NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Margaret Flockton Award 2019 - Exhibiting illustrators and list of selected works

1/4/2019

35 contemporary scientific botanical illustrations by 23 illustrators from 16 countries were selected for the annual exhibition of the Margaret Flockton Award 2019 in Sydney Australia - and are listed below.

These were selected from 44 works submitted by 26 illustrators from a record number of 17 countries. Those selected included illustrations and illustrators from four new countries - Argentina, Canada, Colombia and Singapore. The majority of the works continue to be traditionally rendered in pen and ink but now also include illustrations which are rendered digitally.

BELOW are the

names of the exhibiting scientific botanical illustrators - organised alphabetically by country
a list of the titles of the botanical illustrations submitted and selected.
a summary of what differentiates quality in scientific botanical illustration i.e. the reasons why works won prizes or were not selected for exhibition

Links in the names are to the websites or sites about the illustrator. See my previous post Edmundo Saveedra wins Margaret Flockton Award for the third time for more about the botanical illustrators who received prizes or were highly commended.

Links in the works are to the images of those works which won prizes or were highly commended.

Images of the first and second prizewinners 2019

This year, 26 artists from 17 countries submitted 44 works.
A selection of 35 illustrations are exhibited here.
- 5 works are entirely or partially digitally rendered;
- graphite elements are on 10 of the plates;
- the remaining 29 illustrations are in the traditional form of ink on paper or board.

You can now see ALL of the scientific botanical illustrations SUBMITTED for the Margaret Flockton Award Exhibition 2019 on Flickr.

Note the album contains ALL submissions - not just those selected for the exhibition.
If you review the illustrations before you look at the list below - see if you can detect what media was used for an illustration and which were selected for the exhibition.

I highly recommend that all those thinking about applying next year review the images of scientific botanical illustrations in terms of the standards achieved - and the criteria used to assess each plate (see end for more about those criteria).

List of exhibiting illustrators and selected works

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Call for Entries - Margaret Flockton Award 2019

25/11/2018

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The Call for Entries for the 2019 Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Illustration has been published by The Margaret Flockton Award Committee

The deadline for digital online entry is 29 January 2019.

Images from Margaret Flockton Award prizewinners and highly commended 2016-2018 - on Flickr

The Margaret Flockton Award

The Margaret Flockton Award is a prestigious international award for contemporary scientific botanical illustration which

celebrates the best scientific botanical illustration completed by botanical illustrators from around the world today
commemorates the contribution Margaret Flockton (1861-1953) made to Australian scientific botanical illustration.

In particular , the Award focuses on:

both traditional and digital techniques that best illustrate the botanical world
a range of plants from new or renamed species, to rare, vulnerable or endangered plants, as well as common native or exotic subjects.

The Award is run by Catherine Wardrop and Lesley Elkan, the botanical illustrators at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, Australia where Margaret Flockton worked in the Herbarium - on behalf of the Margaret Flockton Award Committee.

The Prizes are as follows

First prize: AU$5000;
second prize: AU$2000;
3 x Highly Commended.

However the best prize is probably the career development benefit of being identified as one of the best scientific botanical illustrators in the world.

This is an OPEN COMPETITION and the Award always welcomes new and talented illustrators. Those interested should first review the entries in the exhibition in 2018 - as exhibited on Flickr

How to enter

You can read about how to enter on:

The RBGS website - see The Margaret Flockton Award Register for updates with the enquiries email on this page.
This website - see The Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Illustration

You can send in an entry between Mon 14 January and Tues 29 January 2019. Note this is earlier than last year when the submission was in February.

Key points to note are:

All entries must be submitted digitally.

All original illustrations must be scanned or photographed at high resolution and then submitted via approved large-file transfer sites.
No original artworks will require sending or receiving.
Digital submission - forms
Digital submission - artwork
Permissions

Fully digitally rendered, printable illustrations are now eligible for entry.

but NOT animated or 3D works

Entries must comply with a range of technical requirements

these are explained in full on the website in addition to A Guide to Scientific Illustration

No artworks will be offered for sale by RBGS

BUT direct email or website details will be made available, with the consent of the artist for sales to be arranged direct with the relevant artist.

Assessment

Judging: Entries will be assessed in accordance with the following criteria:

accurate interpretation and portrayal of plant characters and diagnostic features;
technical merit;
reproducibility;
composition;
artistic merit.

See A Guide to Scientific Illustration on the RBGS page for more information on judging criteria.

Further Information

Exhibition

The botanical illustrations in the Exhibition can be seen at three different locations.

Works for sale - selected works will be available for sale direct from the artist
The exhibition details for the three locations are as follows:

VENUE 1:

Venue: Joseph Maiden Theatre, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney - enter via Woolloomooloo Gate on Mrs Macquaries Road
Dates: Sat 30 March – Sun 14 April 2019 daily 10 am - 4 pm.
Cost: Entry to the exhibition is free

VENUE 2:

Venue: The Australian PlantBank at The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan
Dates: Saturday 8 June – Sunday 28 July 2019, Mon – Fri 10 am – 4 pm and selected weekends

VENUE 3:

Venue: Visitor Centre at The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah
Dates: Friday 9 August – Sunday 15 September 2019, daily 9.30 am – 4.30 pm

More Information:

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TOP TIPS from RHS Gold Medal Winners 2017

14/8/2018

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When I interview the botanical artists who have just won an RHS Gold Medal at the RHS Botanical Art Show, I always ask them for tips for those aspiring to do the same.

In 2017 I was rewarded - more than I can say - by hearing from Mariko Ikeda who won the Best Exhibit prize at the RHS London Botanical Art Show 2017. She wanted to thank me profusely for everything I've written before as it really helped her with preparing her exhibit!

Pandanus by Mariko Ikeda at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2017 (photo Katherine Tyrrell)

Pandanus by Mariko Ikeda - Gold Medal and Best Exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2017 (photo Katherine Tyrrell)

Then Kate Barling, another exhibitor, found me to thank me for the tip about how to mount the work - and I collected another tip from her which you'll find below!

So the bottom line is what goes around comes around.

You can benefit from the tips I've identified to date and...
...in future I might be asking you what's your top tip!

Note: Unfortunately last year I started this post but forgot finish it. But it's never too late to pass on a few more tips!
READ ON for my very belated post about the top tips from the RHS Gold Medallists in 2017 - which is now complete!

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RHS London Botanical Photography Show 2018 - Awards and Medal Winners

13/7/2018

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The names and exhibit titles of the medal winners and best portfolio award winner at the RHS London Botanical Photography Show 2018 are listed below.

You can see much better images of the portfolios of six images on the RHS website than you can in this post and I recommend any aspiring entrant to do so - PLUS do study the descriptions as well as the images.

Laurence Hill with his intensely botanical and extremely well presented exhibit of Fritillaria affinis and a discussion and demonstration of plant variability relative to the agreed taxonomic description of one species of a wild plant

Photographs at RHS Shows will be assessed for their botanical and horticultural content and for their photographic quality. Judges take account of the overall impression of an exhibit, including details of presentation such as mounting, labelling and framing.

I was struggling to find either botanical or horticultural content in some of the exhibits and I'm personally very much not in favour of Bronze medals being handed out simply for turning up and presenting an exhibit.

I'd very much recommend that ALL those entering work in this competition in future read up on the Guidelines for Botanical Photo Exhibitors which I also think the RHS could make a great deal more prominent on their website!! (see notes at end)

Best Portfolio Photography Exhibit

Polina Plotnikova - Dancing Flowers
I would normally place this exhibit as the feature at the top. However the amount of reflection generated by the exhibit meant that it was difficult to see in the hall and very difficult to photograph

"Dancing Flowers" by Polina Plotnikova

Gold Medals

"Botanical Prints: Where Art Meets Science" - Eleanor Coate

Nigel Chapman GM (2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014) - Abstract Images RHS Garden Wisley
Eleanor Coate - Botanical Prints: Where Art Meets Science
Laurence Hill (GM 2014, 2017) - Species Boundaries: Fritillaria affinis
Polina Plotnikova GM (2014, 2015, 2017) - Dancing Flowers

My favourite exhibit was the one by Laurence Hill - and not just because he'd taken on board my comments about exhibit notes at a previous exhibition! His exhibit displayed six precise and different "versions" of the same plant species - at life size - at different locations inland from the Pacific coast of the USA. The latter was indicated by a fine line drawing of the coast line (relative to Mount Hood in Oregon to Point Reyes in California) towards the bottom of 'plate'. Each exhibit was also identified in terms of the specific location and height where it was collected and by whom. The point of the exhibit was to demonstrate the extent of variability in the taxonomic description of the same species with a when found in the wild. He also tracked and documented the extent to which this gets reflected in the synonyms for the taxonomy of names over time - before everybody agrees it is in fact the same plant!

NOTE: It was very difficult to photograph some of the exhibits for this post. Exhibition requirements are that exhibits should be protected by NON-REFLECTIVE acetate sheets.

It was very noticeable that Laurence Hill, Nigel Chapmen and Jan Cassidy who have previously won Gold Medals and previously exhibited in the Horticultural Halls all chose to exhibit images with an unprotected matt surface to reduce the bounce from some extremely bright light overhead.

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RHS London Botanical Art Show 2018 - Awards and Medal Winners

12/7/2018

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This post is about who won which award and which colour of medal at the RHS London Botanical Art Show 2018.

Below you can read about

which three artists won Awards for outstanding botanical artwork
the names of artists and exhibits which won different colour medals - and some images of the Gold Medal winners

Links in the names of artists are to their websites where you can see more about their botanical artwork.

A small part of the RHS Botanical Art Show 2018 - on the Preview evening

Awards for outstanding botanical artwork

Laura Silburn with her "Best Botanical Painting in Show'

There were just two Awards - Best Painting in Show and Best Exhibit in Show - and now there are three! These were awarded as follows:

Best Botanical Painting 2018: Laura Silburn, Fern ‘No 6’
Best Botanical Art Exhibit 2018: Michie Yamada ‘Wild Roses in Japan’
Judges’ Special Award 2018: Hye-Woo Shin ‘Plants in Dokdo Island’

Best Botanical Art Exhibit: Michie Yamada ‘Wild Roses in Japan’

Judges’ Special Award: Hye-Woo Shin ‘Plants in Dokdo Island’

Gold Medals

SIXTEEN Gold Medals have been awarded in this year's Botanical Art Show

I predicted a lot of them - but the overall number was unexpected. I'm inclined to say that there is beginning to be a considerable range that "meet the criteria" of the Gold Medal Standard. I'll comment more in the overall review of the show later.

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Worth a Thousand Words - exhibition at the RHS

8/7/2018

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Worth a Thousand Words is the new exhibition at the RHS Lindley Library of RHS Gold Medal winning paintings in the botanical art collection.

It's timed to coincide with the Botanical Art Show which is part of the Plant and Art Fair on 10th - 12th July 2018, at which the very latest RHS Gold Medals will be handed out to the worthy winners.

What you can see

This exhibition features original artworks by artists who have excelled in all areas in order to achieve the Gold-medal standard.

You can see:

artwork in watercolour, watercolour and pencil, coloured pencils, gouache, pen and ink
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.

Two of the works also include the supplementary studies done in preparation for the painting - plus there is a slideshow of the process of creating one of the works.

IMPORTANT! The exhibits are on both sides of the white partition display walls - so don't imadvertently miss any of the paintings!

The Participating Artists

The participating artists are listed below and next to the view of their work in the exhibition. The labels beneath the artwork explain:

the latin and common name of the plant and
which RHS Botanical Art Shows they have exhibited at
what medals were awarded at each show

All artists are from England unless otherwise indicated.
The majority of artists are multiple Gold Medal Winners.

"Worth a Thousand Words" - paintings and preparatory studies

Left to right the above artwork is by:

Kimoyo Maruyama (Japan) Gold Medals 2001, 2003, 2005, 2010 (+ Best Exhibit), 2015
Samantha Cook - Gold Medal 2006
(top) Sandra Sanger (Australia) Gold Medals 2008, 2010, 2013, 2016 She has also received the 'The Celia Rosser Award' for an outstanding painting.
(Bottom) Clare McGhee (Scotland) Gold Medal 2010 This is her Facebook Page
Norma Gregory - Gold Medals 2006, 2009, 2011 - The Rheum in the exhibition is from her third series in 2011. It was great to see it again - see below for a photo of Norma and the first time I saw it.
Janet Dyer - Gold Medal and Best Botanical Painting 2013. Interestingly her painting is of a plant which is now outlawed in the UK due to its invasive and destructive nature - the Giant Hogweed

In addition (and initially omitted accidentally due to my photography) is Ann Swan Gold medals in 1991, 1993, 1997, 1999 (Joint) - who also has a coloured pencil drawing of an Opuntia in the show to the left of the fir by Kimoyo Maruyama. Ann is now a very popular botanical art tutor in coloured pencils.

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RHS Photography 2018 and 2019

7/7/2018

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The RHS Plant and Art Fair (10-12 July 2018) includes two photographic displays

The RHS Botanical Photography Show - you can find the list of exhibitors below - and also find out something about the ones I know about
The RHS Photographer of the Year 2018 is a competition run by the RHS - more details below

The main difference between the two is that:

the first is the photographic equivalent of the RHS Botanical Art Show i.e. emphasis on the botanical
The second is a photographic competition for garden lovers, horticulturists and photographers alike and has more generic appeal.

BOTH ARE INTERNATIONAL - and have entries and displays from people from all over the world

The photographic displays are in the Lawrence Hall, Greycoat Street, Westminster (just around the corner from the Lindley Hall where the Botanical Art Show will be held - your admission ticket gets you into both).

The RHS Botanical Photography Show

Flora of the Silk Road: Gentiana arethause copyright Chris Gardner

The RHS Botanical (Portfolio) Photography Show is the photographic equivalent of the RHS Botanical Art Show.

Each photographer is required to exhibit a portfolio of photographs on a botanical theme (plants and/or habitats)
Each photographer is eligible to win a Gold, Silver Gilt, Silver or Bronze RHS Medal.
Entries are submitted by Photographers of international standing
Photographs can be taken anywhere in the world

The 2018 Exhibitors include a number of previous Gold Medal (GM) winners and the years in which they won a medal is indicated after their name. I've met three of the exhibitors previously (Nigel Chapman, Laurence Hill and Polina Plotnikova and seen exhibits by four) - see photos below.

The display this year is just beyond the RHS Photographer of the Year display in the Lawrence Hall.

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