NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Margaret Flockton Award 2021: Call for Entries

16/2/2021

Last year, the Margaret Flockton Award had the most entries ever for this prestigious award for contemporary scientific botanical illustration.

This year, the organisers are expecting a repeat - and lots and lots of entries. So you need to make sure you enter your very best work!

46 artists from 21 countries submitted works in a time before the world paused.

Astoundingly, the total number of entries in 2020 reflected as a 50% increase on previous averages, with countries Bulgaria, Switzerland and Norway represented for the first time. Ink was far and away the most favoured medium for illustrating, with pencil a distant second of the traditional forms, while digital and mixed media continue their slow rise in the ranks.
Round Up of the entries received for the 2020 Award

Who can enter the Margaret Flockton Award?

Entries are welcomed from all those who generate scientific illustrations of plants.

All previous winners of the Margaret Flockton Award are eligible to enter, excluding the 2018, 2019 and 2020 first prize winning artists.

Typically, the people who submit illustrations for this award - and win awards - are professional botanical illustrators / people who produce scientific botanical illustrations for botanical gardens and botanists on a regular basis. However they' are NOT the only people who enter.

Enthusiastic botanical illustrators make up at least half the entries and this competition is NOT limited to those who generate income producing scientific botanical illustrations - and scientific illustration entries from a wider group are always welcomed.

Some of the illustrations from the Margaret Flockton Award 2020 - Flickr Gallery - click the pic to see more

What can you submit?

The page relating to the Award includes a Guide to Scientific Botanical Illustrations - which I recommend you read before processing any further.

Each artist may submit up to two illustrations. If you'd like to see the standard of work submitted you can view the 2020 Flickr Gallery for the Margaret Flockton Award 2020
Only full plate illustrations will be accepted (inclusive of habit study and diagnostic features of the species).
- Inclusion of scale bars, whilst not compulsory, is highly recommended.
Illustrations MUST be MONOCHROMATIC (i.e. not coloured - see above)
- EITHER black and white illustrations (for example created using pen and ink, graphite or scraperboard)
- AND/OR monochromatic, digitally rendered illustrations
- either published or unpublished
All illustrations MUST have been have been produced in the last two years i.e. after February 2019
There are very precise dimensions for the images you can submit
ONLY high resolution digital tiff or psd scans of the illustrations being entered will be considered. (Original artworks and paperwork sent via the postal system will no longer be accepted.)
There are no entry fees for the Margaret Flockton Award and Exhibition.
NOTE: Jpg or coloured file formats will not be accepted.

How to submit an entry

ALL the specific details regarding submission of artwork and paperwork can be found at https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/Science/Botanical-Illustration/The-Margaret-Flockton-Award - scroll down to ‘Entry Requirements’.

All illustrations and paperwork must be submitted digitally. One high resolution digital image per illustration. The file size should not exceed 200MB

High resolution for judging and exhibiting:
- No photos of artworks will be accepted - scanned original works or digitally created images only.
- Ink line and stipple - Bitmap tiff @ 1200dpi
- Pencil or Continuous tone - Greyscale tiff or psd (NOT jpg)
(Colour files will NOT be accepted, please convert to greyscale) @ 600dpi (minimum).

You also need to submit a
- entry form
- labels
- biography
DEADLINE for submission of images: 12 March 2021 EST. (I think maybe the organisers need to identify a precise time and the time zone. If you want to be safe assume the day before as your deadline!)
How to submit your digital image(s) and entry form / labels / biography:
- via Dropbox (use Dropbox Basic for free access)
- upload your tiff or psd files to a shared folder
- label your folder YOURSURNAME MFA 2021
- make it shared by inviting botanical.illustration@rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au to View AND Edit files in the shared folder where you have uploaded your image files.
The Margaret Flockton Award Committee will contact you to confirm your image files have been received.

Note: Those who have already submitted images need to note that these will be processed along with all of the other entries after the deadline of March 12.

Judging

All entries will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Accurate interpretation and portrayal of plant characters and diagnostic features noted in the botanical description
Technical merit
Reproducibility
Composition
Artistic merit

Margaret Flockton Award 2021 Exhibition

NEW Venue: The Calyx, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney
Exhibition Dates: Monday 7 June - 20 June 2021
Admission: Free

The exhibition will also be seen - on dates to be advised - at two additional venues within the Royal Botanic Gardens i.e.

Australian PlantBank, The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan.
Dates TBC 2021, Visitor Centre at The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah

For all those who cannot get to Australia, the entries will also be available to view online in the Margaret Flockton Flickr Gallery which will be published on Friday 11 June, 2021

Ready, set & away we go. An operation in the heart of beautiful Sydney. The Calyx at the Botanic Garden is truely a site to check out. pic.twitter.com/ggT8EF7VA8
— Helivision Solutions (@DronesInOz) November 14, 2016

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The 15th Biennial Art of Botanical Illustration Exhibition at RBG Melbourne

26/9/2020

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The 15th Biennial Exhibition of The Art of Botanical Illustration 2020 (TABI) is presented by The Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.

This year for the first time it is a Virtual ONLINE Exhibition. I guess, whichever country we live in we're now getting used to these in the age of the Pandemic.

The Friends are to be congratulated on producing a well constructed and beautiful online exhibition. I particularly like the fact that we get a profile for each artist included in the exhibition. It not only helps the artist with raising their profile - it also helps the buyers who often want to know more about "who painted this?"

About the 15th Biennial TABI Exhibition

The Virtual Exhibition is online from 19 September – 31 December 2020. All artworks are for sale and all profits from this exhibition assist the Friends to support the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.

You can:

download the catalogue to see the full list of artwork selected for the exhibition. (Vicki Philipson painted the Agapanthus Seed Head used for the front cover)
view the exhibition online
review artists profiles and artwork per artist
purchase artwork in the exhibition
read about the History of the Art of Botanical Illustration Exhibitions

If you click the image of the artwork it takes you to a seperate page which lists more details about the artwork and includes the price. Postage is not included - but a link provides more information. All transactions are between the artist and the art collector.

Selection, Participating Artists and Prizes

SELECTION

Artwork is selected for the exhibition by a panel which includes a botanist, an artist and the head librarian at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne to ensure that the highest standards are met.

All artwork exhibited must adhere to the following criteria:

it must provide an accurate representation of the form and botany of the chosen subject;
the characteristics of the species or variety must be adequately conveyed;
the representation should be an artistically pleasing, balanced and a considered work of art;
it must be identified and named accurately according to standard botanical practices; and
it must have been completed within the previous two years.

Below is a video of the opening of the exhibition and the announcement of the awards.
The awards and the artworks purchased for the State Botanical Art Collection are detailed below - against the artists name.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

The artists whose artwork was selected for the exhibition are as follows. Links in their name got to the exhibition website.

Amanda Ahmed
Haya Alketbi - Celia Rosser Honourable Mention for Pyrus sp
Beverly Allen - Celia Rosser Honourable Mention for Corymbia ficifolia cv.
Sally Armfield
Kelly Bassett
Amanda Blake-Sutterby Amyema linophylla - Buloke Mistletoe - purchased by the RBG Victoria for the State Botanical collection
Ila Blyth
Marie Bogoyevitch
Helen Burrows
Lucy Chapman
Brian Cheung
Deb Chirnside
Pratistha Chitrakar
Thea Clark
Niki Coates
Simon Deere
Sue Dixon
Rosemary Donnelly
Dianne Emery - Celia Rosser Award Winner for Amanita muscaria - fly agaric (SEE BELOW)

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RHS Lindley Library: Digital Exhibitions of the Art Collection

14/9/2020

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The RHS Lindley Library remains closed for the time being - but has started having exhibitions again!

The exhibitions are online and include:

two exhibitions accessible by the public:
- Enduring Beauty: Orchid Portraits of the RHS
- Healing Garden: A History of Medicinal Plants
one which is a RHS Member only exhibitions: Worth a Thousand Words. I have to say I like that idea of giving us members a bit of a perk!

Just click the links and you can view both the images and the narrative text to go with them

Enduring Beauty: Orchid Portraits of the RHS

The RHS has employed an official artist to paint beautiful life-size portraits of orchids for over 120 years.

This exhibition opened in the Library just before lockdown started. It was going to provide a spectacular display of recent RHS orchid portraits - including the latest portraits by current RHS Orchid Artist, Deborah Lambkin.

Deborah is the ninth official RHS orchid painter since the first postholder was appointed in 1897

The digital exhibition:

introduces both Deborah Lambkin and Nellie Roberts, the first of the RHS Orchid Artists who held the role for nearly 60 years and painted over 4000 of the 7000 orchid portraits now in the Lindley Library Collection.
provides large images of some of her paintings of orchids since she took on the role of Official Orchid Artist

reviews the role of the orchid breeders and RHS Orchid Committee - which has been judging and giving awards to new orchids since 1889!
reviews how the orchids get judged
then the process used by Deborah to paint the 30 or so new orchids she is given to record every year

READ MORE about Deborah Lambkin in my blog posts:

Healing Garden: A History of Medicinal Plants

This exhibition reviews:

the work of the herbalists
what is a herbal - and "simples"
what the early printed herbals contained
what the illustrations looked like in the early herbals
the role of science and superstition in relation to plants and herbals
the role of herbals in relation to modern science
the remedies associated with specific plants eg peonies, foxglove, rosemary, lemon balm, mugwort, honeysuckle, jasmine, valerian, hyacinth, dandelion, mint, lungwort, marjoram , thyme, primrose, white nettle and daffodil bulbs,

You can also READ MORE about Herbals on this website

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Worth a Thousand Words

Worth a Thousand Words - for RHS members ONLY

This digital exhibition is the equivalent of the exhibition held in the Lindley Library during the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2018.

"Worth a Thousand Words" is about the RHS Gold Medal winning paintings in the botanical art collection.You can see:

artwork in a variety of media
a selection of recent acquisitions and some of the finest contemporary botanical artworks in the RHS Lindley Collections
the very different ways that contemporary artists portray plants and flowers while raising the standards and pushing the boundaries of botanical illustration.

In this instance, the digital exhibition is for RHS Members only - or rather those who have got an online RHS account (like me!)

However everybody can read more about that exhibition - and see some of the images - in my blog post Worth a Thousand Words - exhibition at the RHS.

However you can see much larger images of the work in the online exhibition.

So if you're an RHS member and have not got your online account sorted yet, now's the time to do it!

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ASBA 23rd Annual International (2020): Awards & Artwork

5/9/2020

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The 23rd Annual International of the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) opens today at Wave Hill - at 675 West 252nd Street, Bronx, NY. The exhibition comprises two-dimensional, original, botanical art and runs until 6th December 2020. (See end for notes about social distancing / booking etc).

ASBA have set up a Virtual Exhibition Online - on their website - click each picture to see a larger image.

The 46 artworks in the exhibition were selected from a field of 178 entries - and include

work by thirteen artists who have never exhibited before and
25 artists who are showing at Wave Hill for the very first time.
The Jurors were Ken Druse, Karen Kluglein and Eileen Jeng Lynch.

The exhibition is a collaboration between ASBA and Wave Hill and some of the artwork represents plant specimens grown at Wave Hill. The exhibition was organized by Carol Woodin, Director of Exhibitions at the American Society of Botanical Artists; Jennifer McGregor, Senior Director of Arts, Education and Programs at Wave Hill; and Eileen Jeng Lynch, Wave Hill’s Curator of Visual Arts.

An Exhibition Catalogue is available for purchase from both Wave Hill and ASBA:

The front cover is Ingrid Finnan's oil painting on paper of a Fan Leaved Boophone.
Lizzie Sanders' watercolor on paper, Coelogyne lawrenceana is on the back

Adding to my challenge, I chose to work on a thin hard paper – Schoellershammer G4. This is similar to Bristol board; coated, very smooth. It takes ink well and hates water. It is almost like working on vellum. This paper will not put up with a single mistake. You can't scrape it or wash off. A very dry brush with tiny strokes is the only solution.
Lizzie Sanders (1950-2020)

ASBA 23rd Annual International: Awards

This is the video announcement of the Awards at the ASBA 23rd Annual International Exhibition at Wave Hill.

The links in the name of the plant go to the image on the ASBA website - with its back story

Wave Hill Best in Show of $500:
Ingrid Finnan (Fan Leaved Boophone) oil on paper - I'm so very pleased to see this. Since the first time I saw the plant at Wisley I've wanted to see how an excellent botanical artist would portray this very unusual plant and Ingrid has produced a great painting.

ASBA Eleanor Wunderlich Award of $500:
Liz Shippam (Blackthorn)

Richmond and Lili Bates Award for Excellence of $300:
Sengmany Phommachakr (Bitter Melon)

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Award for a Print or Drawing of $500:
Monika de Vries Gohlke (Ponderosa)

Honorable Mention (4):

Olga Gudzera (Christmas Star)
Lucy Martin (Lichens of Mallorca) - I thought this was particularly innovative
Natalia Zueva (The Beauty)
Susan Tomlinson (The Evolution of Cotton) The panoramic image works particularly well with this story of a plant.

Selected Artwork - with some images

The artists whose work was selected for the exhibition come from the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia, the Netherlands, and the UK.

Thirteen artists have never before been included in an ASBA international exhibition.
Names are organised by country and then alphabetically by surname below
See Profiles of Selected Artists for ASBA 23rd Annual International Exhibition for more about each individual artist.

This post is about the ARTWORK. Links in their names (below) are to the backstory behind the artwork selected for the exhibition - which I particularly enjoy reading. I ALWAYS learn something NEW in terms of both plants and approaches/techniques!

All artworks are watercolour paintings unless indicated otherwise

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Four botanical artists selected for residency at Oak Spring Garden

28/1/2020

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Last August I wrote about the call for entries for the inaugural Botanical Artists in Residence Program (BAiR) offered by the Oak Spring Garden Foundation (see Call for Entries: Botanical Artists in Residence Program at the Oak Spring Foundation).

On Friday the Oak Spring Foundation announced that not one but FOUR botanical artists had been selected for their inaugural 2020 Botanical Artists in Residence (BAiR) program.

The botanical artists are:

Keiko Nibu Tarver (Japan/USA)
John Pastoriza-Piñol (Australia)
Maria Alice de Rezende (Brazil)
Fátima Zagonel (Brazil)

They were chosen through a competitive selection process in partnership with the American Society of Botanical Artists.

Below there's a brief bio of each of them and then an explanation of what happens during their residencies.

Four botanical artists in residence

Interestingly all but Keiko Nibu Tarver already appear in my listings of leading botanical artists on this website. (I plead the fact, as indicated, that the USA listing is still a work in progress and incomplete).

Links in their names go to either their websites or another web page about their work.

John Pastoriza-Piñol (Australia)

contemporary botanical artist based in Melbourne, Australia
completed his docturmiento in Botany at University of Vigo, Galicia, in Spain
Awards: Won an RHS Gold Medal (2005); received the ASBA Dianne Bouchier Award for Excellence in Botanical Art (2013) and a grant from The Australia Council for the Arts (2016) which enabled him to spend a 3 month residency in New York.
Collections: his work is held in numerous public and private collections around the world and is included in several major Florilgium projects including the Highgrove and Transylvanian Florilegia.
Currently represented by Scott Livesey Galleries, Australia.
Teaching: teaches intermediate/advanced classes at the Geelong Botanic Gardens and workshops around the world

Magnolia x soulangeana by John Pastoriza-Piñol

Maria Alice de Rezende (Brazil)

currently based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Graduated from the National School of Fine Arts at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Works as an art teacher as well as a botanical illustrator on projects with researchers at the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden. Her current project is involves illustrating the biodiversity of the South Atlantic Islands.
Her main creative practice is her personal work of illustration of native species of Brazilian flora.
Awards: Margaret Mee Fellowship Programme Artist Scholar (2004) at the Royal Botanic Gardens in 2004
Exhibitions: her work has been exhibited in Japan, Brazil, the UK, and the US - including the 16th International Exhibition at the Hunt Institute in 2019.

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Janie Pirie's Life in Roses - book and exhibition

3/11/2019

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Next week, gold-medal winning botanical artist Janie Pirie is having a solo exhibition at the Mall Galleries of illustrations of roses - which has taken three years to develop - and launching her new book.

Rosa is an exhibition of roses illustrated by RHS gold medallist Janie Pirie. This is a new body of botanical art to coincide with the launch of a book of the same name. "Rosa - a Life in Roses" | Mall Galleries

Exhibition: Rosa - a life in Roses

Rosa - A Life in Roses - the exhibition - comprises 36 drawings in coloured pencils of different varieties of roses. It's on display at the Mall Galleries in London and I'll be visiting later this week. It's taken three years to develop.

Venue: the North Gallery, the Mall Galleries, The Mall, London, SW1
Dates: between Tuesday 5th and Sunday 10th November 2019
Hours: 10 am to 5pm daily except 10th November when the exhibition closes at 1pm.
Sales: All work is for sale (unless previously purchased. Copies of the book will be on sale as well as the originals.

Janie Pirie or a colleague will be on hand during the exhibition to answer the questions of any visitors or purchasers.

"Rosa - A Life In Roses": some of the images by Janie Pirie - in the exhibition AND in the book

Book: 'Rosa - A Life in Roses'

Only 1,000 copies of Janie Pirie's new book are being printed.

I've not seen it yet but understand that

it's a limited edition coffee-table book measuring approx. 29cm / 11 inches square with a "lay flat" binding.
The linen-bound hardback book is presented in a slipcase with the same linen covering as the book and finished to a high quality.
almost all the roses are shown one to a double page spread.

The first edition of ROSA is a limited edition of 500 copies, priced at £100.00.
The Special Collectors' Edition will be numbered and signed by the artist and comprise the first 250 copies of the First Edition. It's priced at £120.00 however it also includes an A4 print of one of Janie's favourite rose portraits; 'Comte de Champagne'.
You can find out more here
It will be on sale at the exhibition.

About Janie Pirie

Janie Pirie has two RHS Gold Medals for her botanical illustrations.

In 2009, at RHS Malvern Show, she was awarded the accolade of ‘Best Botanical Artist in Show' and a Gold Medal for her series of paintings of orchard fruits.
She was awarded a second Gold Medal, also at Malvern, in 2014.
Janie has also exhibited at the 13th International Exhibition of the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh, USA.

Janie is:

a member of the Society of Botanical Artists and is also a tutor on their Distance Learning Course.
a member of the UK Coloured Pencil Society and shows her work at their annual exhibitions where she has been awarded "Best In Show", "Runner-up Best in Show" and "Best Botanical".

She studied illustration at the Colchester School of Art before combining a career in illustration with one involved with public relations and marketing for a leading seed company. She has worked as a professional artist for some years and also runs art workshops in her garden studio at her home in the Dedham Vale on the Essex/Suffolk borders and at other venues around the UK.

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Banks 2020: Jan Hendrix at Shirley Sherwood Gallery Kew

3/10/2019

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2020 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Sir Joseph Banks on 19 June 1820. A number of events are planned to commemorate his contribution to science. One of these is an exhibition at Kew Gardens which will combine art with science.

Artwork by Jan Hendrix is based on the plants collected by Joseph Banks in Australia. This will feature in the major exhibition in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens between April and September 2020.

Sir Joseph Banks, Bt (1771-1773) by Sir Joshua Reynolds oil on canvas, 50 in. x 40 in. (1270 mm x 1015 mm) overall (Collection of the National Portrait Gallery)

About the 'Paradise Lost' Exhibition

Title: Paradise Lost
Venue: Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew Gardens
Dates: April – 20 September 2020
Admission: Free with admission to the gardens

The Paradise Lost exhibition will feature artwork based on the collection of cuttings made by Joseph Banks while travelling around the around the world with Captain James Cook on the voyage of exploration of HMS Endeavour(1768–71) via Brazil, Tahiti, and 6 months in New Zealand and Australia

At the time, James Banks was a relatively unknown figures in British science. However his activities on Captain Cook's first expedition - taking cuttings from more than 1,000 species of plant that were previously unknown to Europe - served as a launchpad for his subsequent career as a world-renowned botanist. Later in his life he became

Kew’s first unofficial director. Under his oversight Kew Gardens began to flourish as a centre of botanical research.
the president of the Royal Society (1778–1820). He sought to improve the position of science in Britain and cultivated interchange with scientists of other nations
a night of the realm - the order of Knight Commander of the Bath was bestowed upon him in 1795

The 124 plant specimens collected and preserved in 1770 by Banks and his colleagues at the Endeavour River in Queensland, and Botany Bay in Sydney, Australia, form the foundation of Hendrix’s exhibition at Kew. Carefully pressed at the time in a copy of the poet John Milton’s Paradise Lost, these collections are now held in the Natural History Museum, London.

Map of Botany Bay

Botany Bay was named by Captain Cook in honour of Banks and fellow botanist and crew member, Daniel Solander. However, since Australia’s colonisation, Botany Bay has been transformed by development and is now part of the southern part of the city of Sydney - with Sydney airport jutting out into the Bay.

Map of the Endeavour River

The Paradise Lost exhibition will recall the memory of the area as it was documented by Banks 250 years ago and its subsequent changes.

Following this theme, Hendrix will focus on these changing landscapes in Paradise Lost, the first being the landscape that Cook and Banks encountered when they arrived.

The second is the landscape transformed by man’s intervention.

The exhibition has been conceived of two elements engaged in a dialogue

the first is some related historical material from Banks’ expedition, and
the second is the contemporary pieces created by Hendrix, including exquisite enamel plates and contemporary drawings based on Banks’ herbarium sheets.

The centrepiece of the gallery will be a ‘folly’, the Mirror Palace Pavilion, the form of which is inspired by two plant species named after Banks and Daniel Solander, Banksia serrata and Banksia solandri

Jan Hendrix's current exhibition, Tierra Firme, at the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City. Credit Oliver Santana

Jan Hendrix's current exhibition, Tierra Firme, at the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City. Credit Jaime Navarro

The exhibition will also feature

a series of floating wall mounted bronzes representing seed and fern forms,
silk screens on silver leaf,
a series of glass pieces and
a moving image work created by Jan Hendrix in collaboration with filmmaker Michael Leggett specifically for the show at Kew.

A book to accompany the exhibition will also be published by Kew Publishing.

“We cannot think of anyone better to highlight Joseph Banks’ contribution to botanical science through the prism of contemporary art than Jan Hendrix. Jan’s long-standing interest in the life and work of Banks coupled with his passion for plants and nature lays the foundation for what promises to be a ground-breaking exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery. The exhibition will offer an opportunity to bring to the attention of arts audiences the impact that we have as human beings on the planet, by using the example of Botany Bay and how it was irrevocably changed after 1770. We hope that our visitors will find it a thought provoking yet beautiful experience."
Maria Devaney, Galleries and Exhibitions Leader, RBG Kew

Note: None of the artwork featured above will be in the exhibition.

About Jan Hendrix

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