Delaney 000043 813759 579672 13841

She Can Be Prickly

Hello, my name is Rachael Delaney, and I create three-dimensional thread

sculptures that tell important stories about the resiliency and fragility of the

environment and the role of human intervention in the sustainability of

healthy ecosystems. Within the State of Colorado there are over 20

different types of native thistle species that are often dismissed as noxious

nuisance weeds. This designation of weed, instead of native wildflower,

leads to the uprooting of the plant when it begins to invade more curated

and pristine spaces like gardens or well-manicured lawns. Much is lost

when the urge to remove native wildflowers is acted on, as they provide so

much life to other species that interact with them. When the biodiversity of

an environment becomes compromised through the cultivation of only a

few select species it makes it harder for that environment to sustain life.

Through this artwork I hope to explore what makes one plant more

precious to our landscapes than another, and what is lost when we

overvalue and curate just a few select species.

The piece, "She Can Be Prickly" is constructed from thread. I use a sewing

machine to draw the plants on a water-soluble fabric made from starch.

After dissolving away the fabric I leave the thread drawings out to dry,

bending them into the desired shapes resulting in three-dimensional forms.

I am intentionally referencing the long history of adorning lace with

ornamental cultivated flowers. I am replacing those flowers with a plant

often considered a weed in the hopes of elevating the status of thistles

making them worthy of a closer look. My hope is that through this work

people will take notice of the environments they interact with, considering

the importance of the health, vulnerability, and fading resilience of our

rapidly changing ecosystems.

Art of the State 2025
  1. Above the Clouds
  2. All That Is Gone, and All That’s To Come
  3. American Discourse
  4. Aspen Grove, First Light
  5. Awkward Kiss
  6. Blue and White Iris
  7. Bubbles Statement Choker Necklace
  8. Cheek to Cheek
  9. Children of the Mountain
  10. Cleopatra with a Snake and a Cigarette
  11. Collection 007
  12. Color Maps of the Wild - Elk Habits 2.1
  13. Coming into View
  14. Copper Queen
  15. Corpus No. 1
  16. Deroplatys Lobata
  17. Dixie Reindeer Lichen and House Fly
  18. Dotonbori 道頓堀
  19. Dusk Kane Gulch
  20. Dynamics 2
  21. Ekbātān
  22. Embrace Mandala
  23. Eve/The Fall of Man
  24. Firestarter
  25. Functional Cut
  26. Garden
  27. Genus #26
  28. Gold Hope
  29. Greenhouse Gathering
  30. Green Quilt 1 - April 7, 1:45pm
  31. Ground Quilt ll (53°31'46"N 113°31'17"W)
  32. Headwaters of the Roaring Fork
  33. Heal Thyself
  34. Heliocentric
  35. Hollow Form #5
  36. In the Explosion – Ignite
  37. It Was All a Dream
  38. Jeff Tears Detox Bath
  39. Jettison
  40. Kathmandu Two
  41. Lakeside
  42. leaf pile
  43. Meditations XVII
  44. Migration
  45. Midday Diffusion
  46. Moment of Silence
  47. Morpho I
  48. Move the Needle
  49. Nepantla
  50. Neuromancer
  51. night 18
  52. Notation 23-24 and Notation 24-24
  53. Not Here
  54. Nothing To Worry About Now
  55. Objects Delight
  56. Odysseus Crossing the Unknown Sea Home to Penelope
  57. Once Upon a Time
  58. One by One #4
  59. Peace Arch
  60. Pink Gradient Moon Jar
  61. Pipe Dreams
  62. Purple, Yellow, White & Blue 3
  63. Quartz Cage Chandelier Earrings
  64. Renewal
  65. Resting Place
  66. Riverstones & Whales
  67. Rock 1
  68. Rubber and Raw Silk #3
  69. Salpi and Nancy in flight
  70. Sea Storm #3
  71. Seeking Purchase
  72. Sensorium
  73. Shades of Strength
  74. She Can Be Prickly
  75. Still #2
  76. Sunrise at Horsetooth Reservoir
  77. Technically Speaking
  78. The Journey: Finding My Way
  79. The Roots Make the Wings
  80. The Tea Party
  81. The Tendency Towards Social Equalization with the Desire for Individual Differentiation and Change
  82. The Tub
  83. Tiffany at Selby Gardens
  84. Tightrope
  85. To Unknown Ancestors and the Melancholy of Ireland - Dress
  86. Tropicana
  87. Troublesome
  88. Underpass
  89. Untitled 2
  90. Vein Water Droplet Cuff
  91. Vertical Squeeze
  92. Waiting
  93. Whispers in White
  94. Who Controls The Present Controls The Past
  95. Wildwood Dance
  96. Wishing Gate
  97. Wooly Lamb's Ear Portal