18 JUL 16 | my grama and your grama

Colorado State Symbols

On July 8th Chelsea blogged about her research into WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) for the design of one of the restrooms at the Stanley Marketplace. That got me thinking that I should tell you about my research into Colorado state symbols for two commissioned art pieces that I’ve been working on for the Longmont Housing Authority and the Denver Housing Authority.

colorado_state_flag

Are you up on your Colorado state symbols? I know I sure wasn’t. Before I did my research, I could have told you that the columbine was our state flower, but beyond that, I wouldn’t have been able to name any of the others. I mean, did you know we have a state reptile?

Below is a partial visual glossary including the year the symbol was designated. Which one is your favorite and why?

If you don’t live in Colorado, go research your own state symbols and tell me your favorite.

Colorado State Grass

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Blue Grama — 1987

Colorado State Plant

colorado_state_plant_claret_cup

Claret Cup Cactus — 2014

Colorado State Tree

colorado_state_tree_blue_spruce

Colorado Blue Spruce — 1939

Colorado State Butterfly

colorado_state_butterfly_co-hairstreak

Colorado Hairstreak Butterfly — 1996

Colorado State Fish

colorado_state_fish_greenback-cutthroat

Greenback Cutthroat Trout — 1994

Colorado State Bird

colorado_state_bird_lark-bunting

Lark Bunting — 1931

Colorado State Animal

Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep — 1961
These guys are my favorite — they are so cute!

Colorado State Flower

colorado_state_flower_rocky_mountain_columbine

Rocky Mountain Columbine — 1899

Colorado State Reptile

colorado_state_reptile_western-painted-turtle

Western Painted Turtle — 2008

“Colorado Triangles”

This Colorado-centric piece was designed for the active stair well at The Aerie project and references not only birds and nests (the overall theme of the building), but also Denver. It includes the Colorado state flag, bird, flower, animal, tree, grass, plant, and other images symbolic of our magnificent state. The piece is installed and will be photographed later this week, so don’t be surprised to see another blog post about it soon.

North East to West _ Autorebuil

THANKS FOR READING

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Here is a digitally altered selfie of me enjoying Snow Mountain Ranch on horse back.

I’ll be heading out on a road trip with my daughter on Saturday and we’ll be driving through AZ on our way to CA and then back through NV and UT on our way home. We’ll be sure to pay attention to their flags and symbols on the road.

I’ll be back to work in August designing cool stuff for our clients and taking care of business! Hope you are having a great summer.

Brandy LeMae, Creative Director
18 July 2016

Come by and have a drink on the porch with us tomorrow, July 19th between 5 and 7.

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