Bobby Sutton

The following article
on Bobby is excerpted from
"Drawing Connections to Nature" originally published in the summer 2004 issue of Chicago Wilderness Magazine.

In 1996, Sutton sought a summer internship with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. Working with a restoration crew in natural areas around the county, he learned firsthand about many more creatures that inspired him. In his downtime, Sutton began making botanical drawings of wildflowers. "Drawing something is my personal way of acknowledging something sacred about it," he says in a quiet, patient voice.

Since then, Sutton has helped with restoration at numerous preserves, most recently with the North Branch Restoration Project, close to his current home near the Chicago River. He also volunteers with Mighty Acorns, taking children on trips to natural areas. Working as a pipe fitter for part of the year allows Sutton to devote the rest of his time to his art, as well as to roam the countryside of Peru, his mother's homeland.

Through such experiences, the natural world has become more and more prominent in Sutton's paintings and drawings. He often sits for hours in the forest preserves to draw, sometimes revisiting a single plant many times over the course of weeks to see how it has changed. His projects range from seasonal sketches of volunteers restoring Paintbrush Prairie to elaborate ink depictions of cosmically interconnected ecosystems. He often creates pieces for specific events, such as the portrait of the late conservationist Deb Petro (CW, Summer '03) he recently unveiled at a workday held in her memory.

There's also the cabinet-like diorama, called a retablo, that he brought to a Somme Woods workday a few years ago. "Each side of it relates to a different part of nature and a different cardinal direction," Sutton says, explaining how the forest preserve volunteers used the retablo's symbolism, based on Oglala Indian beliefs, to explore the forces at work in natural-area restoration. The south side, painted yellow, symbolized growth. The west was black, for thunder and rain, the powers of destruction and of making good. For the volunteers, it also symbolized fire, a natural process that allows for new growth. "And north is white," says Sutton. "That's the cleansing wind, the great white giant."

The last side, the east, was red, symbolizing the "herb of understanding" and the way conservationists often must learn by "sitting on a log, looking at the plants, and trying to understand what the plants are trying to say."

— Ben LeFort

For more information about Bobby, visit his website.