New Art Pack Sneak Peek

We're continuing our tradition of commissioning artwork for the covers of our unique seed packs. Last March close to 300 creative artists applied to be Pack Artists. It's taken 8 months to choose the artists, give them time to create their pieces, and turn their works into seed packs. Next week the final designs are off to the printers. All 24 new packs will first be available in our Holiday Gift Catalog. The big reveal will happen on November 9th at the gallery opening featuring the original art and new packs. In the meantime, we'll be posting sneak peeks of each new pack and introducing the new artists all month.

Just a peek at parts of Jessi's Tulsi Basil Pack.

Sneak Peek#3: Fragrance in Color

It's no secret that we love basil around here. We already have two basil packs in our collection, one of which contains a bouquet of 5 varieties, but adding Sacred Basil to the mix was an easy choice. Sacred, or Tulsi Basil occupies a different basil niche than the standard culinary types: Sacred Basil has an intoxicating floral fragrance, making it perfect for teas and desserts, and earning it a respected place in an herbalist's cupboard. Conveying Sacred Basil's aroma through a visual medium was no easy task, but artist Jessi Carter was perfect for the job. Jessi appreciates plants in art not only because "plants are really interesting patterns," but also because "when you're done drawing them you can smell and/or eat them."

Jessi working in her studio.

Jesse grew up in the Pacific Northwest where the weather knows how to behave itself and there are proper mountains. She grew up living and working with lots of animals, and still finds them far more interesting than humans. Jessi moved to the Northeast to study religious philosophy at Hampshire College. Eventually, she got totally knocked up and left school to raise her daughter, who is now 14. Having been raised in a very crafts-y family, she harbored an interest in visual art since childhood, but only began pursuing it seriously in 2001. After an 8 year career as a graphic designer, Jessi left design work to focus on original art. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, daughter, and an exceptional dog named Lafayette.

"Tulsi is native to India so I thought of the cacophony of India  and thusly used a lot of loud colors & patterns.  As I understand there's a lot of loud there. And elephants."

Jessi Carter: Football Art

You can see Jessi's original work for this pack at the Art of the Heirloom exhibition. To see more of her own work, visit her website here.