NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Exhibiting artists at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2019

14/7/2019

Below you an find a list of the 30 artists exhibiting at least 180 botanical paintings and/or botanical illustrations at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2019 at the RHS London Art & Photography Show at the Lindley Hall in London later this month.

There has been an ever-increasing number of artists applying to exhibit. This year the artists are sharing the Lindley Hall with the Portfolio Photographers also competing for medals. It appears to me that an informed but arbitrary limit has been determined with 30 stands going to the artists and 10 to the photographers.

In reviewing the list of exhibitors I noted in particular that apart from those artists who have never exhibited before, the remainder of the artists exhibiting are those who have previously won either a Gold or a Silver Gilt Medal.

I wonder if this is the new standard for returning artists? If it is I'm not surprised - I've been expecting it for some time given that the walls of the Hall are not going to expand to fit all those who want to exhibit! (I found the relevant text in the Fact Sheet)

It may not be possible to accommodate all of the artists who apply for space. If this is the case a selection criteria will be employed taking into consideration previous exhibition and medal history.
Botanical Illustration 2019: Exhibitor Fact Sheet

View of the RHS Botanical Art Show in July 2018

All exhibitors have applied to exhibit after

either a selection process to get approval to exhibit
or previously winning a medal in an exhibition.

Both then have a period of five years to submit their artwork after gaining approval or a medal. Interestingly we have two Gold Medal Winners from the 2014 exhibiting this year.

The list of selected/invited artists is organised by the continent/country where they live.
In total there are

30 artists (35 in 2016, 29 in 217 and 37 in 2018) )
from 10+ different countries (10 in 2016 and 12 in 2018).

The number per country is as follows:

14 x UK (England)
3 x Japan
2 x South Korea
1 x Australia
1 x Italy
1 x Hong Kong (China)
1 x New Zealand
1 x Switzerland
1 x UK (Scotland)
1 x USA
4 x Other

The link in the name of the artist is to their own website or a website which is representative of their work.

I've highlighted previous Gold Medal Winners by 'GM' after their names. The number relates to the year they won it. I've also commented on those I know and those where I was able to find some information about them. Help would be appreciated with respect to anybody who knows those listed at the end under "other".

DETAILS OF THE RHS LONDON ART & PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW

The RHS London Art and Photography Show includes 30 artists and 10 photographers.
Venue: RHS Lindley Hall Elverton St, London SW1P 2PB
Dates:

opens with a Preview Evening on Tuesday 23rd July 6-9pm. All tickets £5. Note medal certificates may not be published until the Wednesday morning - as happened last year.
Two full days on Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th (10am-5pm).

Tickets: This is the link to buy tickets in advance: £5 to the public for each day if purchased in advance and £8 on the day. FREE ENTRY to all RHS Members producing their membership cards and ID (No ticket required)

MY RECOMMENDATIONS:

VISIT THIS EXHIBITION if you are at all serious about botanical art as a botanical artist or botanical art collector. It will include some of the best botanical art exhibited anywhere in the world this year.

My strong recommendation to Artists planning to apply to the RHS to exhibit in the future has always been to

Ideally visit the exhibition to get a proper sense of the standard and what's involved in putting together an exhibit
If you can't visit (because you live outside the UK) review my archive of blog posts and videos about previous shows to get a sense of the standard and presentation
Study the exhibits and think about why some work better than others as exhibits. Think long and hard about your exhibit theme. Avoid popular / much repeated themes and remember this is a Horticultural Society which values botanical accuracy!
study the background and paintings of those selected for this exhibition - in particular those who have previously been awarded a Gold Medal by the RHS. Note the length of time it takes to prepare before starting to paint.
Make the most of the tips offered by previous Gold Medal Winners
Delay exhibiting until you have the very best exhibit you can possibly produce. I've known people very much regret they rushed an exhibit.
ALWAYS bear in mind that the weakest element/painting is very influential in determining the medal awarded. Eliminate all weaknesses!
Aim for Silver Gilt or better - to stand a better chance of being able to exhibit more than once.

EUROPE (17 exhibitors)

United Kingdom - England (14)

This year's exhibitors include 5 Gold Medallists, 2 Silver Gilt Medallists and 7 artists who are NEW to exhibiting at the RHS (as an individual).

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RHS Portfolio Photography Show 2019 - Selected Exhibits

13/7/2019

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Every year the RHS Photographic Competition has a special category for the Portfolio Exhibit - which replaces what used to be known as the Botanical Photography Show (i.e. the photographic counterpart of the Botanical Art Show)

This is the only RHS competitive exhibition for photographers which is eligible for RHS Medals.

Species Boundaries Fritillaria affines - won a Gold Medal for RHS Veteran Photographer Laurence Hill - who is not exhibiting in 2019

I'm very much hoping for a higher standard than last year. In my view, the 2018 exhibition included some very weak exhibits as well as some excellent (see above) exhibits when compared to the medal winners in previous exhibitions. There were also some really awful problems with reflections due to the strong sunlight and glass roof - and no exhibitor should assume a neutral and shadowless north light!

This exhibit should in my opinion be UNIQUE and should NEVER ever be mistaken for a landscape photography nor a still life 'arty farty' photography competition.

It's entirely possible that the change in the quality of the exhibits on display changed because of a change in the method of selecting exhibitors. The inconsistency between the Art and the Photography Exhibitions makes absolutely no sense to me since the value of all the Medals awarded should always be equivalent. That suggests to me that process and criteria - and application of same - should be very similar too.

For the 2019 Exhibition Selections Process

those submitting did NOT have to go through a pre-selection stage as Botanical Artist still do.
the entries are now submitted online
a number are selected anonymously for the show - which if course allows in the generic photographer with no specific experience, knowledge or expertise in either botanical or horticultural photography.

In my opinion, to be a proper RHS Portfolio Photography exhibition - which equals the current standard of the Botanical Art Show - and, at the same time, is distinctively different from the other categories within RHS Photographic Exhibition, it needs to be VERY firmly located in "botanical" or "horticultural". Pretty or clever or "mood" or "I love nature" photos alone do not cut it. What is important is that the exhibit includes:

proper labelling of plant names in latin
photographs that are useful to botanists or horticulturalists in terms of (1) identifying key distinguishing plant features and/or (2) habitats where they grow and/or (3) recording gardens
an excellent presentation of the story of the exhibit.

Art over horticultural or botanical content simply does not make the grade for me. There are LOTS of other photographic competitions for those types of photos. However there is only one RHS Show and medals!

I'll be very interested to see what gets exhibited. I'm currently not optimistic that the current selection process is doing a good job. If there is not a big improvement in the standard of exhibit in 2019, then I may well stop covering it.

Selected Exhibitors

The Titles of the Selected Photography Exhibits - and associated Photographers are listed below.

I'm guessing (because of people being away at the RHS) that all the following are exhibitors in the Portfolio Category. Please note

Exhibitors are categorised by country.
Links in their names are to their websites or photo site (Aside, I'm somewhat surprised at the number of photographers who still have their photographs on an insecure site - as identified by Google. It's not difficult to create a secure site.)
If their website has a unique page for their project I link to it
ARPS means Associate of the Royal Photographic Society.

Having reviewed websites, I know whose work I'm looking forward to seeing.....

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Ask an Expert - the next 3 Botanical Art Surgeries at Kew Gardens

11/7/2019

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The dates of the next "Ask an Expert - Botanical Art Surgeries" with botanical illustrators who work with the botanists at Kew Gardens (and other clients) in the Art Galleries at Kew are as follows:

Venue: Marianne North Gallery

Venue: Shirley Sherwood Gallery

19th January 2020 - Lucy Smith and Hazel Wilks (link to the website for more info will be available nearer the date)

The botanical art surgeries are FREE with admission to Kew Gardens.
Each workshop will last from 11am to 3pm.

About Christobel King

Christobel King - pictured with some of her artwork at the "Brazil - A Powerhouse of Plants" exhibition at Kew in 2016

Christabel King graduated in botany and then studied scientific illustration, before she began working as a botanical illustrator with the botanists at Kew Gardens and became one of the world’s top botanical illustrators. She started producing plates for Kew's Curtis's Botanical Magazine in 1975 and has now spent over 40 years working at Kew (although I gather this is part-time these days as she has now officially retired!)

In 1989 she was awarded the Jill Smythies Award for excellence in botanical illustration by the Linnean Society. She also has the RHS Grenfell Gold Medal,

Christabel is the author of The Kew Book of Botanical Illustration - the first art instruction book by the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew - which also shares some of her wealth of experience, expertise and tips.

You can read an interview with her In the Studio: Christabel King about her techniques and art materials -

About Rachel Pedder Smith

Home Page graphic for Rache Pedder Smith's website

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Isobel Adams, Orchids and Great Dixter

1/7/2019

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When visiting Great Dixter last week, there were lots of local orchids in the uncut meadow grass areas of the site. I love garden websites that actually identify plants you can see - as the Great Dixter site does in relation to the Front Meadow area

The grass is cut twice (August and late autumn) and all is removed and composted. Orchids native to the Weald are a particular success; early purples, green winged, twayblade and spotted (Dactylorhiza fuchsii). It is a sanctuary for them, since changed farming and woodland practices have eliminated most of their natural habitats.
Great Dixter website - Front Meadow (my bold)

Plate 53 Wild Flowers of the British Isles written and illustrated by Isobel Adams - highlighting the spotted, early purple and greenwinged orchids

Common spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii according to Dixter and Orchis maculata according to Isobel Adams) photographed in the front meadow

H. Isobel Adams and Wild Flowers of the British Isles

Mrs Harriet Isabel Adams FLS (1863-1952) illustrated and wrote Wild Flowers of the British Isles which was published in two volumes by Heinemann in 1910. (digitised in 2016)

She sought help from others in gathering specimens but remarkably little is known about her.

It's one of my all time favourite books about wild flowers in Britain and I do wish some publisher would get to grips with the task of publishing a facsimile. I guarantee it would sell well to both botanical art lovers and the wider public because it is both informative and her illustrations are so very beautiful to look at.

Her book does not compete, of course, with Bentham or Hooker's handbooks; but it is sufficiently scientific to enable serious botanists to recommend it to beginners. There are some eighty full-page plates in this quarto volume. We have seen few flower drawings (always excepting Curtis's 'Flora Londinensis') that have given us so much pleasure to look at. From one to half-a-dozen plants are figured on a page ; but Miss Adams manages to keep the character of each species distinct, and the grouping is often full of skill and grace. We have nothing but praise for the colouring, especially the various greens. The yellow of the rock-rose is beautiful, and the more subdued mauves and pinks are excellent. It is all slightly conventional, but gives a truer effect than many an attempt at realism.
The Spectator Archive

Isobel Adams trained at Birmingham School of Art and became a noted 'Arts and Crafts' Illustrator. On 15th November 1906, 'Mrs Harriet Isabel Adams' was elected as a Fellow of the Linnean Society, having been proposed at the previous meeting. She was also a member of the The Botanical Society and Exchange Club of the British Isles. She died age 89 in 1952.

Below are a couple more of her plates about the Orchid Family - as found in the British Isles. Plus details about the fabulous Great Dixter garden for those who'd like to visit

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Selected Artists: ASBA 22nd Annual International

30/6/2019

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Members of the American Society of Botanical Artists selected for the 22nd Annual International Exhibition later this year are listed below.

The Annual International is open to all ASBA members in good standing, worldwide.

A total of 48 artworks by international artists from 12 countries (the USA, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Norway, Russia, Slovenia and the UK) were selected from 230 entries from around the world.

The Judges making the selection were:

Frank Almeda, Curator of Botany Emeritus, Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability, California Academy of Sciences
Julie Bly DeVere, Head Curator and Collections Manager, Historic Filoli Estate
Martha Kemp, Botanical Artist (see also the listing on this page)

Exhibition details are as follows:

Venue: The Studio, Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Frances Drake Blvd, Ross, CA 94957
Dates: September 22 - November 17, 2019

The venue seems to have stimulated rather more entries from California than usual and a lot of artists from California are in the show.

Cynthia Rice 2019. Artichoke ( Cynara scolymus)

The artists are listed below alphabetically by country - with the exception of the USA which comes first.

If I have any details wrong please let me know and I will correct them ASAP. I'm also open to adding in images.... :)

USA

Lots and lots of artists from California!

Claudia Campazzo (California) - Born in Chile to an Italian family, she has lived all of her adult life in the United States. Currently lives in Fairfax, California. Lost her hearing in 2016 and began painting as a creative alternative to her career as a violist.
Carrie Di Costanzo - Took up botanical art in 2008 and is an active ASBA exhibitor; won the Jurors’ Award for Distinction of Botanical Art Presentation at the 14th International show
Catherine Dellor (California) - a commercial artist who became a landscape designer and then started studying botanical art in 2008. Exhibits widely in group exhibitions - but mainly in California. Serves on the board of NCalSBA as well as the national board of ASBA.

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Book Review: RHS Botanical Illustration - The Gold Medal Winners

26/6/2019

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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: For all botanical artists aspiring to enter the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition and win a Gold Medal - and for all botanical art lovers everywhere. This book makes a major contribution to both

the recording of contemporary botanical art
learning about how to produce top quality botanical art.

RHS Botanical Illustration - The Gold Medal Winners is a book I've been waiting for, for a long time - not least because I proposed to the RHS Publications a while back that there really should be a book about the RHS Gold Medal Winners for Botanical Art.

I think the difference between the book I had in mind and that which has been produced is that this one largely

provides a historical account of the RHS Art Collection and how it developed over time
celebrates a selection of the artists who have worked in the latter half of the 20th century and the first two decades of the 21st century
highlights some 60 of those whose artwork is in the RHS Lindley Library Collection of Botanical Art and Illustrations

Hence no Pandora Sellars (whose career took off after being seen at the RHS Botanical Art Shows in 1977) - although the book does include Mary Grierson.

I'm especially pleased we now have a list of all those who have won an RHS Gold Medal in the past - going all the way back to 1930! This was, as I anticipated it might be, a MAJOR exercise in terms of compiling a list from various Minutes of Committee meetings and other records of medals awarded. I know this is the first time ever a complete list has been published! As a result I now have a list of artists whose names need adding into my lists of top botanical artists in the world. That's because any artist who creates a suite of 6 or 9 botanical paintings or illustrations and wins an RHS Gold Medal has always been right up there for me in terms of determining what makes a good artist excellent.

Below is my review of the book - and at the end I tell you the techie details and how to get a copy.

It's also a bit of a "pat on the back" to those artists whose work made it into the book. Hence my photographs of artists are my own taken at the various RHS Botanical Art Shows - as the book very much focuses on the paintings and there are no photos of the artists. Personally I like to see both - not least for scale purposes!

Annie Hughes - who created the painting on the cover - with her Best Painting in Show of an Astrophytum in 2012.

About the book

The book comprises:

an introduction covering (1) the Lindley Library Collection of Botanical Art; and (2) the development of medals for botanical art - and notable awards made by the RHS
commentary by the Chair of the RHS Picture Panel on the current process for aspiring botanical artists to achieve medals at the show
profiles of a selection of 60 RHS Botanical Art Gold Medal Artists, from all over the world who ALSO have work in the Lindley Library Collection - because it was purchased or commissioned by the Lindley Library Collection or because it was donated to the Library by a Gold Medallist. These profiles include accounts of how some of them approached their work.
the Historical List of ALL the RHS Gold Medal Winners (who total a lot more than the 60 in the book) - which runs to six pages and 168 RHS Shows!
a detailed list of all the illustrations in the book - by their botanical latin name

The introduction to the book documents the history of botanical illustration for the RHS, including the commissioning process and the collection developed by the RHS Lindley Library - some of which I knew but some of which came as a complete surprise.

More interesting, for me, was the notion of how botanical art should also be recognised in terms of medals awarded and how this has developed over time.

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Talk about Marianne North at Kew Gardens

18/6/2019

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There is a talk - an Introduction to Marianne North - in the Marianne North Gallery in Kew Gardens this coming Saturday 22nd June - starting at 1pm.

Learn more about the the nineteenth century traveller and painter of plants Marianne North - her background, explorations and her paintings of plants which she created on her travels around the world - from Philip Kerrigan from the University of York.

Philip Kerrigan has a PhD from the Research Centre for Social Sciences at the University of York, and has undertaken research into how Marianne North’s paintings reflect the ideas of Charles Darwin and other scientific views of the late 19th century. He researched and wrote the article Marianne North: Painting a Darwinian Vision

View of the interior of the Marianne North Gallery where the talk will take place

If anyone wants to book a place please

EITHER email shirleysherwoodgallery@kew.org
OR ring 0208 332 3622.

A ticket for the event is included with the price of admission to Kew Gardens..

If you can't make it to the incredible Marianne North Gallery (once seen, never ever forgotten!), and want to know more about her, why not take a look at my web page about her About Marianne North (1830-1890).

However I shall be trying to get to the talk this Saturday!

The exterior of the Marianne North Gallery - next to the Shirley Sherwood Gallery

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