Contemporary Botanical Artists and Illustrators in the USA, Canada and Mexico
This list is by no means comprehensive right now and will be added to as this site develops. It is:
The guideline I use for who to include is that the artists have either won RHS Gold Medals or have otherwise distinguished themselves in terms of inclusion of their work in important collections (e.g. the Smithsonian Collection)
Note: The Banner image is a slice of Jean Emmons RHS Gold Medal winning display of 'Common mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest, United States' in 2011.
- categorised by media and
- the list is alphabetical based on surnames.
The guideline I use for who to include is that the artists have either won RHS Gold Medals or have otherwise distinguished themselves in terms of inclusion of their work in important collections (e.g. the Smithsonian Collection)
Note: The Banner image is a slice of Jean Emmons RHS Gold Medal winning display of 'Common mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest, United States' in 2011.
USA
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Francesca Anderson GM (1995, 98)
Francesca Anderson is a botanical artist who always works in pen and ink. She has received two RHS gold medals (Amaryllis in 1995; Brassica series in 1998). She is a former President of the American Society of Botanical Artists, founder and president of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium Society, a fellow of the Linnean Society and and a Trustee of Brooklyn Botanic Garden. She has Bobbi Angell A long career of drawing botanical illustrations in pen and ink for the New York Botanical Garden and others. 2006 recipient of Jill Smythies Award from the Linnean Society of London and ASBA Award for Excellence in the Service of Science. Recent work has involved copper etching. Diane Bouchier is the Founder of the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA). She studied scientific illustration at Harvard’s Peabody Museum and botanical illustration at The New York Botanical Garden. Her preferred media are colored pencil and egg tempera. She has exhibited widely. Her work was included in the 8th International at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation and her work is in the collections of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium and the Hunt. |
Francesca Anderson at the Johnathan Cooper Park Walk gallery exhibition for the 25th anniversary exhibition of the Shirley Sherwood Collection.
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"Ten Walks in Virginia" - a sample of drawings from Lara Call Gastinger's RHS Gold Medal winning collection in 2007
Drawings copyright Lara Call Gastinger
Photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell
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Jean Emmons (GM 2005, 2011)
Works in watercolour and paints on vellum. She won RHS Best Botanical Painting in 2011 for one of her Common mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest, United States. Her 2005 GM was for Pacific Coast Irises. In 2005 she won the ASBA 2005 Diane Bouchier Founders Award for Excellence in Botanical Art. In 2007, she won “Best in Show” at the International Botanical Art Exhibition at the Horticultural Society of New York. Jean is based on Vashon Island, WA, USA Margaret Farr - her work is in the collections of the Shirley Sherwood Collection, Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Denver Botanic Garden and Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Lara Call Gastinger (GM 2007)
RHS Gold Medal winner for a very impressive series on Plants of Virginia - 10 Walks in Virginia which is one of my all time favourite exhibits. Lara was the chief illustrator for the Flora of Virginia Project. John Gist
BFA in Illustration from the Philadelphia College of Art. Exhibited at the 12th International Exhibition at the Hunt in 2007 |
Jean Emmons with the painting which won "Best Painting" at the RHS Botanical Art Show (March 2011). Part of a display of 'Common mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest, United States'.
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Wendy Hollender
A botanical artist, illustrator, author, and instructor who works predominatly in coloured pencils. Member of the American Society of Botanical Artists and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium Society. Her work was included in the 13th International Exhibition at Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, and in exhibitions at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, and the Smithsonian National Museum for Natural History. She is also an an instructor of Botanical Art and Illustration at the New York Botanical Garden and the author of the author of Botanical Drawing in Color: A Basic Guide To Mastering Realistic Form And Naturalistic Color and Botanical Drawing: A Beginner's Guide.
A botanical artist, illustrator, author, and instructor who works predominatly in coloured pencils. Member of the American Society of Botanical Artists and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium Society. Her work was included in the 13th International Exhibition at Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, and in exhibitions at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, and the Smithsonian National Museum for Natural History. She is also an an instructor of Botanical Art and Illustration at the New York Botanical Garden and the author of the author of Botanical Drawing in Color: A Basic Guide To Mastering Realistic Form And Naturalistic Color and Botanical Drawing: A Beginner's Guide.
  Botanical Drawing in Color:
A Basic Guide to Mastering Realistic Form and Naturalistic Color by Wendy Hollender Paperback: 144 pages Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publication date: July 20, 2010 See details of the author above. |
Wendy Hollender's approach in this book is to tackle form first and colour second. It focuses on:
This book is rated an average of
BUY in USA: Botanical Drawing in Color: A Basic Guide to Mastering Realistic Form and Naturalistic Color
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from Amazon UK
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Karen Johnson
Degree in biological illustration from Iowa State University. Member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI), and the Nature Artists Guild of the Morton Arboretum. Exhibited at the 12th International of the Hunt in 2007. Heeyoung Kim ASBA GM
Heeyoung Kim is a winner of an RGS Gold Medal and a number of other awards. She's a member of The American Society of Botanical Artists and The Reed-Turner Botanical Artists Group in Long Grove, Illinois. She specialises in drawing American Prairie Plants. (see imagebank) Katie Lee Graduate of the New York Botanical Garden Botanical Illustration program, Katie went on to become an instructor at NYBG for 20 years. Work in private collections in England, Australia, the United States of America and South Africa. including those of Shirley Sherwood and Alisa and Isaac Sutton . Author of 'Fundamental Graphite Techniques' Marjorie Leggitt the lead illustrator for Flora of North America Volume 9: Rosaceae. She has also worked on other volumes and has produced over 180 plates |
Heeyoung Kim and two of her Gold Medal Winning collection of "American Prairie Plants" (left) Fringed Gentian (right) Ohio Spiderwort © Heeyoung Kim Photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell
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Katherine Manisco
Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, member of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden Florilegium Society and the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society. Paintings in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, the Hunt Institute, collection of Dr. Shirley Sherwood and the Highgrove Florilegium. Awarded the Grenfell Medal by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1993. Kate Nessler GM Awarded three RHS Gold Medals. Work in the collections of Highgrove Florilegium, The Shirley Sherwood Collection, The Royal Horticulture Society, The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Pittsburgh, PA and The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC. Now paints on vellum. Displays work via Susan Frei Nathan (USA) and Jonathan Cooper (London). She lives in the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. This is A Conversation with Kate Nessler By Joyce Westner which originally appeared in The Botanical Artist – Volume 15, Issue 1 (on the ASBA website). |
Richard (Dick) Rauh GM (2006)
Doctorate in Plant Sciences (2001). Best in Show at RHS Botanical Art 2006. Paintings in the Hunt Collection, New York State Museum and RHS Lindley Library and the Shirley Sherwood Collection. Teaches at NYBG (since 1984) and on board of ASBA. Past president of both ASBA and the GNSI. Fellow of Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium Janet Rieck Exhibited at the Hunt in 2004/5 exhibition. Won a "Best in Show" at the New York Botanical Society Exhibit in 2004. Three of her paintings have been included in the Highgrove Florilegium Alice Tangerini Staff illustrator in the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, since 1972. (Examples of her work). She specialises in monochrome illustration and lectures and teaches about scientific botanical illustration. This is an article about her work |
The photographs below were taken at the exhibition to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Shirley Sherwood Collection at the Jonathan Cooper, Park Walk Gallery in Chelsea. You can read the e-catalogue of the exhibition.
Jessica Tcherepnine GM with her Quince (Cydonia Oblonga) - watercolour on Fabriano Artistico 24 x 16cm) at the the 25th anniversary of the Shirley Sherwood Collection
Jessica Tcherepnine GM
b. 1938. An English born botanical artist who worked for Christies and lived in the USA for 30+ years. Double RHS Gold Medal Winer - in 1988 for watercolours of New York State wildflowers and in 1990 for a series of orchids. She is a founding member of the American Society of Botanical Artists. Has painted for the Highgrove Florilegium, Filoli Florilegium, and Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium. Work in various collections including the Hunt, the British Museum (Natural History) and the RHS Lindley Library. This is a New York Times article about her work. ''Her work is intense as well as being decorative and scientifically accurate" |
Carol Woodin with Phormium sp (watercolour on vellum over panel) at the exhibition to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Shirley Sherwood Collection.
Carol Woodin GM
Specialises in painting rare plants in watercolour on vellum. She has been awarded an RHS Gold Medal and the Diane Bouchier Award. Her work is in the collections of Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Dr. Shirley Sherwood Collection, and Alisa and Isaac Sutton. She is professional botanical artist (represented by Susan Frei Nathan) and has been the Director of Exhibitions for the American Society of Botanical Artists since 2005. |
 
Today's Botanical Artists
by Cora B Marcus (Author), Libby Kyer (Author) Hardcover: 176 pages Publisher: Schiffer Publishing; Publication date: November 1, 2007 |
This is a compendium of contemporary botanical artists currently living and working in the USA. A more accurate title is "Botanical Artists of Today living in the USA" as it doesn't include leading artists living elsewhere.
It includes 65 artists and 220 drawings and paintings. Each artist has a double page spread for a short statement about their work plus three or four images. However in an appendix there is also a useful and comprehensive datum for each artist relating to selected exhibitions, collections, memberships, awards etc as at the date of publication.. It also includes the price of paintings in the book and contact details. The landscape format suits some of the images particularly well whereas other portrait format images are rendered smaller than I'd have like to see. The quality of the images seems to be influenced by the quality of the scan or photograph provided by the artist as there is some variation in quality - however most are excellent. Rated 5 out of 5 stars by 7 customer reviews BUY THIS BOOK Today's Botanical Artists (Schiffer Book)
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Canada
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Sherry Mitchell SFCA
Sherry is a watercolour botanical artist, specializing in the native flora of British Columbia, Canada. Her work is included in the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. Margaret Best Has work in the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. She is also a member of the botanical art societies in the America, Canada, Southern California, Southern Alberta, South Africa and the Florilegium Society of the Royal Botanical Gardens of Sydney, Australia. |
Pamela Stagg GM (1991)
Won an RHS Gold Medal only 4 years after discovering an interest in botanical art. Also won the Grenfell Medal. The Royal Canadian Mint commissioned her to design the Trillium Coin for the prestigious Pure Gold Coin series. Her book Roses: A Celebration was published by Northpoint Press in the Fall of 2003, Kerri Weller Her work is in the permanent collection of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. Her paintings have been juried into 5 International Exhibitions of the American Society of Botanical Artists. She is a a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and the University of Toronto's medical illustration program. Works in oil as well as watercolour. |
Mexico
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Edmundo Saavedra Vidal
Has worked as a scientific illustrator at the Instituto de Ecologia AC in Mexico for the past 26 years. He won the Margaret Flockton Award for Botanical Illustratio in 2011 and 2015 and has been a prizewinners and highly commended in other years. |
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