NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

RHS Botanical Art Awards 2021

19/9/2021

This is all about who won which colour RHS Medal at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2021 at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea.

I'm not going to the show until next week. I'm having to limit outings with my very painful ankle and use my rollator so I can always get a seat! Maybe I'll see you there?

If you're thinking of visiting the show see my post from yesterday Botanical Art Exhibitions (Autumn 2021) in London

First, a commentary....

When I looked at the Awards and who had won what, a number of thoughts occurred

Let's not forget that this is the show which was postponed from last year. The exhibitors have had to wait 15 months to see their artwork up for inspection by the Picture Panel who judge the artwork.
the number of artist exhibitors has reduced dramatically - to 15 - and the number of photography exhibits has dramatically increased to 19. I hope this isn't going to be repeated in future years, given the amount of time and effort which goes into artwork exhibits (Not to diss the photographers - but there's few who spend as much time on their exhibits as the artists do!)
the number of countries represented in the show is much reduced - and I think travel restrictions are very likely to be at least partly responsible for this. There are no exhibitors from Australasia, Africa, Asia (outside Honk Kong and Japan - I think), Europe (except one) and South America.
the number of Gold Medals are back to a 'normal' number statistically speaking - as per a normal distribution curve. i.e. I'd commented on the huge numbers of Gold Medals in the past. I thought there were too many and wondered why. I got my answer as to why we were back to normal when I looked at the names of the exhibitors.....
Many of the exhibitors are completely NEW to the RHS Botanical Art Show. So far as I am aware there are only three previous Gold Medal winners exhibiting - and only one of those won their medal in London. There in, I think, lies the answer.
- When you have people who have won a Gold Medal before, they're more likely to win again. When you've got lots of previous Gold Medal winners coming back to exhibit again - as we had in the last show - then the numbers tend to jump. But there must come a point when you need to ensure new artists have the chance to win a Gold Medal....
- That said, two of the Gold Medals were won at Malvern. I have heard people opine in the past that it's easier to win a Gold Medal at Malvern than it is in London. Personally I think it's more likely to be related to the quality of the exhibit - however there is much less competition at Malvern - and an exhibit in London has much more 'context' for deciding the colour of medals. It's entirely possible it makes a difference.
- I'd be interested to see what might happen if those selecting artists for an exhibition introduced a rule that at least 50% in every show must be new exhibitors who meet the 'Silver Medal' standard of those applying to exhibit.
I very much like the fact we can all get to see lots of new botanical art from people who are new to the RHS Botanical Art Show. I'm left wondering how many of them are well known to others - as a number of the names are completely new to me.
Those who are repeat exhibitors are typically those previously winning a Gold or Silver Gilt Medal. It has occurred to me previously that being selected to exhibit again at the RHS Botanical Art Show may come to depend in future on the colour of the medal you win at your first outing. It provides every incentive to people to ensure that their first exhibit is an excellent one!
Finally - and this might seem an odd comment to make, but I'll make it anyway. I'm pleased to see that a normal pattern of medal awards has been reinstated at the other end of the spectrum. I'd commented in the past to Judges that I thought one exhibit didn't deserve any colour of medal - despite the fact it got a bronze. (I think the words I'd used was I doubted if it would pass muster for access to a Diploma Course). To me, the medals MUST always be judged on the actual exhibit as presented - artwork, labelling, narrative etc - and emphatically NOT on the fact that an individual has been deemed worthy of showing at the show. In other words - getting permission to exhibit should never equate to an automatic bronze medal as a minimum. For me, there are ONLY two good reasons for "no award made":
- the exhibit failed to satisfy the technical criteria for the exhibit - through no fault of the artist (this has happened in the past when one artwork was damaged in transit and hence a full set was not exhibited)
- the exhibit failed to satisfy the judges as to merit for a medal of any colour. It happens in the Show Gardens and Plant displays - and it should also happen in the Art and Photography shows.

Number of Medals

You can download the Botanical Art Awards 2021 list (138kb pdf). There are 15 artists/exhibits and 14 medals in total:

5 Gold Medals ( UK x 2; Japan x 2; Portugal x 1)
7 Silver Gilt Medals
2 Silver Medals
0 Bronze Medals
1 No Award

For the record, I'm only covering the names of those who received a medal below.

Below are the names of the medal winners - plus a short profile where I can find a website!
I'll add images in when I get back from the show. (I've got a different strategy this year due to limited time on my feet and walking!)
At present, I'm linking to pics of exhibits where I can find them online

Major Botanical Art Awards

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Alice Tangerini awarded the 2020 Jill Smythies Award by The Linnean Society

6/6/2021

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The 2020 Jill Smythies Award (a medal and £1,000) to a botanical artist for outstanding, diagnostically relevant, published illustrations was this week given to the American botanical illustrator Alice Tangerini.

I think I'm correct in saying this is only the second time the award has been made to an American botanical illustrator. Bobbi Angell received the Award in 2006.

Some might argue this award is a tad overdue given the fact Alice Tangerini has worked as the Staff illustrator in the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, since 1972! i.e. next year she will have been there for 50 years!

The official citation reads as follows.

For the excellence of her depictions of plants for scientific use, including the detailed portrayal of their diagnostic characteristics, Alice Tangerini is our 2020 winner of the Jill Smythies Award. In addition to illustrating new species, Alice has illustrated multiple taxa from the same group for the same publication, such that the details of the drawings can be used to distinguish the species.

Since 1972, Alice has made diagnostic illustrations for over 1,000 plant species in pen and ink, graphite, and more recently in digital media, for a variety of publications. Using mainly herbarium specimens as her resource material, she has prepared these illustrations to portray the species in a realistic manner with necessary reconstruction to remove the artefacts of drying and physical damage. Significant taxonomic characters have been enlarged with the aid of a microscope to facilitate their use in species descriptions.

Over the years, the detail and accuracy of her drawings and examinations of the specimens have resulted in authors changing descriptions, based on details observed by Alice that had escaped the botanists’ notice. For instance, her detailed examination of a proposed new species of bromeliad resulted in the production of a newly written, enhanced description. As a result, the authors, Lyman B. Smith and Harold Robinson, decided to name the new species Navia aliciae in her honour. Such collaboration with scientists in describing a taxon is the hallmark of exemplary botanical illustration.
The Jill Smythies Award 2020

Below you can READ MORE about:

The Jill Smythies Award
Alice Tangerini

About The Jill Smythies Award

The Jill Smythies Award of £1000 and a medal is made to a botanical artist for outstanding illustrations.

The Linnean Society of London is the world’s oldest active biological society. Founded in 1788 by Sir James Edward Smith (1759–1828), who was its first President. The Society takes its name from the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) whose botanical, zoological and library collections have been in its keeping since 1829.

The Society aims to promote the study of all aspects of the biological sciences.

Through awarding medals and grants, the Society acknowledges and encourages excellence in all of these fields.

A medal and £1000 to a botanical artist for outstanding, diagnostically relevant, published illustrations.

Established in 1986 by the late Mr B E Smythies FLS, in honour of his wife, the late Florence Mary Smythies ("Jill"), whose career as a botanical artist was cut short by an accident to her right hand.

Awarded to a botanical artist in recognition of excellence in published illustrations in aid of plant identification, with the emphasis on botanical accuracy and the accurate portrayal of diagnostic characteristics.

Read more about the Award and review the listing on past winners on my dedicated page The Jill Smythies Award.

About Alice Tangerini

Alice Tangerini was born in 1949.

In 1972, she was hired as a Staff Illustrator for the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History by American botanist Lyman Bradford Smith. Prior to working at the Smithsonian Institution, she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University.

In her role as the only Scientific Illustrator the Smithsonian has ever hired, she has

worked with pen and ink, graphite, and—recently—digital color to produce botanical illustrations. She specialises in monochrome illustration.
illustrated over 1000 species of plants appearing in various scientific periodicals, floras, and botanical and nature books.
managed and curated an extensive collection of botanical illustrations.

Plus she also

teaches classes in scientific illustration techniques, presents lectures on botanical illustration and
juries shows in botanical gardens and academic institutions.

You can view her scientific botanical illustrations on the Smithsonian Database by

doing a search of the Botany Collections Database (or access via https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/botany/?ti=7)
click search Botanical Art
select the "Artist" cell and search for Tangerini, Alice
click Seach button
(optional) select 100 for the number of illustrations to a page

Besides the Smithsonian Institution, her artwork is also held in the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, and the botanical art collection of the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.

AWARDS AND PRIZES

Alice Tangerini has received the following awards

1999 - "Distinguished Service Award" - from Guild of Natural Science Illustrators
2008 - "Excellence in Scientific Botanical Art" award - from the American Society of Botanical Artists
2021 - The Jill Smythies Award 2020 - by the Linnean Society of London

PUBLICATION AND ARTICLES

2020 - Botanical illustration is becoming endangered, but the job is essential | Washington Post (Jan 2020)

2018 - The Smithsonian Magazine gave her a tribute by way of a 'Woman In Science" Special Report titled The Botanical Artist Who Translates Plant Science Into Beautiful Art The Smithsonian’s first and only botanical illustrator brings her subjects to life in all their scientific glory
2017 - Botanical Illustrator Alice Tangerini - Hillrag.com
2016 - Tangerini, Alice, Everly, Robin, and Cardello, Sara. 2016. "Botanical illustrator, Alice Tangerini, featured at Smithsonian Libraries event." The Plant Press (4): 7.
2013 - Funk, Vicki Ann, Robinson, Harold E., and Tangerini, Alice. 2013. "Whatever happened to Bishopanthus (Compositae, Liabeae)?." PhytoKeys 30:65– 73. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.30.6652
1999 - Tangerini, A. R. 1999. "I go to Washington and meet Dr. Smith." Havard Papers in Botany 4 (1):97– 102.
1996 - Dorr, Laurence J. and Tangerini, A. 1996. "Catalog of botanical illustrations [Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution]." http://www.nmnh.si.edu/botart

Plus this is herGoogle Arts and Culture page!

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Margaret Flockton Award 2021: Call for Entries

16/2/2021

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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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