Dusti Bongé oak tree bloom painting
If you live in the South, you know all about the subject of this Dusti Bongé painting: pollen!
Dusti Bongé Art Foundation Executive Director Ligia M. Römer has the details.
Dusti Bongé, Oak Trees in Bloom, 1955, mixed media on paper, 18” x 11 ¾”
Despite being an abstract artist, Dusti Bongé was a lover of nature and drew inspiration from the natural surroundings of her Biloxi, MS home throughout her career. This work is a perfect example of her highly abstracted interpretation of a spring seasonal occurrence.
Anyone whose allergies flare up during spring time, or whose had their car covered in yellow oak pollen, will be familiar with Oak Trees in Bloom. The trees Dusti is alluding to in the title are the live oaks, those fabulous, enormous, stunning oaks that, although green year-round, never shedding all their leaves, do go through distinct seasonal changes.
Unlike most other species flourishing in the spring, the live oaks in all their majestic splendor don’t bother with colorful, eye-catching, fancy flowers when they blossom. Instead, they produce itty-bitty, 1/16 of an inch, little blooms clustered together on exceedingly skinny stems. And they produce these by the millions.
Initially bright green, the buds quickly turn yellowish and then brown, and they are so light that they are easily spread by the wind to pollinate. The familiar visual effect of this extremely efficient system of spreading pollen is the unmistakable layer of curry-powder yellow dust that settles on anything and everything, and the temporary outdoor carpeting of all ground surfaces with the innumerable tiny flowerets.
It is these barely visible blooms, rather than the obvious glorious physicality of the live oak tree itself, that Dusti chose as her subject matter in this abstract work. She captures the very nuanced colors of the stems and flowers with their warm jewel tones of yellow, shades of brown and very faint hints of green.
Thus, while most people are being driven nuts as the pesky little clusters land in and on everything, get stuck in your hair, get dragged into the house on your pet’s fur, and travel along with you on your pants and cuffs, Dusti celebrates them for the great sign of new life that they in fact herald.
