NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Botanical Art Worldwide and in UK (excluding Scotland)

24/9/2023

This post covers:

Basic Principles:
- Botanical Art Worldwide Central Guidelines
- Country Guidelines
Participating countries to date
Botanical Art Worldwide in the UK

Botanical Art Worldwide - Basic Principles

The second Botanical Art Worldwide Project will focus on and celebrate biodiversity in the crops that have been closely associated with the human species over thousands of years. The theme is designed to draw attention to the vast variety of food and useful plants available, in contrast with the relatively few varieties currently used in mass cultivation. Plants eligible for inclusion are those cultivated for food, textiles, building, energy, and medicine

BAW Central Guidelines

The theme of the Exhibition in 2025 is "Crop Diversity".

Eligible subject matter covers:

HERITAGE CROPS: Crops that are not used in modern, large scale monocultural agriculture. Crops chosen should have been in cultivation for a minimum of 50 years (in the country in which they're being portrayed).
CROP WILD RELATIVES: Wild species that can be hybridized with cultivated crops to impart a new characteristic to the cultivated crop, or that are foraged wild plants.
ANCIENT CROPS: Those that have been cultivated for hundreds or thousands of years in the same form.

Every country needs to comply with the central guidelines which will be produced by the Steering Committee for Botanical Art Worldwide.

These central guidelines has not yet been fully finalised - and hence not yet formalised and published . However these are coming soon and will be prominent on the Botanical Art Worldwide website when available.

BAW International Exhibition

The International Exhibition is going to be digital/virtual and will be available online to everybody around the world and remain on view during May 2025.

(To be honest, I've always thought that the point of going digital is you can remain online - as indeed all the historical art does in the various collections / major projects relating to past botanical artwork and illustrations. Maybe it's an issue of expense? There again YouTube is forever if you so choose.)

Overall Goals

Artists around the world are working on this project to:
- build partnerships between artists, institutions, scientists, and the public.
- raise awareness of the worldwide renaissance in botanical art.
- acknowledge and build upon the increasing ease of communication and connection between botanical artists wherever they might live and work.
- increase appreciation and understanding of crop diversity around the world.
- engage in a project to document some of the world’s diverse crop plants.

Components of the BAW Project 2025

BASIC PRINCIPLES of how it will work in every country - as agreed by the Steering Committee.

Exhibitions of original botanical artworks juried from submissions of artists in each participating country.
All will depict crop plants grown in each country to focus on worldwide crop diversity (i.e. not plants you can buy in the country; ONLY crops which grow in the country).
Digital presentations will be shown featuring artworks appearing in all other countries’ exhibitions.
Each country will set its own opening and closing dates for exhibitions and other events
- Lectures, webinars, workshops, demonstrations, and other public programming will be presented by organizers and host venues
- during the exhibitions’ opening times.
Exhibition venues around the world will all hold special events on May 18, 2025 - a Worldwide Day of Botanical Art following the sun from venue to venue.

Participating Countries

If your botanical art organisation / botanical garden / museum wants to participate - and your country is not already participating (see list below) - you should

either go to this page and find out who to contact
or email [email protected] for more information.

The following are all the participating countries - to date. I expect more will join.

Australia
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Colombia
France
Germany
Indonesia
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Philippines
Republic of Korea
Russia
Scotland
Singapore
South Africa
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
USA

You can see everything that happened around the world on one page on my website - see ARCHIVE: World Wide Exhibition of Botanical Art 2018. It includes a number of images and videos.

I will be setting up a similar page for Botanical Art Worldwide 2025 on this website very soon.

Country Guidelines / Exhibition

Each participating country has a Steering Committee who are organising the country contribution to the International Exhibition.

One member of that Steering Committee is on the International Steering Committee
Every country is going to choose 40 works for their digital contribution to the digital open INTERNATIONAL exhibition.

Within their own country, each country can choose to have as many artworks as they like in a physical exhibition in the country - depending on the space available.

Each country can organise additional lectures, webinars, workshops, demonstrations, and other public programming - during the dates agreed for the opening and closing of the exhibition in that country.

Botanical Art Worldwide in the UK (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)

In the UK the contribution to Botanical Art Worldwide is SPLIT - as it was in 2018 - between:

UK excluding Scotland (i.e. England, Wales and Northern Ireland) These three countries are being organised by a consortium of botanical art societies / groups and "hosted" by the Association of Botanical Artists (more details below)
Scotland - Scotland's exhibition will be run by the Scottish Society of Botanical Artists (SSBA) - but there is nothing up on either the BAW or the SSBA websites as yet. I'm guessing they'll work "Scotia" into the title somehow as they did in 2018

Below you can find out more about

Botanical Art Worldwide Guidelines for UK (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
How to Register
Support for your entry
The Exhibition
A Webinar Talk about the project

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Botanical Art Worldwide 2025 Q&A Webinar TONIGHT!

12/9/2023

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The Association of Botanical Artists are TONIGHT hosting a free online webinar about Botanical Art Worldwide 2025 on Zoom for artists from around the world.

DATE: Tuesday 12th September
TIME: 8pm (British Summer Time)
TOPIC: Q&A session focused on the Botanical Art World Wide 2025 exhibition
SPEAKERS: Carol Woodin in conversation with Martin Allen
This session is designed to help answer any questions you may have about this exhibition.
WHO CAN VIEW: The event is open to ALL botanical artists no matter where you live.
This event is NOT just for ABA Members and you do not have to be a member to watch.
LINK: Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86845923213

The webinar is also being recorded and will be available to watch after the event.

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION?
You can:

either email your questions in advance to the Association of Botanical Artists via assocbotart @ gmail.com (close the gaps before you send!)
or you can ask a question via the Chat Channel during the webinar.

Botanical Art Worldwide 2025

DATE: 18th May 2025 (i.e. 20 months in the future)
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION: "Crop Diversity".

The second Botanical Art Worldwide Project will focus on and celebrate biodiversity in the crops that have been closely associated with the human species over thousands of years. The theme is designed to draw attention to the vast variety of food and useful plants available, in contrast with the relatively few varieties currently used in mass cultivation. Plants eligible for inclusion are those cultivated for food, textiles, building, energy, and medicine.
Currently, many heritage species and varieties are only cultivated in small quantities by specialist growers on a limited scale. It is vital to promote this genetic diversity in a world challenged by a growing population, changing climate, and habitat losses.
Botanical Art Worldwide Website

In 2025, Botanical Artists and associated organisations and various institutions from around the world will be collaborating to develop the second Botanical Art Worldwide Exhibition by

creating botanical artworks related to crop diversity
exhibiting these artworks in each of the participating countries - at the same time.

All artwork will focus on plants which are included in one of the following categories

HERITAGE CROPS: Crops that are not used in modern, large scale monocultural agriculture. Crops chosen should have been in cultivation for a minimum of 50 years.
CROP WILD RELATIVES: Wild species that can be hybridized with cultivated crops to impart a new characteristic to the cultivated crop, or that are foraged wild plants.
ANCIENT CROPS: Those that have been cultivated for hundreds or thousands of years in the same form.

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More from Brazil and New Zealand re. the Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art

8/11/2018

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Catalogue cover: Expomundial Brasil

Today I added two more items to my page about the Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art 2018. Each was added to their country's section of the webpage (which is organised alphabetically in continents and then countries)

an onscreen link to the Issuu version of the Catalogue for the Brazil exhibition - Expomundial Brasil - which was published today. You can view it full screen by clicking the full screen icon bottom right.
a video of 'Ngai Tipu Taketake - Indigenous Flora' - the New Zealand exhibition - which has now been uploaded to YouTube (see below)

This was the message from the Brazilian team

Here's our e-book finally completed.
We could not allow such an important event to be just a good memory. So we decided to take another step and face another challenge. It seemed simple, but it was months of work and patience of luiz berri, adjustments, wait, doubts and a lot of message exchange, e-mail, watsapp and everything else that could help get the material and information we needed.
But now we have here an important record not only of a remarkable and special moment that was the Brazil, but an overview of the current wealth of botanical illustration in Brazil. Thank you all for participation and trust.
Enjoy to inspire even more

and the message from New Zealand is

This video of New Zealand's 'Ngai Tipu Taketake - Indigenous Flora' exhibition showcases our diverse and unique flora as seen by the best of New Zealand's botanical artists.

If any other country has information or catalogues or videos that need to be added please let me know using the FORM at the bottom of the Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art 2018 page

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Trade Stand Exhibitors at the RHS Plant and Art Fair (July 2018)

2/7/2018

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The Trade Stand Exhibitors at the 2018 RHS Plant and Art Fair in the two Horticultural Halls in Westminster, London are listed below.

Note that

There are a significant number of NEW exhibitors
the vast majority of the trade stands will be in the RHS Lawrence Hall i.e. NOT the Lindley Hall where the Botanical Art Show will be held. (see UPDATE)
a number of regular exhibitors of recent years are NOT exhibiting this year. Examples include: various botanical art societies - including the Society of Botanical Artists (SBA), the Diploma Courses (i.e. Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh and SBA) and Susan Christopher-Coulson.
The website links are not live as Google is not a big fan of lots of commercial links! However copy and insert the url into your browser and the website should come up.

UPDATE: I understand the serious dislocation of botanical art exhibition and botanical artists/organisations has now been remedied by the Show management.

Consequently I've revised the listing below and the exhibitors closely related to botanical art who have been relocated back to the Lindley Hall are now marked with an asterisk * e.g. Ann Swan is back in her usual place!

You can find a PDF Exhibitors List on the RHS webpage However this may well need updating to agree with the revised trade stand plan.

RHS Lindley Hall

This is the Hall where the Botanical Art Show is to be held.

Chelsea Botanical Art School at the 2017 Show: Helen Allen and Mary Ellen Taylor

ART: Botanical Artists / Tutors / Education

The Chelsea School of Botanical Art (CSBA) http://www.chelseaschoolofbotanicalart.co.uk - The CSBA classroom will pop up at the show with a free Botanical Art workshop, see Workshops for details
* Julia Trickey www.juliatrickey.co.uk - professional botanical artist / tutor with an online tuition website and classes
* Ann Swan www.annswan.co.uk - professional botanical artist / tutor with an online tuition website and botanical art holidays

Ann Swan - providing guidance on coloured pencils at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2017

Botanical Art Organisations

* Association of British Botanical Artists - ABBA www.abba2018.wordpress.com - the new body that organised the Botanical Art Worldwide exhibition for England and Wales.

The Association of British Botanical Artists at the 2017 Botanical Art Show

Botanical Organisations

* South London Botanical Institute www.slbi.org.uk - botanical garden in Tulse Hillwhich with wide range of courses, workshops, school visits and events for all ages.

RHS Lawrence Hall

Other contemporary artists / designers with garden/botanical themes

Susan Entwistle Art www.susanentwistle.com - acrylic paintings of gardens in pointillist style
Brie Harrison www.brieharrison.com - designer and illustrator with botanical artworld themes
Hannah McVicar www.hannahmcvicar.com - illustrator, printmaker and mural painter using botanical themes and multi-media printmaking
Zoe Zoe www.annemckenzie.com - paints botanical themes in acrylic paint on unbleached Japanese Kozo paper

Botanical Art and Plant Publications

Addison Publications Ltd www.addisonpublications.com - publishers of the Highgrove and Transylvania Florilegium
RHS Bookshop - A selection of RHS books and gifts, book signings will also be taking place
Two Rivers Press Ltd www.tworiverspress.com - varied list of individually designed books

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Book Review: In Ruskin's Footsteps

5/6/2018

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The catalogue for In Ruskin's Footsteps - the England and Wales contribution to the Botanical Art Worldwide initiative is considerably smaller than the last BAW book I reviewed (see Book Review: 'Éireannach - Celebrating Native Plants of Ireland').

That said, it is also packed full of content.

The back and front cover of the exhibition catalogue

Its creation was organised by the Association of British Botanical Artists (ABBA) and supported by the Dawn Joliffe Botanical Art Bursary awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society.

The catalogue format is an A5 sized paperback with a glossy and very colourful cover.
Within that cover there are 64 pages which comprise:
Committee and Judges

details of those who sat on the Association of British Botanical Artists Committee that organised the exhibition and associated events
the names and credentials of those who acted as jurors for this open exhibition

Background:

an explanation of the purpose of the exhibition together with background about of ABBA - which was created to organise the exhibition for artists living in England and Wales
a very brief summary of Native Plants in England and Wales and some examples. I thought it unfortunate that this omitted the precise meaning of "native indigenous plants" and exactly how these vary from those that grow in the country now - after very many imports of plants from overseas. It assumes people know and yet visitors may well be people who are not botanists or botanical artists and/or do not NOT properly understand the terms 'native' or 'indigenous' within the context of plant life - and consequently why this exhibition is different from other exhibitions they may have seen.
the role of the Peter Scott Gallery within Lancaster University - and an explanation of the connection between the name of the exhibition and the venue as a home for the work of Ruskin.
statements about Partnership conservation organisations

A page about the Plant - Example is March helleborine painted by Claire Kathleen Ward

Plants

Wvery artwork is given one A5 page for an image, name of the plant in terms of latin and common name and the name of the artist and the media used - plus an explanation about the painting
Overall, the quality of the image reproduction is very good but I was left wanting bigger images. The images are not untypical of many small catalogues (i.e. typically around 4x3inches). The quality of the scanning and printing appears to have captured a lot of detail.
The text is the artist's explanation of the plant. The voice of each artist is clear and present and each talk about similar points e.g. reasons for choosing the plant, how they sourced it and what is known about it in terms of its habit and uses past and present. However I tended to very much prefer the text of those like Kew illustrator Christobel King who focus on the plant alone and the challenges it presents for presentation and how she tackled this in her artwork
(Note: The website also provides images of the artwork)

Artists Profiles

each artist gets a profile. I'm afraid with my 'adviser on artist statements' hat on I dearly wanted to edit some of the profiles. I felt this was a section which would have benefited from an edit to make it much more succinct when read as a whole.
While it was good to see the domain names of the artists websites included, they weren't obvious and I'd have liked to have seen these more easily (eg underlined or italicised maybe)

End Pages

the end pages provide a good visual insight into some of the kit and working processes of botanical artists in terms of studies done prior to the final work. It was good to see the sketchbook work and the notes.

In my desire for bigger images, I did try working out whether this might have been possible. It occurred to me that maybe a landscape format in A5 might have worked better in terms of enlarging images and constraining the number of words allowed,

Distribution
Very sensibly ABBA has decided to sell the catalogue around the world. I know a lot of botanical artists and organisations involved with the Botanical Worldwide initiative are very keen to see what other people have produced - and it's great to see an organisation that is making this possible. I suspect the size of the catalogue was determined in part by the need to make postage easier and I commend ABBA for doing this.

It's very nice to have large books but they can cost a lot to send as well as produce. In this case keeping the publication compact makes the price more reasonable. I particularly liked the fact that the price includes all postage and packing so you know straight away when looking at prices what buying a copy is going to cost you. In terms of pricing, I suggest you click the links as the catalogue has three different prices depending on whether you are located in the UK, Europe or the rest of the world. There's also a discount for buying more than one copy.

Conclusion
In summary, the catalogue is a little slow in 'arriving' in terms of its content. In essence the catalogue content is the wrong way round.

For the visitor who knows nothing about the background to the exhibition, what they need from this particular exhibition catalogue is a very brief introduction about 'Botanical Art Worldwide', the reason for the focus on native and indigenous plants - with an explanation of what these are - and a brief explanation about the exhibition title. Followed by the explanation about the artwork, plants and artists up front. The rest is interesting - but is not what the exhibition is primarily about.

Naturally for a one-off exhibition like this, I recognise that it's important to create a record of the 'workings' i.e. how it came about, who was involved and who did what in terms of both people and organisations. However this is a historical record and in my opinion, the explanations about the Committee and Judges and the organisations that were involved and supported could have come at the end and not lost any value as a record - while very much enhancing the exhibition experience via the catalogue for visitors - and for those buying the catalogue even if they have not seen the exhibition.

Special event 9th June 2018

There is to be a second special event at the Peter Scott Gallery on the 9th June. No booking is required and all events are free entry. The events are:

11am – 12 noon - a tour of the exhibition by Martin Allen who works in native plant conservation and is also an RHS Gold Medal winning botanical artist.
2pm – 3pm and will be led by Sarah Morrish. The theme of the talk is ‘Fieldwork and Research Techniques for Botanical Art’. This will give aspiring and more experienced botanical artists an overview of how best work to in the field and how you can then research your subject further, through direct investigation of the subject and additional research techniques - from botany to paper. Sarah's working background is in ecology / conservation and she is an experienced tutor, botanical and natural science artist.

Book reviews of other exhibition catalogues

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Book Review: 'Éireannach - Celebrating Native Plants of Ireland'

30/5/2018

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The Irish Society of Botanical Artists organised the Irish exhibition Botanical Art Worldwide – Éireannach - Celebrating Native Plants of Ireland. This was held at the National Botanic Gardens, 9 Glasnevin Hill in Dublin between 6-27 May 2018.

However the exhibition lives on in its catalogue and for all of us who were unable to get to the exhibition, this is a wonderful document to have for all sorts of reasons.

This is a review of that book Éireannach – Celebrating Native Plants of Ireland in which I endeavour the count the ways in which it is VERY IMPRESSIVE!

I don't often rave about a book - but this is one of those occasions!

No small achievement

I've been impressed with the way that the Irish Society of Botanical Artists - which was formed just over four years ago, in March 2014, has produced a book for every one of its three exhibitions to date.

Maybe that's because they have regarded each exhibition and each book as the outcome of a very specific project. What is even more laudable is that every project has focused on Irish plants

Aibítir: The Irish Alphabet in Botanical Art - focused on illustrating the variety of plant forms and habitats in native plants on the whole island of Ireland. The project used the Celtic uncial script as a structure on which to 'hang' the plants. The first book was small - but perfectly formed - and it sits on my bookshelves!
Plandaí Oidhreachta - Heritage Irish Plants - the second project celebrated the the wealth of good Irish Garden Plants within the context of botanical illustration.
Éireannach – Celebrating Native Plants of Ireland - the third project is intended as a celebration of Irish Native Plants

The Plants and the Botanical Art

One of the double page spreads in the book - and one of my favourites. The plant is Pinguicula gradiflora and the painting is by Holly Somerville

Every single plant in the exhibition has:

at least a single (large) page to itself - while some enjoy a double page spread
the latin name, the common name, the Celtic name and the Genus and family
the name of the artist
the story of the plant - which includes where the plant was found, what the name means - in terms for example of history or habitat or growth features. Plus a detailed description of the botanical features of importance and finally any interesting facts or stories associated with the plant
the image of the botanical art. Some also have a photo of the plant and/or an enlargement of part of the plant of interest - such as the flowers of the Sundew.

What impresses me about the ISBA projects is that they are "rooted" literally and metaphorically in the plants and the botany and getting to know the plant each artist is painting. It's a marvellous practice and an excellent standard for a botanical art society to set as a challenge to members wanting to participate in its projects.

I'd go so far as to say it is a practice I'd commend to other botanical art societies. From a standing start in 2014 ISBA have well and truly demonstrated what can be accomplished - and this book is the evidence of that.

In terms of the botanical art - the standard is excellent and I think some excellent decisions were made as to which merited a double page spread.

Not just about Ireland!

The aspect I was really surprised about is that every other exhibition has also contributed to the book. That means for me it's much more like a celebration of the complete initiative and global excellence in terms of botanical art.

One full page is devoted to each country and includes an image from the exhibition - all of which are excellent and some of which are simply STUNNING!

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Commonwealth Flora - another kind of botanical art - in a veil

21/5/2018

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The veil of the Duchess of Sussex included the flora of Commonwealth countries embroiders around the edge

The day after the Worldwide Day of Botanical Art we had a reprise in the silk organza veil of the Duchess of Sussex. This included distinctive flora from every one of the 53 Commonwealth countries.

I don't supposed I was the only person who wondered what the flowers were! This morning the details have now been released

The flowers embroidered around the edge of the veil were:

AFRICA:

Botswana - Ear of Sorghum and Cat’s Claw (Uncaria tomentosa)
Cameroon - Red Stinkwood (Prunus africana)
Gambia - White Variety Orchid
Ghana - Caladium (Caladium)
Kenya - The Tropical Orchid
Lesotho - Spiral Aloe (Aloe polyphylla)
Malawi - Lotus (Nymphea lotus)
Mauritius - Trochetia Boutoniana
Mozambique - Maroon Bell Bean (Markhamia zanzibarica)
Namibia - Welwitschia (Welwitschia mirabilis)
Nigeria - Yellow Trumpet (Costus spectabilis)
Rwanda - Torch Lily (Kniphofia uvaria)
Seychelles - Tropicbird orchid (Angraecum eburnum)
Sierra Leone - Scadoxus (Scadoxus cinnabarinus)
South Africa - Protea (Protea cynaroides)
Swaziland - Fire Heath (Erica cerinthoides)
Uganda - Desert rose (Adenium obesum)
United Republic of Tanzania - African violet (Saintpaulia)
Zambia - Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea)

ASIA:

Bangladesh - White Water Lily ( Sada shapla)
Brunei Darussalam - Simpor (Dillenia suffruticosa)
India - Indian Lotus (Nelumbo nucifers gaertn)
Malaysia - Bunga Raya Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa sinensis)
Pakistan - Jasmine (Jasminum officinale)
Singapore - Vanda miss Joaquim Orchid (Miss Joaquim)
Sri Lanka - Blue Water Lily (Nymphaea nouchali)

CARIBBEAN & AMERICAS:

Antigua and Barbuda - Agave (Agave karatto)
Bahamas - Yellow Elder (Tecoma stans)
Barbados - The pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)
Belize - The Black Orchid (Encyclia cochleata)
Canada - Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)
Dominica - Carib Wood (Sabinea carinalis)
Grenada - Bougainvillea (Nyctaginaceae)
Guyana - Victoria Regia Water Lily (Victoria amazonica)
Jamaica - Lignum Vitae (Guiacum officinale)
Saint Lucia - The rose and the marguerite
St Kitts and Nevis - Poinciana (Delonix regia )
St Vincent & the Grenadines - Soufriere Tree (Spachea perforatais)
Trinidad & Tobago - Chaconia (Warszewiczia coccinea)

EUROPE:

Cyprus - Cyclamen Cyprium (Cyclamen cyprium)
Malta - Maltese centaury (Cheirolophus crassifolius

UNITED KINGDOM:

England - Rose
Wales - Daffodil (Narcissus)
Northern Ireland - Flax flower
Scotland - Thistle

PACIFIC:

Australia - Golden wattles (Acacia pycnantha)
Fiji - Tagimaucia (Medinilla waterhousei)
Kiribati - Bidens Kiribatiensis
Nauru - Calophyllum
New Zealand - Kowhai (Sophora microphylla)
Papua - Sepik Blue Orchid (Dendrobium lasianthera)
Samoa - Teuila (Alpinia purpurata)
Solomon Islands - Hibiscus (Hibiscus)
Tonga - Heilala (Garcinia sessilis)
Tuvalu - Plumeria (Plumeria frangipans)
Vanuatu - Anthurium (Anthurium)

Which brings to mind the next thought - "A Commonwealth Florilegium" anyone?

Note: The dress and veil for the Ms Meghan Markle - now the Duchess of Sussex - were designed by Clare Waight Keller, the Artistic Director of the House of Givenchy for the

Ms. Waight Keller designed a veil representing the distinctive flora of all 53 Commonwealth countries united in one spectacular floral composition.

Find out more about the design, the fabric and the veil of the #RoyalWedding dress: https://t.co/flDwgm4LUp pic.twitter.com/0t7MWZ3BpF
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 20, 2018

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