Stahl's Hummingbird Raises $200 for UT Botanical Gardens!

Bethany Stahl enjoys spending time outdoors and promoting education in the sciences. When the opportunity came up to donate her time to painting a hummingbird provided by the UT Botanical Gardens with the help of Home Depot West Knox, and Jerry's Artarama, she was honored to participate!

Bethany wanted to further the message of the importance of hummingbirds by painting an abstracted version of the hummingbird body with flowers that hummingbirds help pollinate along their journey!

Upon visiting the UT Botanical Gardens for the opening reception, Bethany was amazed at how wonderfully the garden's staff had integrated each bird into a spot that highlighted the painting on it! Each bird also had a beautiful plaque discussing the artists' vision.

Behind Stahl's hummingbird was a variety of colorful plants, and every night, the sunset, shining through the trees on her creation! While walking the gardens, she was surprised to meet so many children inspired and captivated by the hummingbirds around the garden.

From May until September, her bird decorated the gardens and had a shocking and exciting bidding war on it! The bidding started at $90 and was eagerly raised by $10 increments until a wonderful woman shouted $200, shutting down the other bidders, and able to take home this hummingbird to find a place in her garden!

​Overall the hummingbirds raised $4,100 for the UT Gardens, and you won't want to miss the beautiful improvements the gardens have been making throughout the summer! It is one of Bethany's favorite places to relax and illustrate her children's books!

Make sure you come out next summer and support the UT Gardens and the beautiful hummingbirds, which Bethany would love to participate in again and again!