Fern

Plant with bright green leaves growing close to the ground. — Dryopteris filix-mas (male fern). The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Use the elements of art to guide you as you look closely at this plant.

Dryopteris filix-mas (male fern). The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Questions & Prompts

You can choose to look at just one of the photos or at multiples.

Color

What hues (colors) do you see in this plant?
What is the value of these colors? Are they light or dark?
What is the intensity of these colors? Are they bright or dim?
Which Pantone® colors best match the colors you see in this plant?

Do these colors make you feel any emotions? If so, which colors inspire which emotions?

Line

Use your finger to trace the lines you see on this plant.
Use adjectives to describe the lines you see.
Do these lines make you feel any emotions? Which lines? Which emotions?

Texture

What do you think it would feel like to touch this plant?
Do different parts of the plant feel different to touch?
Use adjectives to describe the textures you see.

Shape

Use your hands to make the shapes you see.
How would you describe these shapes? Are they organic or inorganic? Do they look like anything you recognize?

Form

Use your body to mimic the form of the plant. How does it feel to hold this pose?
Which smaller forms do you see making up the entire form of the plant? Do you see any organic forms? Any inorganic forms?

Space

Use your body to mimic the form around the plant. How does the space around your body feel? How does it affect the way you experience the form of this plant?

Explore how different artists have been inspired by ferns.

Green vase against a white background. Two large green leaves are visible on the vase. The leaves appear darker than the background. Light reflects off the lower half of the vase.

Printed illustration of multiple parts of a plant including the front of the leaf, the back of the leaf, and the roots. Text at the top of the page "Plate 323." Text at the bottom of the page "Male Fearn" "Eliz. Blackwell delin. delin. sculp. et Pinx" "1. Back of the Leaf" "Filix mas."

Louis Comfort Tiffany (American, 1848 - 1933, Favrile Glass Fern Vase, ca. 1900, glass. Purchased with funds from the Art Collectors’ Council. Photography © Fredrik Nilsen Studio 2014. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. 2004.7.

Male Fern- Filix mas. in A Curious Herbal, Elizabeth Blackwell, author, 1739, printed book. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. 270004 v.2.

Questions & Prompts

What do all of these artworks have in common?
Which of these artworks do you think is the most realistic? Why?

Which of these artworks do you think is the most abstract? Why?
What does each of these artworks tell you about nature? What does each of these artworks make you wonder about nature?
Which of these artworks do you think The Huntington should display in our art galleries? Why?
Choose one of the artworks above. Identify the artist’s use of each of the elements of art in their artwork. Use the elements of art to compare and contrast the artwork with the fern plant. How did the artist draw on their observations of the plant? How did the artist use their imagination?
Take a deep dive exploration into Favrile Glass Fern Vase.

Fern

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