Below you can find people illustrating producing art related to botanical subjects
using digital illustration, printmaking, photography, radiographs and sculpture
using digital illustration, printmaking, photography, radiographs and sculpture
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This section highlight 20th and 21st centuries artists who excel in different kinds of contemporary art media.
"Other media" below is ordered in terms of chronology with more traditional methods coming first and more contemporary methods coming last |
Featured Media
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Part of Laurence Hill's 2014 Gold Medal Winning Exhibition of Kobaimo - Japanese Endemic Fritillaria in the Botanical Photography Exhibition at the RHS Autumn Flower Show 2014
Fine Art Printmaking
In the past, fine art printmaking methods - such as engraving - were used to produce a lot of the botanical illustrations that we see today. Printmaking is less used today but there are still individuals who excel in this approach to making art.
This section will develop a listing of outstanding contemporary botanical printmakers - and those practising in recent times.
This section will develop a listing of outstanding contemporary botanical printmakers - and those practising in recent times.
Botanical Etching
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Monika deVries Gohlke
Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. A painter and printmaker working primarily with botanical subjects - she sometimes hand colours her etchings and also Has exhibited very widely and at prestigious venues and has work in private and public collections - including that of Shirley Sherwood. Her fine art prints are exhibited in various exhibitions of the ASBA where they have won a number of awards and at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew Gardens. Fellow of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium, NY |
For over 20 years now I’ve explored the various etching techniques to express my concepts of botanical art: drawing, scratching, scraping and burnishing my plates, aquatinting and spit-biting them, oftentimes hand-coloring the finished print. |
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Michael Landy RA (b. 1963)
Michael Landy is primarily known as a conceptual artist, a Young British Artist and a member of the Royal Academy of Arts where he was appointed the Eranda Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy Schools in 2014. Yet he has produced a very fine portfolio of 10 botanical etchings known as Nourishment. The etchings are all meticulous, life-sized studies of individual weeds the artist found growing in the street. They were published by Paragon Press in an edition of thirty-seven plus six artist’s proofs. The Tate owns number nine in the series (available to view by appointment - which I have done). The Victoria and Albert Museum has Creeping Buttercup in its collection
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For the past two years, Landy has been botanising in little urban margins, looking for their earliest colonising flora as well as the longer standing floral residents. Collecting weeds from urban brownfields, from cracks in pavements and the corners and verges of car parks, he has kept them fed and watered and has spent hours drawing each one, first on paper then on copper plates. The result is a series of etchings – little florilegiums, not exactly garlands – that seem to refer back to artists of the Renaissance, such as Albrecht Dürer, as well as to botanical illustrators of more recent centuries. |
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Bryan Poole
Bryan Poole is a New Zealand born botanical and natural history artist now living in London who produces Contemporary Botanical Aquatint Etchings. He is a member of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers and has regularly exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show. His work has been included in exhibitions of botanical art at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew and elsewhere. "Bryan Poole ...has the gift to be able to combine traditional methods of illustration and reproduction with a very modern approach to botanical art and design..." Dr Christopher Grey-Wilson |
Bryan Poole exhibiting at The RHS Chelsea Show in May 2008 - the artwork on display is aquatint etchings
(copyright Katherine Tyrrell)
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Botanical Linoprinting
Henry Evans
began making his botanical prints - using linoprinting - in 1958 and during his career he drew more than 1400 subjects.
Reference:
began making his botanical prints - using linoprinting - in 1958 and during his career he drew more than 1400 subjects.
Reference:
Sculpture
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David Watkinson
Produces kinetic sculpture involving natural and organic forms. He graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University in 1994 and has since worked as a sculptor. His work is in a number of prestigious collections and RHS Gardens. Below are three photos of leaf sculptures in the Winter Garden at RHS Hyde Hall and a video of a kinetic wind sculpture at Hyde Hall. |
I take my inspiration from the natural world, and in my sculpture I endeavour to point to the relationship between physics and the physical. |
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This wind sculpture - at RHS Hyde Hall Garden in Essex - allows two large sycamore seed pods to move kinetically influenced only by the speed and direction of the wind - and the precision ball bearings and precise and delicate weighting used by sculptor David Watkinson to enable it to be set in motion by the slightest breeze.
READ The Best Botanical Wind Sculpture ever! NOTE: RHS Hyde Hall is an expanding RHS Garden located at Creephedge Lane, Rettendon, Chelmsford, Essex CM3 8RA |
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Nic Bladen
Nic Bladen live and works in South Africa. He casts entire plants in bronze and sterling silver to celebrate the subtle and diverse beauty of the plants of the Western Cape, South Africa. |
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Photography
Elsewhere on this website, you can find out more about:
- famous botanical photographers of the past
- how to exhibit at the RHS Botanical Photography Exhibition on this page.
Notable contemporary botanical photographers
CRITERIA FOR INCLUSION:
I focus on some botanical photographers but typically ONLY highlight
For more about the RHS portfolio displays READ:
I focus on some botanical photographers but typically ONLY highlight
- those who focus on plants - and NOT gardens
- have achieved status in the field of botanical photography e.g. Royal Horticultural Society Gold Medal for Botanical Photography
- demonstrate expertise in this field across years and different projects
For more about the RHS portfolio displays READ:
- 2022 RHS Medals for Portfolio Photography 2022
- 2021:
- RHS London Botanical Art & Photography Show - Pros, Cons and the Future
- Review: RHS London Portfolio Photography Show - which includes a summary of how this exhibition has developed over time - and lost its way....
- 2020 - show was cancelled
- 2019 - RHS Portfolio Photography Show 2019 - Selected Exhibits
- RHS Photography 2018 and 2019 - this explains the distinction between The RHS Botanical Photography Show and The RHS Photographer of the Year competition. (Only the former counts for this website)
- 2018 - RHS London Botanical Photography Show 2018 - Awards and Medal Winners
- 2017 - RHS Awards for Botanical Photography 2017
Nigel Chapman GM (2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018)
He was Royal Horticultural Society Photographer of the Year in 2005 and was also awarded a number of Gold Medals for his photographs of plants.
He was Royal Horticultural Society Photographer of the Year in 2005 and was also awarded a number of Gold Medals for his photographs of plants.
Part of Nigel Chapman's Gold Medal Winning Exhibition in the Botanical Photography section of the RHS Autumn Shades Exhibition 2012
Laurence Hill with his Fritillaria Flower Map (RHS Autumn 2015)
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Laurence Hill GM (2014, 2017, 2018)
Has won Gold Medals for
REFERENCE:
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Fritillaria, a Family Portrait by Laurence Hill - exhibited at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens in 2014/15
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Clay Perry GM
Won a Gold Medal at the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2012 for his suite of photographs of Heritage Fruit and Vegetables which paid homage to the still life artwork of Juan Sanchez Cotan (1561 - 1627). |
Clay Perry with his exhibit of Heritage Fruit & Vegetables (2012)
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Polina Plotnikova GM (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018)
a Russian photographer based in the UK has won Gold Medals for her botanical photography after a series of Silver Gilts.
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Polina Plotnikova with her Gold Medal winning display of Tall Bearded Irises - National Collection portfolio at the RHS Botanical Photography Show 2015
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J.W. Fike
This Art teacher and photographer is producing a Photographic Survey of the Wild Edible Botanicals of the North American Continent. He has developed a large collection of photographs that highlight the edible parts of wild plants collected by foragers. His work references the artistic history of scientific illustration as a way of documenting local and sustainable food sources. To date he has photographed the majority of the Southwest and Western plant life. His technique is described on the right. His work has been exhibited.
READ: J.W. Fike's Photographic Survey of the Wild Edible Botanicals of the North American Continent
This Art teacher and photographer is producing a Photographic Survey of the Wild Edible Botanicals of the North American Continent. He has developed a large collection of photographs that highlight the edible parts of wild plants collected by foragers. His work references the artistic history of scientific illustration as a way of documenting local and sustainable food sources. To date he has photographed the majority of the Southwest and Western plant life. His technique is described on the right. His work has been exhibited.
READ: J.W. Fike's Photographic Survey of the Wild Edible Botanicals of the North American Continent
J.W. Fike’s Photographic Survey of the Wild Edible Botanicals of the North American Continent - images from his blog highlighting his photographic technique
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Within my system the plant is excavated, arranged in the studio, photographed, then illustrated digitally in such a way as to render the edible parts in color while the remaining parts, less emphatically, read as photograms. |
Alan S. Heilman
a retired professor of Botany at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville who has developed a database of of more than 1,100 digitized color-film photographs of flowering plants, ferns, mosses, and lichens taken over the past sixty years. The themes of his collection are themes: Bark, Buds, Cones, Flowers, Fruits, Fungi, Leaves, Lichens, Mosses, Seeds, Stems, Trees, and Wood. All the images have been gifted to the gifted by Dr. Heilman to the University of Tennessee Libraries and are available online
a retired professor of Botany at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville who has developed a database of of more than 1,100 digitized color-film photographs of flowering plants, ferns, mosses, and lichens taken over the past sixty years. The themes of his collection are themes: Bark, Buds, Cones, Flowers, Fruits, Fungi, Leaves, Lichens, Mosses, Seeds, Stems, Trees, and Wood. All the images have been gifted to the gifted by Dr. Heilman to the University of Tennessee Libraries and are available online
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Plant
Exploring the Botanical World   300 stunning botanical images produced using different approaches. Includes pioneering techniques for plant representation and a huge variety of traditional and digital photographic and scanning methods Rated an average of:
BUY THIS BOOK Amazon UK | Amazon.com |
Flora
Inside the Secret World of Plants   #1 Best Seller in Botany & Plant Sciences References Amazing photography explains the structure - roots, stems, branches, leaves, flowers, berries and fruit - and functionality of plants Rated an average of:
BUY THIS BOOK Amazon UK | Amazon.com |
Digital Botanical Illustration
Digital Photography and composite illustrations
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Niki Simpson
If you've never seen digital botanical illustration before take a look at Visual Botany - Niki Simpson's website. It's amazing. The work involved in creating individual images is very significant.
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Digital Diversity by Niki Simpson in collaboration with Peter Barnes
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PUBLICATIONS
- Digital diversity : a new approach to botanical illustration Simpson, Niki | Barnes, Peter, 1948-2007 | Guildford : Niki Simpson | 12 p. : col. ill. ; 21 cm - Art catalogue published in March 2007 for the exhibition of digital botanical illustrations by Niki Simpson in collaboration with Peter Barnes at the Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem Freie Universität Berlin.
- Colour and contemporary digital botanical illustration | Simpson, Niki | Elsevier Ltd | Optics and laser technology, 2011, Vol.43 (2), p.330-336
- complete listing of all publications
“Niki Simpson is a true pioneer in the field of digital botanical art. Her emphasis is on accuracy and detail, illustrating diagnostic and taxonomic characteristics, creating beautiful ‘image vouchers’ which convey a scientifi c visual description of the plant concerned, while retaining the approach of traditional botanical art, in terms of composition and style. In order to include the features shown by the plant throughout the year, each illustration can take many weeks or months to create. These composite images use a range of media: mainly digital 38 photographs, but may also include scanning electron micrographs of pollen grains, fl atbed scans, computer drawings and scanned handdrawn work or photographic transparencies. The images have been developed primarily for onscreen use—where magnification or zoom tools can be used to reveal and explore microcharacters that would otherwise remain hidden, and for future interactive viewing. Much of the creative process is just the same as working traditionally (working in collaboration with botanists), it is just the tool that has changed. For Niki, the future of botanical illustration lies in exploring the potential of the dynamic digital workspace, exploring how technology can be used to create new descriptive data. Each image portrays a particular plant, but each illustration also tells a story—a botanical narrative of growth and reproduction. Niki’s is an exquisite approach, truly deserving of the Jill Smythies Award 2018.”
The Linnean Volume 34 (2 October 2018)
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REFERENCE
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Niki Simpson with her Jill Smythies Award
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Digital 3d Modelling
a digital Narcissus from his exhibition catalogue (click the pic to view)
Macoto Murayama
a Japanese artist who cultivates ‘inorganic flora’.
b. Kanagawa (1984). Studied Spatial Design at Miyagi University followed by research at the Institute of Advanced Media Art and Sciences in Ogaki. The stages of creating his images are:
a Japanese artist who cultivates ‘inorganic flora’.
b. Kanagawa (1984). Studied Spatial Design at Miyagi University followed by research at the Institute of Advanced Media Art and Sciences in Ogaki. The stages of creating his images are:
- chooses the plant and finds the real flower
- dissects the flower cutting the petal and ovary with scalpel and observes it with magnifying glass.
- makes sketches and photographs the parts of dissected flower.
- models its form and structure using 3ds Max (3DCG software).
- renders separate parts and creates a composition using Adobe Photoshop.
- imposes admeasurements, parts names, scale, scientific name etc.
- prints out image of the plant on a large scale printer and frames it.
- Macoto Murayama: Growth and Form Lamb Gallery, Tower Building, University of Dundee 14 May – 20 August 2016
- Interview With Macoto Murayama | Visual Atelier
- "Inorganic flora", Frantic Gallery, Tokyo | (Catalogue PDF Download)
A behind the scenes look at Macoto Murayama's artistic process, and the development of the exhibit of his work at Autodesk's San Francisco gallery.
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