NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Young Botanical Artist: prizewinners and selected artists

25/10/2023

The inaugural exhibition of the Young Botanical Artist competition opened on Friday. On Saturday I was back at Kew for the Private View for the exhibition - which was held in the much larger Marianne North Gallery - because this is a space which can accommodate lots and lots of people - including some 40 young botanical artists from all over the world.!

Following the presentations of Certificates, people moved to the actual exhibition in Galleries 5 and 6 of The Shirley Sherwood Gallery - which then became full of people with their art - and their significant others!

I'll be writing more about the artwork in the exhibition in my next review post.

After the presentation of Prizes and Certificates.

During the presentation, I was able to video selected artists receiving their certificates and then afterwards photograph some of them with their artwork.

These are links to where you can see those videos on my Facebook Page

selected artists 16-18 age group
runners up and the winner of the 16-18 age group
selected artists, runners up and winner of 19-25 age group (to be linked after I've posted the video)

I'll be doing another post which considers this exhibition in more detail - and this will also include a link to my video of the exhibition - minus people.

This post is about:

the purpose of the exhibition
a summary of statistics about the exhibition
who was selected for the exhibition in the two age groups
who won the prize of Young Botanical Artist in each age group

Young Botanical Artist Competition & Exhibition

We believe there is significant talent among the 16-25 age group with a wealth of exciting work to be uncovered. This is a crucial moment to engage with the ever-growing genre of botanical art – the scientific capacity of botanical paintings and drawings to document plants and fungi is particularly vital in contemporary society as we work to preserve our planet’s biodiversity.
The Shirley Sherwood Collection

The aim of the Young Botanical Artist competition was to encourage young artists to engage with the natural world at a time when preserving our planet’s biodiversity is vital.

The Young Botanical Artist Competition was initiated in 2022 by The Shirley Sherwood
Collection, in collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. (see my blog post Young Botanical Artist Competition 2022: Call for Entries)

The YBA competition asked artists from two age groups, 16–18 and 19–25, to submit two-dimensional artworks on the theme of ‘Trees’.

They could depict something as large as the entire tree or as small as a leaf bud.
The artwork needed to be in A2, A3 or A4 formats in any medium excluding photography and representative of the subject and in a botanical art style.
The shortlisted artists would have their work shown in this exhibition
the winners and runners-up of each age group would also receive
- cash prizes (Overall Winner (1 per category): £750; Highly Commended (2 per category): £250)
- art supplies - kindly donated by Seawhite of Brighton

Ten of the world’s most renowned botanical artists and curators donated their time
to judge the entries, choosing works that represented their subject creatively, but
with scientific accuracy. The nine Judges, alongside Dr Shirley Sherwood, were:

Laura Giuffrida (UK)
Mieko Ishikawa (Japan) - and Winner of the Inaugural Botanical Artist of the Year
Svetlana Lanse (Russia)
Susan Ogilvy (UK)
Denise Ramsay (New Zealand)
Úrsula Romero (Spain)
Lucy T. Smith (Australia/UK)
Gustavo Surlo (Brazil)
Vicki Thomas (South Africa)

The panel looked for for botanical artworks that represented their subjects creatively, but with scientific accuracy.

The wide array of different media and styles showed the unique perspective of each artist.
The standard was high, proving a challenge for the judges.
They created a long list through individual review and then met again to consider all the artwork and discuss how to reduce the number to the maximum number that could be exhibited in Gallery at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens.
The original intention was to show 40 - but this was increased to 50
It now includes digital artworks to reflect the companion exhibition of digital artwork about plants by Mat Collishaw.

Visitors to the exhibition will be able to vote for their favourite artwork and a People’s Choice award will be announced in April.

Some statistics

I'm absolutely amazed by just how international this exhibition is. I've covered many international art competitions in the past and I can't ever remember getting so many entries from so many different countries - including ones which are not generally recognised as part of the international art scene. I wonder if we'll see some new national art societies developing as a result of this.

From entries to hung artworks

the organisers received over 1,000 entries
from 77 countries
The final selection of artworks were submitted by artists from 17 countries,
- including Brazil, India, Japan, Uzbekistan, and Indonesia.
- See below to see the selected artists listed by country
50 artworks were selected for the exhibition
- 11 in the 16-18 age group
- 39 in the 19-25 age group
The two age group winners come from Poland and Vietnam, neither of which have been well known as a source of botanical artists in the past.
the majority of the selected artists are young women with the gender bias being very similar to that well known to many botanical artists.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled with the standard of the entries we received for our inaugural Young Botanical Artist competition and I’m grateful to my daughter-in-law Rachel Sherwood for bringing the initiative to life. It’s been fascinating to see such a broad range of responses to the competition and to have received so many entries from across the world. To see first-hand the next generation of talented botanical artists coming to the fore is enormously inspiring.”
Dr Shirley Sherwood

Prizewinners

You can see images of all the artworks by the age group prizewinners and the runners up at the bottom of the page about the Young Botanical Art competition/exhibition

Marianna Zych (Poland) with one of her two works in the exhibition Prunus serrula (watercolour on paper) won First Prize for the 16-18 Age Group

The winner of the 16-18 Age Group was Prunus serrula (watercolour on paper) by Marianna Zych from Poland. What is particularly noteworthy about this artwork is that

this is her very first botanical artwork - following just one month of painting classes.
and she is 17 years old.

When I saw this Tibetan cherry tree (Prunus serrula) at the Royal Botanic
Garden Edinburgh, it shone like a metal sculpture. Unusual, saturated colours
focused the eyes of passers-by and the wavy bark and protruding elements added an even more unusual appearance. It was a difficult task to convey the brilliance, texture and unique colours of this plant but I knew I had to paint it.
Marianna Zych

The winner of the 19-25 Age Group was Bauhinia variegata leaf (watercolour on paper) by Khanh Ly Nguyen from Vietnam. Her small watercolour (below) showcases the intricate detail of this stunning tree.

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Two NEW exhibitions at Kew (Oct 2023 - April 24)

16/10/2023

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Two new exhibitions open at the end of this week at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew

Mat Colishaw - Petrichor - which includes premieres of new artwork
Young Botanical Artist - following the competition held by the Shirley Sherwood Collection in liaison with Kew Gardens.

You can find summaries of both below. I'll be writing reviews of both after I've seen them.

The exhibitions open on 20th October 2023 and continue until 7th April 2024.

Mat Colishaw - Petrichor

Mat Colishaw is a 57 year old English artist who works in photography and video. His work includes the creation of digital artworks using NFT and AI. He became well known when his work first surfaced as part of the Young British Artists group in the late 80s.

The Petrichor exhibition at Kew will dominate Galleries 1-5 and

showcases new commissions alongside existing works,
draws on an array of evocative imagery from the natural world.
includes sculptural installations, using a variety of pioneering techniques to explore the relationship between the natural world, art history, and how representations of nature in art can impact the way in which we see the world around us.

You can also see more about the Petrichor exhibition on his website.

“Bringing Mat Collishaw’s innovative work to the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art is hugely exciting, and this exhibition promises to be an evocative and wonderfully unique experience, unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the gallery before. Drawing inspiration from the natural world and the tradition of botanical art, Mat’s use of cutting-edge technology alongside the innovations of the past makes this exhibition a tantalising prospect for visitors to Kew this autumn.”
Maria Devaney, Galleries and Exhibition Leader at RBG Kew

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