NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Audrey Eagle (1925 - 2022)

5/12/2022

Dr Audrey Eagle CNZM has died - just after her 97th birthday on 27th November 2022. She is particularly notable for her contribution to recording and illustrating the botany of New Zealand trees ad shrubs as well as contributing to conservation and protection of plants and natural history in New Zealand.

Audrey Eagle is the author and botanical illustrator of the two volume Eagle's Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand which led to three significant awards

1985: awarded the Loder Cup - awarded to awarded to individuals and/or groups who have made significant contributions to plant conservation work in New Zealand.
2001: Awarded a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to botanical art in the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours List.
2007: won the the prestigious Montana Medal for Non-Fiction

Below is a timeline of her life which records her background, achievements and awards.

Audrey Eagle (courtesy of Royal Society of New Zealand)

LODER CUP AWARD 1985 CITATION
She devoted herself to the descriptive painting of native plants. Her ambition was to paint every known native tree and shrub in such detail that her drawings might make identification easier, and serve as a reference for those engaged professionally in forestry, parks and reserves administration, botany, and botanical research. She painted many rare species, some still unnamed and only recently discovered.

In 1975 Audrey Eagle published her first volume of Eagle's Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand, which included 228 coloured botanical illustrations. In 1982 her second volume, with 405 paintings of woody stemmed flora, endowed future generations with an accurate pictorial record of New Zealand trees and shrubs, complete with flowers, fruits and seeds capsules. These works represent twenty years of painstaking care and accurate artistry in the search for, recording and correct identification of specimens.

Mrs Eagle was a member of the Nature Conservation Council from 1977. She took a keen and active interest in its work, particularly in the conservation of indigenous flora. She has given expert assistance to forest rangers and led many botanical, conservation and youth groups on field trips, freely sharing her expertise. Her fine native garden in Ngaruawahia was a show case for native plants suitable for the home garden. Here she also raised and donated rooted cuttings and seedlings of rare species.
Loder Cup: List of all winners since 1929

Timeline

Audrey Eagle is another who follows in the long tradition of being a very long lived scientific botanical illustrator with an interesting and unusual background!

1925: born Audrey Lily Brodey[2] on 30 October 1925 in Timaru, New Zealand, to English parents
1933: moved to England
1949: returned to New Zealand with her husband.
2022: peacefully passed away at Braeside Hospital, Birchleigh on 27th November.

EDUCATION

1936-1943: attended Horsham High School for Girls, Fulham County Secondary School for Girls (evacuated), and Banbury County School
1944: studied engineering drafting at the Government Training Centre in Slough;
1945-46: attended part-time the School of Technology, Oxford
1947: Dartford County Technical College.
1947: gained an Ordinary National Certificate in electrical engineering (two credits in electrical papers and distinction in mathematics).
1948-49: Studied at Banbury School of Art

FAMILY

1948: married Harold William Eagle. They had two children and three grandchildren.
1982: moved to New Plymouth
1996: moved to Macandrew Bay, Dunedin
After living in Ngāruawāhia for many years, where Harold Eagle was the town clerk, the Eagles moved to New Plymouth in about 1982.[3][5] Harold died there in 1988, and in 1996 Eagle moved to Dunedin, residing at Macandrew Bay.[3][7] Eagle died in Mosgiel on 27 November 2022, at the age of 97.[8]

WORK

1944-48: engineering draughtswoman at the Baldwin Instrument Company, Dartford, Kent.
1949 to 1954: worked in the drafting office at the State Hydro Electricity Department in Hamilton, New Zealand

Audrey's interest in nature commenced as a child and she recalls her childhood in Wroxton (Oxfordshire), "...every spare moment was spent exploring the countryside on bicycle and on foot. Hours were spent in woods, on hillsides and by streams, observing plants, birds and other details of the countryside. It was during this time that she began to paint plants, though she had been keen on drawing and painting from the age of about five"
Anonymous 1986: Profile - Mrs Audrey Eagle. Nature Conservation Council Newsletter No.61: 4.

BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATION

1949: met Athol Ceadric Albin Caldwell, her mentor in relation to New Zealand plants. He was an enthusiastic and knowledgeable amateur botanist as well as being the District Electrical Engineer of the State Hydro-Electricity Department in Hamilton where she was working!
1952: Began painting native New Zealand plants

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Klei Sousa wins First Prize in Margaret Flockton Award 2022

25/10/2022

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Klei Sousa has won the First Prize in the 18th Margaret Flockton Award 2022. The award comes with $5,000 but is most prized for its highly prestigious nature within the scientific botanical illustration community.

Hippeastrum sp. nov. by Klei Sousa (Brazil)

An outstanding result for a long-time entrant in the MFA. Delicately rendered in ink on board with Klei’s trade-mark restraint, the perfect line and stipple had the judges straining to find a flaw (which they didn’t). The crucial white halos around foreground features help delineate form, avoiding confusion when layering. With every essential aspect comprehensively rendered in fine stipple, and with zero superfluous information, Klei brings together scientific accuracy and an experienced artistic sensibility in this beautiful plate.

This post covers: (in order)

About the Award - why it is prestigious and what's important in a winning illustration
About the two prizewinners and three artists whose illustrations were highly commended PLUS Judges comments
About the Exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney
How you can see the images online - and view the video presentation

You can also

REVIEW my dedicated page for The Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Illustration
see all the selected entries on Flickr in the RBG Sydney Flickr Album Margaret Flockton Award 2022
view the YouTube video about the Award (below).

The Margaret Flockton Award

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Autumn 2022 Banner: Medlar and Pear by Joris Hoefnagel

5/9/2022

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The correct title of the painting used for the new Autumn Banner for my website and Facebook Page is actually Medlar, Poppy Anemone, and Pear by Joris Hoefnagel.

The cropped image comes from an illumination within a book called the Mira calligraphiae monumenta (Model Book of Calligraphy ) which was written 1561–1562 by Georg Bocskay the Croatian-born court secretary to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand. The illumination at the bottom of the page was added about 1591–1596.

Joris (aka Georg) Hoefnagel was commissioned by Emperor Rudolph II, Ferdinand's grandson, to illustrate the book - some 15 years after the death of Bocksay. Hoefnagel added fruit, flowers, and insects to nearly every page.

Medlar, Poppy Anemone, and Pear, 1561–1562; illumination added 1591–1596 Watercolors, gold and silver paint, and ink, Leaf: 16.6 × 12.4 cm (6 9/16 × 4 7/8 in.) Joris Hoefnagel (Flemish / Hungarian, 1542 - 1600), illuminator and Georg Bocskay (Hungarian, died 1575), scribe The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. 20, fol. 13, 86.MV.527.13

About Medlar, Poppy Anemone, and Pear

- In 1591, Hoefnagel was appointed court artist to Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. In this role he was commissioned to illustrate the Mira calligraphiae monumenta a model book of calligraphic scripts.

This image is from the edition (1 of 2) owned by the Getty Museum and has fruit, flowers, and insects to nearly every page.

The Getty Museum does not state what the support is but I'm guessing it's vellum as that's stated to be the support used for other artwork by Hoefnagel on other websites. Also, if you inspect a magnified version of the image, you can see the dry brush strokes commonly used on such supports. The media used for the illumination is watercolour, gold and silver paint, and ink.

You can see more examples of the calligraphy by Bocskay and paintings by Hoefnagel on this page.

When I look at these, I get the impression that he added images to each page one at a time - and kept going until he had a nice assembly. That's because the images don't fit seasons as such! I can demonstrate this - with the example BELOW - called Insect, Daffodil, European Columbine, and English Oak Acorns. This suggests that maybe the daffodil was painted first, the columbine came next and then the acorns later in the year - and the insect maybe added last to add to the overall balance of the image.

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Plantae 2022: Exhibiting Excellence Awards

22/6/2022

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The Exhibiting Excellence Awards were introduced by SBA to highlight

excellent artworks in different media or
excellent artwork in relation to colour or composition.

The recipient receives a rather amazing Certificate of Exhibiting Excellence for their work

Exhibiting Excellence: Colour & Composition

Inspiring Use of Colour
Brassica (145) by Edwina Keene

I was pleased to see this award for inspiring use of colour. For me, one of the signs of whether a botanical artist is excellent or not is the effort employed in painting leaves and the quality of the result. Invariably only the best pay the same attention to leaves as they do to blooms. This painting is an excellent example of meticulous attention to the transitions of both colour and tone in the leaves of a brassica.

Edwina Keene has worked as a freelance illustrator for over 40 years. Her career has involved moves to the Middle East and Australia and her studio is now in the heart of the Blue Mountains near Sydney - next to a plot of land where she cultivates her plants. Her botanical/horticultural artwork has featured in various publications including ones by Harper Collins and Readers Digest. In March 2022 she was awarded the Best In Show at BASA's exhibition in Melbourne.

Inspiring Use of Colour
Cerinthe major ‘Purpurascens’ (34) by Youngran Choi

Youngran Choi (Korea?) also won the William Cowley Parchment and Vellum Makers Award for the best use of vellum with this painting. She's recently started teaching classes in botanical art. She's also focusing on an exhibit for a future RHS Botanical Art Show.

Most innovative composition
Acanthus spinosus (248) by Julia Patience

Julia lives in Tunbridge Wells. She graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in Visual Communication from Brighton Polytechnic in 1977 and subsequently worked as a magazine designer and illustrator in London. She moved to Hong Kong with her husband in 2007 and returned to the UK in 2012 and was awarded full membership of SBA in 2016 and is now a member of the SBA Council.

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SBA Plantae 2022: Award Winners

21/6/2022

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This post is the first of FOUR about the annual exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists. which took place last week at the Mall Galleries in London

These are

today's post - which is about the botanical artists receiving awards at Plantae 2022 the 2017 Annual Exhibition of It includes images of the artwork receiving awards and more information about the artists (links to their websites are embedded in their names).
tomorrow's post is about those awarded a Certificate of Botanical Merit
Friday's post is about those awarded a Certificate of Exhibiting Excellence
finally, Sunday's post will be a review of the exhibition as a whole and a commentary on its most recent development (I've been reviewing this exhibition since 2006!)
subject to caveat - see below.

For every award I'll be linking to the botanical artist who received the award and including some brief bio details and an image of the artwork which merited the award.

BELOW the various awards are divided into three categories

Society of Botanical Artists Awards
Monetary Awards
Awards sponsored by art materials companies

NOTE: Apologies for the delay in posting about the exhibition but a very close relative has been seriously ill and I've been very much preoccupied with other matters.

Society of Botanical Artists Awards

These are awards which originate within the Society of Botanical Artists and members past and present. Often as a memorial to a particular member.

Five watercolour paintings by Billy Showell in Plantae 2022 (except for the middle on right)

Suzanne Lucas Memorial Award in Recognition of Services to SBA
Billy Showell and Gael Sellwood
Recognition for the person who has given outstanding service to the Society, their name(s) is inscribed in the Memorial Book named after the first President of the SBA.

Billy Showell and Gael Sellwood are the immediate past Co-Presidents of the SBA and have been stalwarts of the team of members who make things happen behind the scenes for a number of years. They were certainly a permanent feature of the exhibition team for as long as I can remember.

For six years they served on SBA Council together and for 3½ of those they were the Co-Presidents. In doing so they both made a serious commitment to supporting both botanical art and artists via the SBA while having active careers as artists and art teachers.

They are both, of course, also well known and prizewinning botanical artists and teacher of botanical art. Both have moved further away from the home counties near to London to more rural areas in recent times. Billy has moved into the deeper depths of Kent and Gael has relocated both home and studio to Somerset.

Hornbeam by Agita Keiri

Joyce Cumming Presentation Award
Hornbeam by Agita Keiri
Silver Plate for botanical work; Certificate for the winner | Chosen by the SBA Council

Agita Keiri was born in Latvia and now lives and works in Edinburgh. Her background is not typical of botanical artists.

She's followed a traditional art school education and subsequently focused on portraiture.
Her art education included the Latvian State Academy of Art, Painting department (enrolled 1997, Bachelor's degree 2001, Master's degree in 2003).
In 2011 she completed Caravaggio master class at Angel Art Academy in Florence, Italy.
In 2018, she completed the Society of Botanical Artists distance-learning course diploma with distinction.
Since 1997 her work has been seen in numerous group exhibitions in Latvia and internationally including Artexpo New York (2010), the Florence Biennale (2011), BP Portrait Award 2011 at the National Portrait Gallery, London. In 2013, she received the second prize in ARC Salon International competition. (See also my blog post Review: BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2011 where Agita gets a mention

As a botanical illustrator, she's now been exhibited by the SSBA - where she won the Sponsor (Cass Arts) Prize in 2019 and the SBA. You can see more of her botanical illustrations on her website

Clearly Agita Keiri is one to watch for the future!
You can follow her on https://www.instagram.com/akeiri_art/ and http://www.keiriart.uk

Banksia grandis by Lynne Uptin

Margaret Granger Memorial Silver Bowl
Banksia grandis by Lynne Uptin
Silver Bowl for the best work or body of work by member elected in the last two years; Certificate for the winner | Chosen by Council

Linda Uptin is a resident of Tasmania in Australia. She trained at the National Art School Sydney and had a career as a leading illustrator in Sydney (13 years) then owned art galleries and art studios. She was also Director of Arts Tasmania, the State’s arts funding body, for 20 years and was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2010 for services to arts administration.

Linda was awarded a Distinction for her SBA Diploma and also won the Award of Excellence for the highest overall marks on the Course.

She is particularly interested in the distinctive Gondwanan plants that were isolated as Tasmania broke away from Antarctica 40 million years ago and uses her Gondwana mobile studio to travel to research and paint plants in Tasmania.

Presidents Award
Phoenix dactylifera #1 by Suha Kim.
Certificate for the winner | Chosen by the current President(s)

Suha Kim is a botanical artist from Korea who is currently based in the UAE. She is an SBA Fellow. She works in watercolour who is from Korea and has previously participated in the International Botanical art Korea Competition and was also selected for the online SBA Exhibition in 2020.

Joanne Craig-McFeeley Rose Bowl
Carroway (73) by Guy William Eves
Silver Rose Bowl for a true botanical piece of work; ; Certificate for the winner | Judged by an external Judge

Guy has been an exhibiting member of the Society of Botanical Artists since 2011 and has received numerous awards and recognition for his meticulous botanical illustrations in graphite. He also exhibits with Florilegium Groups, notably the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society and the group which illustrated the garden at the Royal College of Physicians. Royal College of Physicians

Monetary Awards (sponsored)

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Summer 2022 Banner: Victoria regia - the Royal Water Lily

1/6/2022

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Tomorrow is the Platinum Jubilee - the 70th anniversary of the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

As today is the day I change the seasonal banner on this website - and linked sites - I thought it might be appropriate if I could find an image with a Royal link.

Which is why the new image is of one of my favourite botanical illustrations - the illustration of Victoria regia - the Royal Waterlily at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew - by Walter Hood Fitch.

"Victoria regia" (1851) by Walter Hood Fitch - an Illustration of a specimen of the Royal water-lily, flowering at Kew.

About Victoria regia / Victoria amazonica

Victoria regia / amazonica is a member of the genus Victoria. It is the largest waterlily species (of the family Nymphaeaceae) in the world due to its enormous lily pads (leaves).

On its classification by John Lindley in 1837, the plant was originally named Victoria regia in honour of Queen Victoria, who had recently ascended to the throne. It's still known by this name in Guyana, where it is the national flower.

Since then it has been renamed Victoria amazonica. This is because it is a native of the shallow waters of the Amazon River.

TIMELINE:

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Call for Entries: "The Art of Botanical Illustration" at RBG Victoria

20/5/2022

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This year sees the 16th Biennial 'Art of Botanical Illustration' (TABI) Exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in Melbourne.

This is one of the most prestigious botanical art exhibitions in Australia
Entry is open to international botanical artists.
It takes place at the same time as 7th Botanic Gardens Congress and will be an event which is part of the Friends 40th anniversary celebrations

Below you can find out more about the official Call for Entries for the Exhibition which will open on 16th September 2022. The deadline for entries is 1st August 2022.

My version reorganises the information for artists provided to make it rather easier to grasp some of the critical issues which will help you with decision-making about whether or not to enter. There's a little surprise about the cost for those not resident in Victoria...

Exhibition

The exhibition will take a hybrid format this year - with ALL artworks exhibited in both:

a physical exhibition held at Domain House, Melbourne
a virtual exhibition online.

It's considered that this hybrid approach will help capture a wide audience and in turn provide greater exposure to the artworks of nationally and internationally based botanical artists.

Venue: Domain House, Royal Botanic Gardens, Victoria
Virtual: Exhibition: - link to be provided at a later date
Dates: 16 September through to 2 October 2022

TABI 2022 will coincide with the 7th Global Botanic Gardens Congress (26th – 30th September 2022), which will be hosted by the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria , RBGV, ( https://www.7gbgc.org/).

The theme of the Congress is Influence and Action: Botanic Gardens as Agents of Change with a particular focus on the response of Botanic Gardens to climate change, including plant conservation and climate resilience.

Call for Entries

The Friends of the Royal Botanical Gardens Victoria organise host the exhibition and organise the Call for Entries. They are inviting entries for the exhibition from all botanical artists.

You can find out more on:

the TABI 2022 page.
Information for Artists - which I'm summarising below.

The Selection Process will be based on DIGITAL images (i.e. no need to send your artwork to Melbourne) and the Information for Artists provides useful guidelines for how best to deliver these.

TABI 2022: Information for Artists

1. SELECTION CRITERIA

The artwork must adhere to the following selection 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.
It must have been completed since TABI 2020.

The artworks selected for TABI 2022 must be both scientifically accurate and artistically pleasing. Each artwork is carefully selected against strict selection criteria by a panel of three professional judges, including a botanist and an experienced artist, to ensure the highest standards are met.
Information for Artists (Section 8: Selection process)

2. WHO CAN ENTER:

The Information for Artists could be less than somewhat opaque on this topic. Or maybe just a lot more transparent?

Essentially

anybody can submit entries
only those who are Friends of the Royal Botanic Garden Victoria - in a financial sense - can have their work hung in the exhibition. (See "Cost of Submission" below)

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