NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

ABBA to become ABA - the Association of Botanical Artists

28/2/2022

The Association of British Botanical Artists (ABBA) has announced that it is changing its name to the Association of Botanical Artists (ABA). (see "We are losing a 'B'") Plans are afoot for this upcoming change - although it's not yet in place.

Below I'm highlighting and summarising the key features of this change of name.

A new "Association of Botanical Artists"

Now minus a 'B'

The move to change the name reflects the way in which ABBA has changed its focus since

the steering group was set up in 2016 (to support the UK contribution to the Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art) and
the Group's founding principles were reviewed in 2018 and
the group was formalised as an organisation beyond the exhibition when it became a registered Charity in 2019.

(See Our Story for how ABBA /ABA came about. I imagine this will be updated in the near future to reflect the change of name)

Since then, ABBA has been very much focused on having

a broad and inclusive appeal for its members - more about participation and less about signature membership
virtual / online Exhibitions and
extensive use of social media

This, in turn, has appealed to many botanical artists around the world who want to achieve a better profile for their botanical art.

As a result the international membership has significantly increased. On this basis it might be seen as misleading to continue to use "British" in the title of the organisation.

From a small initial membership, almost exclusively derived from the United Kingdom, the association has grown spectacularly and now has members from 32 countries across the world.

The rationale for this change is to offer a more inclusive feel to all our members, something we have worked towards since the beginning. Keeping fees low and exhibiting members work whatever the stage of their botanical art journey. We are now an International organisation a fact that we absolutely celebrate

The thing I really like about ABBA is that they keep all their Virtual Exhibitions Online after they finish - which means large thumbnails and a seperate page for each image. Members really appreciate this type of offering.

New activities planned for 2022 (as listed below) appear to include:

a web page for each member
an ecommerce site
ABBA TV
the opportunity to promote educational listings.

About ABBA / ABA

Below is a summary of membership

membership is international
membership is not limited by experience, achievement or ability

ABBA is for every one - every where - every ability
a regularly changing blog on our front page - it's your magazine
realtime access to LIVE ABBA educational broadcasts
guaranteed access to exhibition space in the ABBA virtual gallery
become an ABBA featured artist - how you became a botanical artist
submit work to a juried exhibition
your own Members web page
access to our competitions
promote your educational opportunities
post on the ABBA Forum
ABBA TV - a collection of videos on botanical art subjects
access to member recommended art resources
eCommerce site to sell your work ( pending )
attend and vote at the annual general meeting
collaboration with other botanical art and botanical science societies
ABBA - Join Us

Membership subscriptions are currently £27 per year - which is very good value for money given what is on offer to all members.
This is How to become a member

Below are the various sites associated with ABBA (now) and ABA (in future). I gather the email will change. Presumably so will the domain name and registered charity name plus associated social media sites etc.

These are the current website and social media links

Website: https://www.britishbotanicalartists.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AssociationBritishBotanicalArtists/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abba_britbotart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/britbotartists
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdqyglchLmYyXN3lZ1v8wOA/

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Botanical Art Exhibitions - October / November 2021

25/10/2021

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This is a summary of the botanical art exhibitions open in London and Cambridge during October and November in London.

If your botanical art exhibition is not listed and should be please contact me and I will update.

Exhibitions at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew Gardens

THREE new exhibitions opened on 16th October and run until 27 March 2022

Zadok Ben-David: Natural Reserve - The first UK-based solo exhibition to incorporate new and existing works by Zadok Ben-David since 2008. Brand new and extended artworks are featured, including the stunning 360-degree installation Blackfield which is made up of more than 17,000 etched, hand-painted flowers.
Elegant and Enchanting - an exhibition of artworks by renowned Japanese botanical artists who include Asuka Hishiki, Hideo Horikoshi, Mariko Ikeda, Mieko Ishikawa and Kimiyo Maruyama. The exhibition also includes artworks by artists from China and Thailand.

ReflectionS Show – No Plants, No Planet - This digital exhibit of artwork by members of the Association of British Botanical Artists - which aims to stimulate discussion about diversity and the impact of climate change - is available to view in the Shirley Sherwood Galleries as well as on the ABBA website.

Exhibition at the Garden Museum, Lambeth

Elizabeth Blackadder: Favourite Flowers (19 October - 21 November 2021)

The late Dame Elizabeth Blackadder was one of Scotland’s greatest artists, celebrated for her beguiling and lyrical paintings of flowers. A passionate plantswoman, Blackadder’s garden provided her with rich inspiration year-round, from daffodils to autumn leaves, tulips, iris and lilies.

This exhibition, curated with The Scottish Gallery, brings together a selection of her watercolours, etchings and screenprints from throughout her life in the theme of growth, looking ahead to the renewal of life that is always around the corner in the garden.

Exhibition at the Images of Nature Gallery,
Natural History Museum, South Kensington

The Artistic Legacy of Joseph Banks has two new displays installed in the Images of Nature Gallery - which run until 13 January 2022

Artworks by Johann Jacob Dillenius - a new display of early eighteenth-century depictions of plants by Johann Jacob Dillenius (1687-1747) who was appointed as the first Sherardian professor of botany at Oxford.
Items from Captain Cook's Endeavour voyage - An original artwork and a herbarium specimen from Captain Cook's Endeavour voyage of 1768-1771. You can see more of his drawings in Wikimedia Commons

Exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

Scent from Nature: Beauty's Botanical Origins - to Sunday 31st October 2021
Booking required / Free Entry

The exhibition includes botanical watercolours of plants, from the permanent collection. It focuses on those used in the scent industry. These are displayed displayed alongside perfume vessels from ancient times to the 20th century.
Works include those by:

Pieter Withoos (1655-92),
Nicolas Robert (1614–85),
Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708–70),
Joseph von Plenck (1735–1807),
Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840) and
Henriette Knip (1783–1842)

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Deadline for ABBA Online Exhibition is 1st September

27/8/2021

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The deadline for entries for ‘ReflectionS’, no plants-no planet’ - the Online Exhibition by the Association of British Botanical Artists is Wednesday 1st September

BELOW is a summary of the key "need to know" points

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The aim of the exhibition is to stimulate discussion about biodiversity and the impact of climate change using the medium of botanical art to tell a story through imagery which is visually appealing and immediately accessible to a wide audience.

This exhibition was inspired by COP26 - the United Nations Climate Change Conference due to be held in Glasgow in November 2021. COP26 has six major themes and the theme that is relevant to this exhibition is:

“ Nature - to safeguard and restore natural habitats and ecosystems to preserve the planet’s biodiversity “

The exhibition will comprise a juried and digital collection of botanical art by ABBA members that reflects the pivotal role that plants play in preserving the planet's biodiversity.

This digital exhibition will be displayed as follows:

Dates: 16th October 2021 and 27th March 2022
Viewing:
- On a large screen at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew Gardens, between - for viewing by visitors to the Gallery
- AND simultaneously exhibited in the ABBA Online Gallery on its website - for an international audience.

ABOUT THE CALL TO ENTRIES

Who can enter: Members of the Association of British Botanical Artists.

Despite the name this means entries can come from artists based anywhere in the world.
ABBA have a very reasonable subscription fee.

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ABBA: Call for Entries for 'Purely Botanical'

23/6/2020

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The Association of British Botanical Artists (ABBA) have announced their Call for Entries for their next botanical art exhibition called "Purely Botanical" - and it opens for submissions today. (I was alerted to this by ABBA after publishing my last post - and they very kindly sent me the details this morning!)

As an Association of Botanical Artists our focus is on reflecting accurately the natural beauty of plants that surround us, particularly native plants.

Purely Botanical - Call for Entries

This call for entries is a bit different

This is NOT an Open Exhibition. The exhibition is only open to those who are members of the Association of British Botanical Artists. However see my note about membership below.
This is a virtual exhibition - NOT an exhibition "in a place".
This is NOT a juried exhibition - except insofar as making sure all entries relate to "botanical art"

That said, the Gallery software and presentation of their last exhibition "Winter Warmer (2019)" is excellent. I really like the way that it:

provides permanent online exhibition space on the website - with hanging space for any size of picture
each image is listed WITH an artwork title, the name of the artist and a description
it's really easy to move from one artwork to the next - in the "slideshow" format
right click is disabled - meaning images cannot be downloaded
the preamble lists all the artists and where they come from PLUS a map showing where artists live. The last exhibition included artists living across the world.
the images are excellent - and upsize to a reasonable if clicked - at which point you also access a more detailed description of the artwork
it remains online until the next online exhibition.

Entry Criteria

Who can enter:

Only Members of ABBA can submit artwork. However despite the name the website makes clear that ABBA is ....

ABBA is for every one - every where - every ability

the membership fee has been reduced significantly in the current context to £25p.a. (for which I applaud ABBA!) See the membership page for more details.

What artwork can be entered:

botanical art (I'd like to see a link to a more precise definition of "botanical art" on the ABBA website)
their preference is for plants native to your location (which makes them a bit different to other art societies who allow international entries but prefer to stipulate that entries should be relevant to the location of the organisation)
Either an existing artwork or a new piece.
The exhibition is not juried other than ensuring the work is "botanical art".
A maximum of two pieces of artwork can be submitted - of which at least one will be exhibited.

Key dates: The key dates are:

Open for Submissions: 23rd June 2020
Closing Date for Submissions: 20th September 2020
Exhibition Opens: 4th October 2020

How to submit: This is the Artwork Submission Page. You need to submit the following details plus a digital image

Title
Description
Scientific name(s) if possible
Size of your image (inside mount measure - width and height in cm)
Scale - if other than life size (i.e. 2x OR you have drawn a scale bar)
Your digital image - of "publishable quality". The technical requirements for the image to display optimally are:
- scanned ( professionally preferred) or a quality photograph
- minimum resolution of 72 dpi
- a minimum of 2500 pixels on the shortest side
- format can be .tiff or .jpg (100% or Max) .png
- a maximum file size of 10MB

An "Original" Concern
I'd recommend that ABBA always stipulate that all artists confirm that...

artwork submitted is wholly ORIGINAL (i.e. not copied in whole or part)
the sole work of the artist (i.e. not created in a class taught by another artist or done as part of an exercise in a book)
any reference photos used by the artist are also their own (i.e. taken by the artist not paid for by the artist)

It helps to avoid the wholly avoidable and potentially expensive complications with third parties - for both ABBA (as publishers) and the artist - if somebody asserts that an artwork displayed in an exhibition has infringed their copyright. It's now very much a standard requirement for most art competition and open exhibitions - precisely because this problem has occurred (again and again) in the past. I've personally known of a number of examples told to me by various art societies and/or the artists who have had their copyright infringed over 15 years of writing online about open exhibitions. I've also reported infringements to art societies! (I see and know a LOT of artwork!)

A stipulation by the organisers that all work MUST be completely original - plus an immediate takedown when notified with adequate proof - almost always performs the "get out of jail free card" function for the organisation concerned. (Not so for the artist though)

However the stipulation very often avoids the really awful experience for an art society of being notified that somebody has been very naughty - and it's there for all to see!

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