Artist Gary L Hightshoe | The Elevator — Happy Birthday Greeting Card & Envelope
In 1972, Gary L. Hightshoe was two years into his tenure at Iowa State University when he came across this barn and its hay elevator south of Ames — a motorized conveyor that shuttled heavy rectangular bales up into the hayloft, sparing farmers the brutal work of lifting them by hand in the Iowa summer heat. Patented as early as 1867, the hay elevator was one of the quiet revolutions that changed farm life forever — less a machine than a gift, passed from one generation of tired shoulders to the next. Some inventions don't make the history books. They just make life better. Send this to the birthday person who has always been that kind of gift to the people around them.
Gary L. Hightshoe is an Emeritus Professor of Landscape Architecture at Iowa State University, where he taught plant materials, planting design, and landscape resource management for more than 47 years. Over the course of nearly half a century, his colleagues, clients, students, and family have known him by many names — the Tree Whisperer, the Grandfather of the Prairie, the Godfather of Savanna Studio — and every one of them fits.
A lifelong conservationist, ecologist, historian, illustrator, hunter, angler, photographer, and artist, Gary is the author and illustrator of two landmark works: Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Rural and Urban America and North American Plantfile — books that continue to shape the field of landscape architecture. His most enduring legacy, however, may be Savanna Studio at Iowa State: the only traveling landscape architecture studio of its kind in the world. Over two decades, Gary led more than 1,000 students out from behind their desks and into the field — to the Boundary Waters, Yellowstone, Theodore Roosevelt, the Badlands, and beyond — because, as he has always believed, "you can't develop a relationship with the landscape from behind a desk."
Gary loves the great White Oak, the Pagoda and Flowering Dogwood, and any native prairie forb. His granddaughters will tell you he is decidedly not a fan of petunias, lilacs, or red-leafed varieties. And he has spent a lifetime restoring 40 acres of never-tilled original Iowa land — wetland, prairie, and forest — to the way it was always meant to be.
"Long after we've come and gone, a tree still stands." — Gary L. Hightshoe
Gary L. Hightshoe is one of five Kate Shu Collective STAR Resident Artists and a treasured member of the Monarch Shoppe family.
About this Card:
• Available in three sizes: 4"x6", 5"x7", and 5.83"x8.27" (larger than a standard Hallmark card)
• Premium 14.77 oz/yd2 (350 g/m2) paperboard — substantial, quality feel
• Toner-based printing — vivid, true-to-life color that stays rich over time
• Interior message: "Memories of a Lifetime Last Forever — Happy Birthday"
• Artist biography printed on the back of the card
• Complimentary envelope included — peel sticker closure, no licking required
• Individual clear protective sleeve included
In 1972, Gary L. Hightshoe was two years into his tenure at Iowa State University when he came across this barn and its hay elevator south of Ames — a motorized conveyor that shuttled heavy rectangular bales up into the hayloft, sparing farmers the brutal work of lifting them by hand in the Iowa summer heat. Patented as early as 1867, the hay elevator was one of the quiet revolutions that changed farm life forever — less a machine than a gift, passed from one generation of tired shoulders to the next. Some inventions don't make the history books. They just make life better. Send this to the birthday person who has always been that kind of gift to the people around them.
Gary L. Hightshoe is an Emeritus Professor of Landscape Architecture at Iowa State University, where he taught plant materials, planting design, and landscape resource management for more than 47 years. Over the course of nearly half a century, his colleagues, clients, students, and family have known him by many names — the Tree Whisperer, the Grandfather of the Prairie, the Godfather of Savanna Studio — and every one of them fits.
A lifelong conservationist, ecologist, historian, illustrator, hunter, angler, photographer, and artist, Gary is the author and illustrator of two landmark works: Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Rural and Urban America and North American Plantfile — books that continue to shape the field of landscape architecture. His most enduring legacy, however, may be Savanna Studio at Iowa State: the only traveling landscape architecture studio of its kind in the world. Over two decades, Gary led more than 1,000 students out from behind their desks and into the field — to the Boundary Waters, Yellowstone, Theodore Roosevelt, the Badlands, and beyond — because, as he has always believed, "you can't develop a relationship with the landscape from behind a desk."
Gary loves the great White Oak, the Pagoda and Flowering Dogwood, and any native prairie forb. His granddaughters will tell you he is decidedly not a fan of petunias, lilacs, or red-leafed varieties. And he has spent a lifetime restoring 40 acres of never-tilled original Iowa land — wetland, prairie, and forest — to the way it was always meant to be.
"Long after we've come and gone, a tree still stands." — Gary L. Hightshoe
Gary L. Hightshoe is one of five Kate Shu Collective STAR Resident Artists and a treasured member of the Monarch Shoppe family.
About this Card:
• Available in three sizes: 4"x6", 5"x7", and 5.83"x8.27" (larger than a standard Hallmark card)
• Premium 14.77 oz/yd2 (350 g/m2) paperboard — substantial, quality feel
• Toner-based printing — vivid, true-to-life color that stays rich over time
• Interior message: "Memories of a Lifetime Last Forever — Happy Birthday"
• Artist biography printed on the back of the card
• Complimentary envelope included — peel sticker closure, no licking required
• Individual clear protective sleeve included
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