NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Margaret Flockton Award 2023: Call for Entries

30/4/2023

Two important dates in May for scientific botanical illustrators:

The deadline for entries for the 2023 Margaret Flockton Award is Sunday 21 May EST
You can start submitting entries on Monday 8 May.

What is the Margaret Flockton Award?

The Margaret Flockton Award - organised annually by the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney - commemorates the contribution Margaret Flockton (1861-1953) made to Australian scientific botanical illustration.

Every year, illustrators from around the world submit scientifically accurate drawings that accompany the published taxonomic description of a plant, clearly highlighting all of the distinctive features of the species. Original taxonomic illustrations are highly detailed black and white drawings primarily undertaken in pen and ink, pencil or digitally rendered.

You can read more about past winners on my dedicated page The Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Illustration

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 2020, 2021 AND 2022 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 ALSO make up at least half the entries

this competition is NOT limited to those who generate income producing scientific botanical illustrations
scientific illustration entries from a wider group are always welcomed.

What can you enter?

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

All illustrations MUST have been have been produced in the last two years i.e. after May 2021
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).
- There are very precise dimensions for the images you can submit
- 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
The illustration should include a small legend
- with plant name and all lettered components
- neatly written or typed at the bottom of the artwork
- outside of the image area
All illustration MUST be 100% of original artwork size
- the image area MUST be:
  - no larger than A3 (295 mm x 420 mm) and
  - no smaller than (180 x 250 mm), EXCLUDING legend.
  - Illustrations outside of these parameters will not be accepted.
- The digital canvas size may only be longer than A3 to allow for the legend.
All illustrations must be intended for 2D printed output.
- Animated or 3D rendered works or images dependent on digital viewing, as well as photos and photo montage works, are NOT eligible for submission.
- Eligible entries may be printed at 67% of original size to assess reproducibility at judging.
High resolution digital images of the each illustration MUST NOT exceed 200MB

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EXHIBITION: Flora of Southeast Asia

30/10/2022

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Flora of Southeast Asia is an International Botanical Art Exhibition which opens on 15th November at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

It is a regional juried exhibition and a unique collaboration between FOUR botanical art societies / groups in Southeast Asia. It has been co-organised by Botanical Art Society (Singapore) (BASS) and the Singapore Botanic Gardens, in their first-ever collaboration with:

Indonesian Society of Botanical Artists (IDSBA)
Philippine Botanical Art Society (PhilBAS) and
Thai Botanical Artists (THBA).

BOTANICAL ART SOCIETIES / GROUPS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

It struck me while writing this post that all these groups and societies have been set up in the last few years. It's an indication of how a much broader range of countries in Asia (beyond Japan, China and Korea) are now much more active in the creation of botanical art and associated exhibitions.

IDSBA was officially founded at Bogor in June 2017 by Eunike Nugruho and Jenny Kartawinata
I think I'm right in saying Thai Botanic Artists formed as an informal group in response to the call for the Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art in 2018
BASS was founded in June 2019. The Society now has members from Singapore, across Asia and North America.
I'm not sure when the Philippine Botanical Art Society formed - but can see from their Facebook Page that they've been very active for three years - since September 2019.

SCOPE OF "FLORA OF SOUTHEAST ASIA" EXHIBITION

120 artworks featuring 115 plant species by 85 artists have been selected to be on display throughout SBG. (This was the very well organised Call for Entries website).

This exhibition showcases the native plant diversity of Southeast Asia with 80 original botanical artworks in the Botanical Art Gallery and 40 additional facsimiles in the People’s Gallery outdoor exhibit spaces of the gardens.
A wide variety of Southeast Asian native plants such as orchids, shrubs, trees, wetland species, epiphytes and fungi are depicted in watercolour, graphite, colour pencil, acrylic and ink.

The subject matter of "Flora of Southeast Asia is

Any flora native to Southeast Asia, including fungi, lichen and/or algae.
A plant is considered native if it has occurred naturally in the Southeast Asian region, ecosystem, or habitat without human introduction.

EXHIBITION DETAILS

Venue: Singapore Botanic Gardens:

80 artworks at Botanical Art Gallery: House No. 7, Gallop Extension, Singapore Botanic Gardens
- Open daily 9am - 6pm (closed on last Thursday of the month)
40 Additional Artworks / Facsimile Prints can be found at: People's Gallery exhibit spaces of Singapore Botanic Gardens, at
- the Tanglin Gate,
- Nassim Gate,
- Bukit Timah Gate and
- the Green Pavilion at Botany Centre

Dates: 15 November 2022 – 15 February 2023
Admission: FREE

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Oxford Florilegium Exhibition marks 400th anniversary of the UK's oldest botanic garden

29/10/2021

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This is about an upcoming exhibition of the Oxford Florilegium which opens next month.

2021 is the 400th anniversary of Oxford Botanic Garden, the oldest botanic garden in the UK, founded on July 25th 1621. Established as the Oxford Physic Garden for growing medicinal plants used to teach medical students, the Garden was the birthplace of botanical sciences at Oxford. It became known as the Oxford Botanic Garden in the 1830s to reflect its role in experimental botany.

As part of the Oxford Botanic Garden’s 400 year anniversary celebrations, the University of Oxford Botanic Garden and the Department of Plant Sciences are holding an Oxford Florilegium Exhibition.

Exhibition features:
- the work of 14 artists,
- a diverse range of art from throughout the Oxford Florilegium Collection
Venue: Barn Gallery, Kendrew Quad, Saint John’s College, St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3JP (no. 22 on this pdf map of St John's College)
Dates: Monday 22 November to Saturday 4th December 2021
Hours: 12pm - 6pm.

To date, almost 80 illustrations by members of the Oxford Botanic Garden and Harcourt Arboretum Florilegium Group have been accepted into the Herbarium archive. Following the judging for this year's exhibition more will be added to the growing collection.

Note 1: The image chosen for image above is Pinus nigra, black pine © Rosemary Wise. The tree is one of the oldest in the Oxford Botanic Garden and was planted in the Garden in the 1830s and much loved by JRR Tolkien. The original tree, often referred to as ‘Tolkien’s Pine’, shed two huge branches in 2014 and had to be felled. To mark the 400th anniversary, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales planted a special tree, propagated from a seed of the black pine (Pinus nigra) on his visit to mark the anniversary on 7th June 2021.

Exhibition Judges

The work will be judged for its botanical accuracy, execution and composition by

Professor Simon Hiscock - Director, University of Oxford Botanic Garden & Harcourt Arboretum (Christ Church)
Professor Stephen Harris, Druce Curator (Herbaria), Associate Professor in Plant Science (Christ Church)
Dr Chris Thorogood - Deputy Director & Head of Science, University of Oxford Botanic Garden & Arboretum

About the Florilegium

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Global Tree Assessment: Botanical Illustration & Photography Competition

31/3/2021

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This is about the Botanical Illustration & Photography Competition for the cover image for the Global Tree Assessment - the first-ever conservation assessment of all the world's known tree species.

The deadline for entries is June 1st 2021.

The Global Trees Campaign

Our mission is to secure the future of the world’s threatened tree species in situ, for the benefit of people and wildlife

The Global Trees Campaign is a partnership between

Fauna & Flora International and
Botanic Gardens Conservation International.

(see end of post for an explanationof these two organisations)

What is the Global Tree Assessment?

The Global Tree Assessment (GTA) is assessing the conservation status of every known tree species.

The Global Tree Assessment is the largest biodiversity assessment ever undertaken at a species level.

In 2015 the BGCI and the IUCN Species Survival Commission Global Tree Specialist Group launched the Global Tree Assessment

in recognition of the poor understanding of the conservation status of the world’s tree species,
the limits on conservation action for threatened species due to lack of understanding
to continue and expand their mutual Red List activities over the last two decades.

As of December 2020

two-thirds of c.60,000 known tree species have a published conservation assessment
28,676 of these tree species are also listed on the IUCN Red List.

Botanical Illustration & Photography Competition

WHAT'S ON OFFER:
The chance for your illustration or photo to be on
the cover of the Global Tree Assessment,
the first-ever conservation assessment of all the world's known tree species.

WHO CAN ENTER: Anybody round the world who can produce an illustration or a photo

WHAT TO ENTER:

Botanical Illustration or Photograph
Your best illustration or photo of a tree that is threatened.
Only one entry per person.

HOW TO FIND A TREE WHICH IS THREATENED:

To find the conservation status of a tree, use BGCI's ThreatSearch and Global Tree Search to identify species that are
- Vulnerable (VU),
- Endangered (EN), or
- Critically Endangered (CR).

(Note: You will need to know - or find out - the correct botanical names for some trees as search is via Family / Genus / Species)

You can also find and observe many threatened trees which are being grown and protected in Botanic Gardens around the world.

HOW TO ENTER:

read the official rules
complete the form
- your full name and email address
- Include the full taxonomic name of the tree depicted in your entry.
- say where you found it (identify the country)
- say why it is special
consent to contributing to a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) image library of threatened trees (i.e. if you submit an entry you must consent to this)

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: June 1st, 2021

What is Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI)?

Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) is:

the world's largest plant conservation network - with over 60,000 plant scientists, plant conservation experts and horticulturalists
a global voice for all botanic gardens around the world - championing and celebrating their diversity. It represents botanic gardens in more than 100 countries around the world.
mobilises botanic garden to ensure plant diversity for the well-being of both people and planet

Species of trees it is focusing on - as a special project - include

Mulanje cedar (Widdringtonia whytei) - which is Malawi's national tree and occurs naturally only in the Mulanje Mountain Biosphere Reserve in South East Malawi.

What is Fauna and Flora International?

Founded in 1903, the Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is

the world's oldest international wildlife conservation organisation
a campaigning and practical organisation which has been safeguarding threatened species and ecosystems worldwide for well over a century.

It focuses on species, habitats and countries.

Species of trees it is focusing on include:

Cape Verdean dragon tree
Grandidier’s baobab - in western Madagascar
Lansan tree - found only on the Windward Islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint Lucia.
Ziyuan fir - confined to just four mountains in south-west China

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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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Deborah Lambkin wins Margaret Flockton Award 2020

8/5/2020

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Irish botanical illustrator Deborah Lambkin, who works in the UK as the RHS Orchid Artist, has won the Margaret Flockton Award 2020 for the scientific botanical illustration of a new orchid.

Unusually this year the announcement of the prizewinners was made by Denise Ora, the Executive Director of the Royal Botanic Sydney via video (see below).

Below the video is:

a short narrative about the purpose of the award and how it works
an explanation of why the first two exhibitions have cancelled and details of the third which may still go ahead
narratives about the first and second prizewinners
then details of the four botanical illustrators who have been highly commended

I'll also be doing another blog post (shortly) about the botanical illustrators who had work selected for this (online) exhibition in 2020.

IMAGES
Crops of the images are included in this post. You can see much better images in the Flickr Album Margaret Flockton Award 2020 - which also contains all 63 artworks selected "for exhibition"

Margaret Flockton Award 2020
for Scientific Botanical Illustration Prizewinners

â€‹The Margaret Flockton Award is specifically about scientific botanical illustration.
Entries are typically:

submitted by professional botanical illustrators
related to plates produced for the record and for scientific botanical publications.

Scientific botanical illustrators from around the world are invited by the curators of the exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney to:

digitally submit scientifically accurate taxonomic illustrations
i.e. highly detailed black and white drawings primarily undertaken in pen and ink, pencil or digitally rendered.
that accompany a published taxonomic description of the plant,
with the drawing clearly highlighting all of the distinctive features of the species.

The Criteria used to judge the Award are listed below:

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

See A Guide to Scientific Illustration (on the Margaret Flockton Award page on the RBG website - at the bottom) for more information on judging criteria.

The Judges for the 2020 Award were all from the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney.

Catherine Wardrop - RBG&CP Botanical Illustrator and Margaret Flockton Award Curator
Lesley Elkan - Botanical Illustrator
Karen Wilson, Honorary Research Associate.â€‹

You can see what they were faced with below.........

View this post on Instagram

The entries are in! Thanks to the amazing artists who have entered the 2020 Flockton Award. 63 entries from 46 artists from every corner of the globe! Good luck to all. #penandink #blackandwhiteinkdrawing #botanicalillustrationpenandink #scientificillustration #botanicalillustration #botanyart

A post shared by Catherine W & Lesley E (@rbg_illustration) on Mar 9, 2020 at 11:59pm PDT

PRIZEWINNERS

I think I'm right in saying all six botanical illustrators have been honoured with prizes or commendations by the Margaret Flockton Award for the first time (I'll be checking!)
â€‹
1st Prize ($5,000 AUS): Deborah Lambkin

Crop of part of the illustrationof crop of Gastrodia sp. nov. by Deborah Lambkin - view the full image by clicking the pic

Deborah Lambkin (Ireland / United Kingdom) has won the First Prize of AUS$5,000 for her depiction of Gastrodia sp. nov. - a new orchid species from Madagascar.

Deborah has been a Scientific Botanical illustrator over 30 years. Currently she is the RHS Orchid Artist working for the Royal Horticultural Society and the Eric Young Orchid Foundation, She also creates scientific botanical illustrations for botanists working at the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew.

Deborah was born in Ireland and lives in London. She trained at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) in Dublin.

In 1999, she won an RHS Gold Medal for her collection of eight paintings of Nerines
In 2001, she exhibited at the 10th International Exhibition of Botanical Art and Illustration at the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh, USA
In 2005, she was appointed as the official 'Orchid Artist' to the Royal Horticultural Society Orchid Committee. To date she has contributed nearly 500 orchid paintings to the Royal Horticultural Society's Orchid Painting Collection.
In 2014 she joined RHS Picture Advisory Panel and is involved with judging at the RHS Botanical Art shows. She also exhibited at the World Orchid Conference Botanical Art Exhibition 2014.
In 2019 she was awarded the Jill Smythies Award for excellence in published botanical illustrations.
Her scientific illustrations have been published in Curtis Botanical Magazine and she has work in the collection of the Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin in Dublin, Ireland.

Deborah is a member of the Irish Society of Botanical Artists and the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society. "Beauty at a brush stroke" (Twitter) is an Irish Times article about Deborah and her work.

All in all, Deborah is a professional botanical illustrator who both draws and paints and has now had her work recognised by all the top exhibitions, competitions, awards and prizes for botanical art and Illustration. The Margaret Flockton Award now gives her "the full set" and she now moves into the illustrious company of those very few botanical illustrators who have achieved the same. (I'm off to count them - I know there's not a lot!)

You can follow Deborah Lambkin on Twitter and Instagram

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Denver Botanic Gardens: Illustrator in Residence 2020 - applications invited

30/1/2020

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Applications are invited from experienced botanical illustrators for the School of Botanical Illustration 2020 Residency Programme at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

It will interest all botanical illustrators who have completed a certificate in botanical illustration, like to travel to draw and paint new plants and are capable of teaching a workshop. The Residency offers a stipend of $4,000 to cover the essential costs (offset costs of travel and transportation, art supplies, and living expenses.) of the six week residency between June and October 2020.

The Illustrator in Residence Program is an exciting opportunity for illustrators to find inspiration in the natural beauty of Denver Botanic Gardens and further their practice with in-depth access to the Gardens’ extensive scientific collections. Residents will illustrate the Garden’s collections and landscapes with a focus on documenting plants native to the Rocky Mountain region, supporting the
Gardens’ dedication to preservation, conservation, education and biodiversity.

This file provides all the details of the Residency - which I also summarise below.

sbai_illustrator_residency_2020.pdf
File Size:	270 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

The deadline for submissions is Feb. 29, 2020 11:59 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time)

VENUE
Denver Botanic Gardens 1007 York Street, Denver, CO 80206

This page provides an overview of the Gardens
This is a link to a map of the York Street Gardens and facilities

Denver Botanic Garden from above

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE
In recent years, the SBAI at Denver Botanic Gardens has had a number of botanical artists participate in their Residency Programme including:

2015: Ikumi Kayama (USA) and Benjamin Cardenas Valderrama (Colombia)
2016: Lauren Bassing (USA) and John Pastoriza-Piñol
2017: Katherine Rudebusch (USA) and Isik Guner
2018: Asuka Hishiki

READ about Isik Guner's experience during her residency in 2017 - Artist Residency in Denver Botanic Gardens

SEE EXAMPLES of the artwork produced in the blog posts by the School of Botanical Illustration a Denver Botanical Gardens.

2018 Residency Artwork for the Denver Collection by Asuka Hishiki

SCOPE OF THE RESIDENCY
The scope of this residency features two key elements:

Creation of a body of work supporting the mission of Denver Botanic Gardens, particularly focused on plants native to Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region.
Leading one 3-day workshop for 12 students in the Gardens’ School of Botanical Art and Illustration. This workshop will focus on a technique or media that the resident specializes in, subject to the approval of the Gardens. Dates of the workshop will be determined based on the residency timeframe. PLUS interaction with visitors is optional though highly encouraged, promoting public understanding and appreciation of the natural world and offering an opportunity for visitors to see the Gardens through the eyes of an artist.

Opportunities could include:

Offering an open studio to share works in progress
Conducting demonstrations for the public
Writing blog posts for the Gardens’ website

DURATION OF THE 2020 RESIDENCY

six weeks between June 9 and October 9, 2020.
40 hours a week engaged in residency activities, ideally Monday through Friday although some flexibility is possible.
Optional professional development opportunities like lectures or programs may also be available to the resident during evenings and weekends.

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