Vanishing II (Rusty Patched Bumblebee)

Holly Downing

This hand-colored mezzotint is from a series of prints Holly Downing has been doing featuring vanishing species, in this case, invertebrates. Each impression is printed in black and then hand-colored by the artist. There may be slight variations between impressions.

According to Downing, the Rusty Patched Bumblebee, a keystone species, once occupied the grasslands and tall grass prairies of the upper midwest and northeast, and into southern Canada. But most grasslands and prairies have been lost, degraded, or fragmented by conversion to other uses, and so the bees have lost their habitats. Several service agencies are working to recover this endangered species, along with other pollinators.