NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Profiles of Selected Artists for ASBA 23rd Annual International Exhibition

20/7/2020

ASBA's 23rd Annual International Exhibition of Botanical Art at Wave Hill includes 13 artists who have never exhibited in an ABA International Exhibition before.

A total of 46 two-dimensional, original, botanical artworks - out of 178 entries have been selected. The international botanical artists come from the US (33), Australia (1), Canada (3), Germany (2), Japan (2), Netherlands (1), Russia (2) and the UK (2). Entries are down on last year - but this may be due to the Pandemic.

It's hoped that the exhibition can be held as planned in September.

Selected Artists

Botanical Artists whose botanical drawing, painting, print or illustration was selected for the exhibition are listed BELOW

Names are organised by country.
Profiles include bio information available online.
Embedded in their name is a link to their website or ASBA Member Gallery Page.
Images are from my photos (or as credited) or links to social media posts.

I confess I gave myself a memory check and sorted them - from memory - before checking each individual artist's bio! I got 27 of the 46 sorted without the need for more information!

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Seongweon Ahn (New Jersey) - member of both Member of ASBA(USA) & KBAC(Korea). She is a a Korean Botanical Artist currently living in New Jersey, USA. She majored in Oriental Painting for Undergraduate studies but now works mainly in coloured pencils. She has participated in multiple exhibitions in Korea and Taiwan and her previous awards include: Gold medal winner at Botanical Art Society of Korea Open exhibition 2019 and Prize winner at the 2019 International Botanical Art Show in Seoul. (SEE BELOW)

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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.
Mary Crabtree (Colorado) - Born and raised in the US midwest. Currently living in Colorado. 30-year career as a research virologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Began studying botanical illustration after retirement at the Denver Botanic Gardens (School of Botanical Art and Illustration and at several international botanical art workshops. Her work has been exhibited at the DBG and the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History. Additionally, her illustrations are in use in interpretive signs and publications by the Denver Mountain Parks Division, Denver, CO.
Jessica Daigle (Connecticut). An Illustrator and Designer who has also worked as a scientific illustrator. Started her own business in 2019 and uses a technique known as 'indirect' oil painting.

Jean Emmons with her painting which won Best Painting in Show as well as a Gold Medal back in 2011 at the RHS Botanical Art Show

Jean Emmons (Vashon Island, Washington) - an award winning botanical artist whose technique for watercolour painting on vellum is based on medieval manuscript illumination. Lives on Vashon Island, WA, USA. Her work is included in numerous collections including the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, the Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library, and the Shirley Sherwood Collection. She has won many prestigious awards.
Ingrid Finnan (New York) - Consistent exhibitor at this exhibition (9th through 23rd). Born in 1944 in Poland, now lives in Riverdale, New York City, Took up botanical art in 2005, after retiring from a career of 30 years working as a designer of decorative textiles. She admires the Dutch Golden Age floral painters and paints in oils (on gesso prepared 600 gsm Fabriano Artistico). Since 2006, she has shown annually in the International American Society of Botanical Artists Exhibitions and other exhibitions, including those associated with the Shirley Sherwood Collection at Kew. Recipient of the Horticultural Society of New York Best in Show Award, 2013
Jane Fisher (Minnesota) - Studied botanical art at the Minnesota School of Botanical Art. Works in graphite.

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ASBA also holding Virtual Conference - in October

18/7/2020

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Another Virtual Conference! This time it's the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) who are holding a Virtual Annual Meeting and Conference in October 2020.

What happened to the proper Conference?

Normally, ASBA members can enjoy three days of workshops, lectures, demonstrations, tours, exhibitions, portfolio sharing, personal and professional interaction and social events at their annual conference. (I gave a lecture last year at the one in Pittsburgh!)

BUT, as announced earlier in the year, the original planned Conference in Mobile Alabama was cancelled because of the Pandemic.

Due to uncertainties stemming from COVID-19 affecting the viability of hosting a conference this fall, the Board of Directors has made the difficult decision to postpone the Mobile Conference until October 2023. (Conferences for 2021 and 2022 remain scheduled for Pasadena, California and New York)

ASBA's NEW VIRTUAL 26th Annual Meeting and Conference

However it was announced yesterday that ASBA's 26th Annual Meeting & Conference has been resurrected in a virtual format!

Yesterday ASBA announced that:

they will be hosting an alternative event live online
on Wednesday, October 14 - Sunday, October 18 (so book out your calendar with these dates if, like me, you are an ASBA member)

We are making "lemonade from lemons" as they say, and putting a new virtual twist on some of our favorite conference programming.

Details are to be

despatched soon via email to members
posted on the ASBA website describing our exciting program offerings
AND providing information on how to register for the event.

It might very well be the first opportunity for all members to participate - which will make it a landmark event in the organisation's history!

The American Society of Botanical Artists now have members all across the USA and in number of other countries. You can find out more on their ASBA Membership Page

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The Business of Botanical Art - The Lecture Notes

2/12/2019

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Those attending my lecture at the ASBA Conference in Pittsburgh in October may remember I promised that:

you didn't need to make notes
because as I'd make a copy of the lecture available to you.

A few of you have written to me requesting a copy of the presentation - and I apologise for keeping you waiting.

You can NOW get a copy of the presentation slides PLUS my notes of 'what to say' which amplify the points on each slide - in a digital file of the presentation in the Powerpoint "Notes" View saved as a PDF file (6MB)

The scope of the lecture - in terms of sections

What I've done

I've ironed out the small matter of a few language difficulties (who knew "tuition" means something completely different in the USA? Not me!) i.e. changed words.
I've also revised my notes to make them more accessible to a wider audience.
Plus converted the Powerpoint Presentation into a PDF file of the "Notes" View of the presentation (see a crop of an example page below)

crop of a page of the "Notes" view of one of the slides in the presentation

If If

Copy of the Business of Botanical Art Lecture

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ASBA 22nd Annual International - Awards

24/9/2019

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The American Society of Botanical Artists have now been announced the Awards for artwork in the 22nd Annual International Exhibition at the Marin Art & Garden Center in California.

BELOW you can click on:

the title of the artwork - to read the story behind its creation on the ASBA website
the artist's name - to go to her website - if one exists. (Plus Facebook Page if they have one)

Sea Holly Eryngium alpinum by Linda Medved Lufkin

Sea Holly Eryngium alpinum (Watercolor and gouache on paper, 28-1/2 X 20 inches) - copyright Linda Medved Lufkin 2018

Marin Art and Garden Center Best in Show Award ($500)

Sea Holly Eryngium alpinum
Linda Medved Lufkin
Facebook Page: Linda Medved Lufkin Botanical Art

I have to say I was hugely impressed by this painting when I saw it online for the first time and it seems a very worthy winner of Best in Show to me. I always think of this plant as a bit of a drama queen whenever I see it in gardens and Linda has caught that flavour and colour with her dynamic composition and very controlled colour palette. I also really loved her 'bad hair day' analogy about the complexity and structure of the leaves in her back story!

Her backstory provides a wonderful insight into how she approached painting a plant such as the Eryngium alpinum.

In 2018 I was shopping with Marilyn Garber at our flower wholesaler for the subject of the next class I was to teach at the Minnesota School of Botanical Art. It was entitled Enlarging Scale & Format. I was to teach my students to use a gridding system and enlarge a small subject by three times, which would use most of a full sheet of paper. I was looking for a plant that would offer my students enough complexity and detail that they would need to be very diligent in ‘mapping’ out the placement of their lines within each grid space and achieve a complex, but obtainable challenge. When I found the bouquets of Sea Holly, Eryngium alpinum, I knew that I found something that would work beautifully for our purposes. READ MORE

Linda uses the traditional technique of developing layers of transparent washes, then using a very small brush to develop detail, colour and form using the drybrush technique. She's been working as an Instructor at The Minnesota School of Botanical Art since 2016. Prior to this she worked for many years creating customised murals for clients. Linda has previously had work in and was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Portland School of Art, ME. in 1982. She has a strong exhibition record with ASBA in recent years.

ASBA's 19th and 20th International Annual Exhibitions
won The Richmond and Lili Bates Award in 2017 and The Helen Gray Garber Award in 2016
Also was selected for an exhibited in the Botanical Art World Wide: America’s Flora’ and ‘Out of the Woods: Trees in Public Gardens’ exhibitions.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Award for Print or Drawing ($500)

Fascinator Paeonia lactiflora (Graphite and colored pencil on paper, 13.5 x 19 inches) - copyright Patricia Luppino

Fascinator Paeonia lactiflora (Graphite and colored pencil on paper, 13.5 x 19 inches)
Patricia Luppino

Born in Brooklyn, New York and a lifelong resident of Long Island. Now retired from a long career as an IT professional. She started studying botanical art in 2005 and earned the SBA Diploma in Botanical Painting with Distinction in 2008. Since then she's exhibited in various juried and group exhibitions of botanical art - including (prior to this exhibition) the 13th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 20th and 21st ASBA Annual International Botanical Art Exhibitions with the Horticultural Society of New York, the 1st Triennial Botanical Art Exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden. This year Patricia is also exhibiting in the 16th International Exhibition at the Hunt.

Patricia and I were emailing backwards and forwards yesterday about another matter and she never said a word about her award!

ASBA Eleanor Wunderlich Award ($500)

Physalis Physalis peruviana (Watercolor on paper, 11-5/8 x 8-3/8 inches)
Svetlana Lanse (Vinnikova) (
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/svetlanawatercolor

Svetlana Lanse is a professional artist and art teacher living in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. She graduated from Higher School of Folk Arts (institute) where she learned about botanical art by copying artwork by Pierre Joseph Redouté and Maria Sibylla Merian. She is currently trying to popularise botanical art in Russia using Instagram (@botanical_watercolor) and has more than 85,000 followers. In May 2018 she was juror of Botanical Art Worldwide exhibition (Russia) with Alexander Viazmensky, Natalia Alatortseva, Yaroslav Bazanova and Darya Fomicheva.

Richmond and Lili Bates Award for Excellence
in recognition of an Artist by a Fellow Artist ($300)

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Samba Dancer' (Watercolor on paper, 15-1/2 x 11-½ inches)
Mitsuko Schultz (no website)

Mitsuko Schultz moved to Los Angeles from Kyoto, Japan in 1996. Her passion for plants and flowers saw her working at the UCLA Botanical Garden where she began her horticulture studies when then led to her becoming a floral designer in Los Angeles - and then eventually to her taking up botanical art.. Her work has been included in the Hunt's 16th International Exhibition of Botanical Art and Illustration, Filoli’s Annual Botanical Art Exhibitions (Roth Award recipient in 2018), ASBA Annual Internationals (received an Honorable mention in 2017, catalogue cover in 2018), Out of the Woods, Botanical Art Worldwide America’s Flora and numerous other shows in California since 2011. She is also a member of the Botanical Artist Guild of Southern California.

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Honourable Mentions

This year there are two Honourable Mentions.

Karen Kluglein has a marvellous bunch of grapes - Joie de Vivre Vitis vinifera (Watercolor on paper, 9 x 12 inches)
Tammy McEntee's very lovely coloured pencil drawing is of an Ornamental Gourd Cucurbita pepo (Colored pencil and graphite on paper, 12 x 12 inches)

The Back Stories

You can see the remaining artworks and read about their back stories by clicking the links on this list of artists selected for the exhibition (click the artists tab and then click the link in each artist's name to read the story)

The exhibition is at The Studio, Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Frances Drake Blvd, Ross, CA 94957. It opened last Sunday and continues until 17th November 2019.

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American Society of Botanical Artists: 22nd Annual International Exhibition and Events

21/9/2019

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Cover art: ©Kristin Jakob, Calypso bulbosa on Mt. Tamalpais, watercolor on vellum

The 22nd Annual International Exhibition of the American Society of Botanical Artists is taking place on the West Coast for the first time. It opens to the public tomorrow - on Sunday, September 22, 2019 - with:

a Reception between 3pm-6pm
Artist demos from 3:00 - 4:00 by Catherine Dellor, Kristin Jakob, Lucy Martin, Deborah Shaw, and Nancy Wheeler Klippert, who will demonstrate in five different media.

I LOVE the cover of the Exhibition Catalogue! The cover art is by Kristin Jacob who has produced a lot of illustrations of Californian native plants in her botanical art career.

22nd Annual International Exhibition - details

American Society of Botanical Artists: 22nd Annual International
Organised by: American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art & Garden Center
Venue: The Studio, Marin Art & Garden Center,
Address: 30 Sir Frances Drake Blvd, Ross, CA 94957
Dates: September 22 - November 17, 2019 (Thursdays to Sindays only)
Gallery Hours: Thurs–Sat 10am–4pm, Sun 12–4pm

This juried exhibition comprises 48 two-dimensional, original, botanical art. These were selected from a competitive field of 230 entries.

On the 22nd Annual International Exhibition link you can find

a tab for all the artists - those with a green link in their name go to their story about their paintings. Very much a recommended read - lots to learn about plants, artists and their approaches to creating their botanical art
a tab for thumbnails of all the artwork - click the pics to view larger versions of the artwork

You can also refer to my blog post: for links profiles of and links to the websites of the Selected Artists: ASBA 22nd Annual International

Some of the artwork selected for the Exhibition

The Jurors for the exhibition were:

Frank Almeda, Curator 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

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25th ANNIVERSARY - NCalSBA exhibition

2019 is the 25th anniversary of The American Society of Botanical Artists.

A full-size catalog titled “Celebrating Silver" has been published”. The art submitted echoes the silver theme with plants that either have a sliver quality or ’silver’ in the name of the plant.

The Northern California Society of Botanical Artists (NCalSBA) is exhibiting 42 images by its members who are featured in the catalog. This exhibition will run concurrently with the ASBA 22nd Annual International Exhibition.

EVENTS DURING THE EXHIBITION

The Exhibition will also include a number of events - and details of these will be posted to the MAGC venue website. All events are 10am-3pm unless otherwise stated

They include:

The History of Botanical Art - Lecture by Catherine Watters 26 September 2019 (6-8pm)
Autumn Leaves in Colored Pencil with Nina Antze 4th October 2019
Painting an Oak Branch and Oak Galls with Gouache October 5, 2019
ASBA: Pen & Ink Workshop with Kristin Jakob October 11, 2019
Painting from the Garden: An introduction to Botanical Art November 1, 2019
Exploring Plants through Sketching with Lee McCaffree November 16, 2019

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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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ASBA 21st International Exhibitions - best in show and profiles of participating artists

8/9/2018

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The 21st International Exhibition of the American Society of Botanical Artists opens to the public today in a new venue - at Wave Hill.

It's great to know that if you can't make it to the exhibition, you can still see all the artwork on the ASBA website (click the "The Art" Tab on https://www.asba-art.org/exhibitions/21st-annual-international. An illustrated catalogue, which includes all of the works in the show, as well as an essay by Ken Druse, is also available in Wave Hill’s Shop.

The “Artists’ Stories Behind the Art” can all be accessed via the link in the names of the artists below. This takes you to the relevant page on the ASBA website.

Thumbnail Images from the 21st International Exhibition

This collaboration celebrates art that inspires gardeners and the vibrant, burgeoning horticulture at Wave Hill that inspires artists.

Venue: Glyndor Gallery, Wave Hill, 675 West 252nd Street, Bronx, NY (30 minutes from midtown Manhattan)
Dates: 8 September - 2nd December 2018
Note: The elevator in Glyndor Gallery is currently out of service for major repairs and the Gallery and restroom are not accessible by wheelchair.

Founded in 1965, Wave Hill is a public garden which which overlooks the Hudson River and Palisades. It also provides an urban oasis, a cultural centre and a community resource with innovative programs in horticulture, education and the arts.

It's now also providing a home to ASBA's international exhibition in 2018 and 2020. Having changed location for the 21st Annual International, the exhibition is now much longer than the previous exhibitions - and it will be interesting to see the impact this has on overall sales.

The artworks in the exhibition are also available through The Shop at Wave Hill.

Below I'm highlighting

Best in Show Award
Profiles of participating artists + websites
Workshops and talks during the show

Best in Show Award

The "Best in Show" was awarded to the Double Poppy painting painted by Jean Emmons. I'm guessing this is painted in watercolour on vellum as most of her botanical artwork is. Her paintings on vellum are luminous.

Jean’s technique is based on medieval manuscript illumination. She learned it from the late Kevin Nicolay, a plantsman and self-taught botanical artist. It’s a difficult and time-consuming watercolor method, but an excellent way to suggest light moving through layers of plant tissue
Jean Emmons | About the Artist

Participating Artists

Jurors selected 48 artworks from an extremely competitive field of about 190 entries (that's a success rate of 25%)

This is very much an International Exhibition with 15 exhibiting artists coming from outside the US - from Australia (2), Canada (1), France (1), Japan (2), Russia (5), Slovenia (1), and the UK (3).

Fourteen artists have never before been included in an ASBA exhibition.

The jurors were

Ken Druse Garden lecturer, author, and photographer
Karen Kluglein Botanical artist
Eileen Jeng Lynch Curator of Visual Arts, Wave Hill

The Artists whose artwork was selected for the exhibition are listed below. The link in their name is to the page on the ASBA website which provides the story behind their specimen and artwork. Their website address is also provided where available.

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