We're excited to roll out t-shirts, mugs, and sustaining member window clings with a new perennial design for WFIU's spring membership campaign, which runs March 22-28. This artwork is the outcome of a station collaboration with Tonja Torgerson, a local artist and Lecturer of Printmaking at the Indiana University Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design.

"I chose plants for their symbolism, which is a common feature of my work," Torgerson explained. "The purple flower is Grape Hyacinths (Muscari). They symbolize wisdom. The other flower is Angelica, which symbolizes inspiration. Both plants are now found all over Indiana and are very common garden flowers."

"What I enjoy about the design is that the headphones are symbolic of both the listeners and the makers," noted WFIU Development Director Amy O'Shaughnessy. "They're the equipment our hosts use in the studio when they're producing radio, and are also a way people can engage with our programming: through listening."

Originally from the northern woods of Minnesota, Torgerson received her BFA from the University of Minnesota and an MFA in Printmaking at Syracuse University. Her artwork is regularly exhibited nationally and internationally; and is included in private and museum collections, including the Weisman Art Museum and the Minnesota Museum of American Art.

She has been a resident artist at AIR: Artist Image Resource of Pittsburgh; West Virginia Wesleyan College; the Lawrence Arts Center in Kansas; Fogo Island in Newfoundland, Canada; and New York Mills in Minnesota.

Her recent series Body Politic, a collaboration with Christa Carleton, was awarded funding from the Puffin Foundation, the Holter Museum, and the McKnight Foundation.

See the new perennial t-shirt and mug designs on our thank-you gift page.