Call for UK Entries for the Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art 2018

The NEW Association of `British Botanical Artists (ABBA) today announced its Call for Entries for the UK contribution to the Worldwide Botanical Art Exhibition in 2018. 

• details can be found on their website (http://abba2018.wordpress.com) 
• a summary of the key facts can be found below.

ABBA also has a NEW Association of British Botanical Artists - ABBA Facebook Page 

In brief:

• the organisation is independent of all other botanical art societies, florilegium societies, botanical art groups - of which there are many - in the UK. Like Scotland, the organisational model is one which stands seperate from existing organisations for the purposes of the exhibition - but invites all botanical artists in the UK to participate. (Except those in Scotland - as they have created their own arrangements - see Flora Scotia (May 2018) - Call for Entries)
• The scope of the UK exhibition is botanical artwork of plants native to the UK ONLY. The new website has an excellent page of information about native plants. See also the Online Atlas of British and Irish Flora
• a juried exhibition of botanical drawings and paintings of native plants will be held at the Ruskin Library, Lancaster University for two weeks in May 2018.  This venue commemorates the contribution of John Ruskin who was himself a great draughtsman when it came to drawing plants

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In Ruskin's footsteps - "Linking people to plants through botanical art"

The exhibition is OPEN to:

• everyone resident for the majority of the year (more than 6 months) in the UK,
• those who live in a country that is not participating.

(Note:  Those countries that have published Call for Entries OR otherwise notified their intention to participate can be found on my new Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art Page​)
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Eligibility: Artists can enter one country’s exhibition, and that is the country of the artist’s primary residence. If an artist’s country of residence is not holding a worldwide exhibition, and the artist has some connection with the UK, the UK can invite the artist to submit an entry to the British exhibition.

​The Call for Entries provides all the details that artists need to know at this stage.
Here's the basics of what's required

• Two-dimensional botanical art only. No photography or digitally generated work
• Professional digital images 300dpi x 8” high, Tiff or jpg, taken without mount, frame and glass required for the digital sunmission
• Fee of £20 per entry - allowing up to a maximum of three entries.

All entries will be juried by a prestigious team of professional artists, scientists and curators (to be announced at a later date). The paintings will be assessed according to:

• scientific accuracy,
• aesthetic quality and
• artistic proficiency.

In terms of dates there is no time to lose!  If interested please note the following dates for the two stage application/submission process

• Intention to submit: deadline 4th August 2017. 
• Submit artwork: deadline for receipt (digital) - Electronically by 27 November 2017 (Submission opens on 1 October)

For further information you can meet with representatives of ABBA at the RHS London Botanical Art Show on the 24th and 25th February. 

I'm just really pleased to see this exhibition get off the ground. I was involved in getting it started in the Autumn and wrote a very long brief for what needed to be done - which was an awful lot! 

Many congratulations are due to all those involved in making the exhibition real and finding a venue (which is really not easy in May!)  I know for a fact that there must have been an awful lot of work involved to get this far.