. The Board then asked KNPS member Kendall MacDonald to design a logo for the 2023 Wildflower Weekend. The beautiful image she created featured the yellow trout lily with Cumberland Falls as the background. The image was used in all publicity for the event and was also featured on an adult t-shirt, a coffee mug, a kid’s t-shirt, and an adult hoodie that were available for sale in our KNPS Gear Shop.
The star of the logo will be the native plant. Although the yellow trout lily was the plant that was first choice by a majority of those voting last year, the Trillium genus received almost as many votes and will be the flower to be featured on this year’s logo. Two species of Trillium received the same number of votes; the great white trillium (T. grandiflorum) and stinking Benjamin, a.k.a. red trillium (T. erectum). Both species are commonly found in the Natural Bridge/Red River Gorge area. Artists can choose to use either species or both in their design.
