Recovering the Lost Words

Recovering the Lost Words is on display at the Dougherty Arts Center through August 15, in the Julia C. Butridge Gallery. It brings together the work of eight Texas Master Naturalists, each taking on a specific set of words that were removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary in recent years. The words are all from nature, and the artists have spent their time memorializing them through their work.

What makes the show a bit more than a standard gallery walk is how varied the approach is. These aren't just paintings; the artists work in photography, illustration, embroidery, stained glass, painting, and mixed media. Seeing the same theme—nature words disappearing from a children's dictionary—translated across such different mediums gives you a good sense of how each person wrestled with the idea. The goal, as they describe it, is to reintroduce these lost words and encourage people of all ages to rediscover the wonder of the natural world. It's a quiet, thoughtful premise that works across the board.

If you're interested in the people behind the pieces, there are two dates to keep in mind. The artist reception was back on Wednesday, July 8, from 7 to 9 PM. The next one is the artist talk on Wednesday, August 12, from 7 to 9 PM, when the artists gather to talk about their work and how they used these missing words to reconnect audiences with nature. If you've spent some time with the show, that's the night to hear them explain the thinking that went into it.

The exhibition runs from July 6 through August 15, with the gallery open from 10 AM to 10 PM daily. It's free and open to the public, so you can drop in whenever you're near the Dougherty Arts Center at 1110 Barton Springs Rd in Austin.