NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Jenny Brasier (1936 - 2020)

6/1/2021

It's been announced that Jenny Brasier GM passed away at the end of December 2020.

Her achievements in the botanical art world included:

Five Gold Medals (1982, 1988 1989, 1994, 2000) from the Royal Horticultural Society
The Linnean Society gave her the Jill Smythies Award in 2002
Her artwork is included in the collections of the Natural History Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, the Royal Horticultural Society and the Shirley Sherwood Collection
She was one of two contemporary botanical artists whose work was included in the 'Picturing Plants' Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1995.
Her small paintings on vellum appeared in a number of exhibitions at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery.
She exhibited internationally as well as in the UK - including at the Smithsonian Museum and the Hunt Institute in the USA
Jenny was one of the botanical artist who contributed to the Highgrove Florilegium for the 60th Birthday of HRH Prince of Wales
Past Chair of the Eden Florilegium Society
Founder member of the Society of Botanical Artists in the UK.

Cyclamen intaminatum by Jenny Brasier (Cyclamen intaminatum) Collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum

A study by Jenny Braiser in the collection of the V&A Museum.
"This is a preparatory study for an illustration showing different examples of the cyclamen species painted for publication in the Cyclamen Society Journal. Having produced several working drawings towards the finished plate, the artist decided to record this process by transferring the original work relating to the colour forms of one species--the Cyclamen intaminatum--to a single sheet."
Study Room resource: Botanical illustration | V&A

Jenny Brasier was born on 9th August 1936 in Alvechurch, England and died on 28th December 2020 in East Sussex.

She had no formal training in botanical art. However no less a person than Wilfrid Blunt encouraged her to start painting plants and flowers in her later years and became known for her small jewel like watercolour paintings on vellum.

Her artwork was published in The Art of Botanical Illustration' by Wilfrid Blunt and William Stearn (1994 version):

her pencil drawing of a leaf of Hosta tardiflora faces the Introduction to the 1994 edition and
her small watercolours on vellum of a leaf and an acorn appear below the dedication.
her painting of a Tulip Tree can be found on page 298

"Jenny Brasier is not a professional artist but was encouraged by Wilfrid Blunt and John Whitehead to draw and paint plants (Colour Plate 112); she excels at the portrayal of leaves (see the preliminary pages of this book)."
The Art of Botanical Illustration - page 300

In addition she was well known for her horticultural endeavours and she illustrated Hosta: the flowering foliage plant by Diana Grenfell (1990).

Exhibitions at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art in Kew Gardens include:

'British Artists in Shirley Sherwood Collection' (2017/18)
Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art (2019/20) - see Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art #1: British Artists

"Jenny Brasier’s work is highly versatile and very beautiful with some of her brilliant, jewel-like watercolours on vellum having the intense quality of medieval illuminated manuscripts."
Shirley Sherwood

Cyclamen pseudibericum 1993 by Jenny Brasier - on a sheet of Rory McEwen's Vellum - exhibited at the Modern Masterpieces exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew in 2019

I've moved my summary about Jenny Brasier from the Botanical Artists in the UK page to the 20th and 21st Century Artists page in the History Section.

NOTE: A Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Jenny Brasier will be held in Cornwall later in the year "when life will hopefully be a little more normal...."

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Marianne Hazlewood: Fine Hair, Soft Nibs - Depictions from a Shady Bed

23/10/2020

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Tomorrow is the last day of Marianne Hazlewood: Fine Hair, Soft Nibs - Depictions from a Shady Bed exhibition at the Open Eye Gallery, 34 Abercromby Place, Edinburgh EH3 6QE.

It's just made the "hot list" Guide in The Times printed in Scotland - in the visual arts category.

This is a solo exhibition by Marianne Hazlewood of

one plant - Ariseamas - and
- 6 botanical watercolour paintings - a series which won an RHS Gold Medal in 2019.
- 12 Japanese ink paste drawings - botanically correct illustrations with a distinctly abstract and contemporary quality; and
- 5 screenprints - exploring a third medium for her passion for Arisaemas.

plus

6 watercolour paintings of ferns (Dryopterus, Asplenium, Phlebodium and Platycerium)

You need to book to gain access to the exhibition. The exhibition is open until 5pm tonight and then from 11am to 4pm tomorrow.

In addition the online exhibition is also comprehensive and provides excellent thumbnails and (if clicked) larger images of her artwork. It will also remain online under previous exhibitions after it closes in the Gallery.

READ Fine hair, Soft Nibs, depictions from a shady bed by mariannehazlewood to find out more about the exhibition. The link embedded in the title shows you the virtual exhibition - with details of titles, media, sizes and prices.

The exhibition arises out of having Marianne having won the VAS 2019 Open Eye Gallery award in 2019 - see Marianne Hazlewood wins award at Visual Arts Scotland - Alight 2019

Marianne Hazlewood with her series of six watercolour paintings of Arisaemas - at the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2019 when this exhibit won a Gold Medal.

More about Marianne Hazlewood

Website https://www.mariannehazlewood.co.uk/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mariannehazlewood/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Marianne.E.Hazlewood/
My blog posts
- RHS London Botanical Art Show 2019 - Awards and Medal Winners (July 2019) - when Marianne won her first Gold Medal (I'm sure there will be more)
- Marianne Hazlewood wins award at Visual Arts Scotland - Alight 2019 (February 2019)
- Marianne Hazlewood in Society of Scottish Artists Exhibition - opens TODAY! (December 2018) - one of a very few botanical artists who exhibits in the annual exhibitions of national art societies which show a range of fine artwork.
- Marianne Hazlewood - first solo exhibition (August 2018) - at the Pittenweem Festival on the coast of Fife in Scotland.
- RBGE Diploma Graduation Show 2017 - where Marianne won the the Eve Bennett Award for Botanical Illustration (September 2017)

PS With profuse apologies to Marianne for not posting this earlier!

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NEW: Shirley Sherwood video profiles the paintings in her botanical art collection

5/5/2020

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Yesterday I was really pleased to see that Shirley Sherwood has started a NEW project to talk about the botanical paintings in her collection - on video!

You can find the video on her Facebook Page The Shirley Sherwood Collection.

Below is the very first video where Shirley is talking about the Chinese Elm Bonsai painted by Jeannetta Van Raalte. (The link is to the page about the painting on the new website for the Shirley Sherwood Collection and this is the link to the page profiling Jeanetta Van Raalte)

It's just like being with her in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew when she is doing one of her tours about the new exhibition and is talking about individual paintings. What's great is that she combines:

appreciation and knowledge about the plant
stories about the individual painting and/or plant
explanations about why she particularly likes the painting

Here's how it all came about.

Shirley Sherwood has been in lockdown in her Oxfordshire home for 6 weeks so the family have started a project to keep her busy ?
We're going to video her telling stories about all 1,020 paintings in the Shirley Sherwood Collection so it's going to take quite a while! The stories will be posted to this page, one day at a time, and will be going on the Shirley Sherwood Collection website alongside the description of each painting.

What you need to do to see the videos

This is a wonderful opportunity to hear a VERY knowledgeable botanical art collector talk about her botanical paintings and what made them collectable! You may learn a lot!

In order to view the videos you should:
EITHER

BOOKMARK The Shirley Sherwood Collection Facebook page - which is a public page and you can see whether or not you are a member of Facebook
Like and follow the page if you are a member of Facebook.
Leave a comment - The way Facebook works is that liking/following does not seem to be enough to generate am alert in your new feed. However if you check in every day AND LEAVE A COMMENT, this should then mean that you'll get alerted when a new video appears! :)

Take a look at the Facebook Page every so often - and have a BOTANICAL ART BINGE FEST of videos about the paintings! This too is a good way to consume right now! :)

Indue course - check out my Archive Page about the Shirley Sherwood Exhibitions. I'll be creating something to:
- EITHER link to where the video links are listed on the Collection website - each one is apparently going on the page with the painting
- OR list the artists and paintings on my website and provide a link to the Collection website. BUT I'll probably wait a while to see what materialises as the project gets underway

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Lockdown Projects

If you too have a Lockdown Botanical Art Project which you think other people will be interested in do - and would like to share - please get in touch and tell me about it.
Don't forget to send me images and/or a link to where I can read about it and/or an explanation as to why other botanical artists might be interested.

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Call for Entries: Society of Botanical Artists' Annual Exhibition 2020

16/12/2019

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The Call for Entries for Plantae 2020 - the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists has been published. Below you will find a summary of:

what you need to know if you want to enter
the deadline for entries
how to enter
the exhibition - venue and dates

plus pics from last year's exhibition

Call for Entries

You can find the details of how to enter on the dedicated website https://soc-botanical-artists.oess1.uk/

The SBA invites you to submit your best work!

Exhibiting excellence in every botanical art form

In summary:

Eligible media (2D): paintings and drawings in watercolour, oils, gouache, graphite, colour pencil, pen & ink and hand-pulled fine art prints,
Eligible Media (3D): ceramics, metalwork and glass
Ineligible media: giclee reproductions; photography; digital art.
Eligible artists: botanical illustrator, fine art printmaker, sculptor, ceramic artist, glass artist and jeweller
Size: Maximum dimension is 120cm on the longest side.
Content Criteria: Wholly original artwork with strong "wall appeal" which must have predominantly botanical content which is accurately represented.
For Sale: all artwork must be for sale.

You can view my photos of previous Society of Botanical Art Exhibitions on this page

Submissions of work are invited from visual artists working in any two or three-dimensional artwork except for photography, digital artwork or giclee printing (or similar).

View of part of the 2019 Exhibition at the Mall Galleries

You need to consult the Entry Requirements and the timeline for entries. (Comments in italics inside brackets are my additions!)

Submission is by online entry only. You need to read the Entry requirements first.

Timeline

Deadline for Entries: 29 February 2020 Midnight
Notification of selection decision: 17 March 2020 by artist logging in to website
Delivery of artwork: 18 April 2020 from 10am to 5pm (to Carlton House Terrace in London)
Collection of unsold artwork: Thursday, 11 June 2020 from 11am to 5pm

Selection

All artwork is work is pre-selected based on a voting system
8 people on the selection panel voting independently of one another
No correspondence will be entered into in relation to feedback and the selection process decisions are final.

In essence the pre-selected artworks are those which achieved the highest number of votes from the panel members, who vote independently of one another and who cannot see the scores of the other panel members.

All pre-selected works are ALSO subject to physical selection on hand in day.
Work may be rejected at physical selection stage (after delivery) due to the quality of the work, presentation or if the work does not represent or match the digital image.

How to enter

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Australasian Exhibit in 'Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art' at Kew

10/12/2019

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The Australasian exhibit within Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art is the first one you come to as you go through the double doors from the reception area of the Shirley Sherwood Gallery. into Gallery 1.

It covers contemporary botanical art by both Australian and New Zealand artists past and present. You can read more about the artists in my earlier blog post Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art #6: Australasian Artists

Below you can see photos of the paintings in the exhibition - with names of the plants, credits for the artists and explanations of and/or any stories I know about the plants and/or artists!

Australia and New Zealand have strong artists traditions with flourishing art and conservation societies. We had a botanical exhibition here... of a Florilegium of contemporary plant portraits demo Sydney's three botanical gardens, as well as two smaller 'Down Under' shows with paintings by Australian and New Zealand.
Introduction to the Australasian Gallery

Paintings by Paul Jones, Susannah Blaxill, Annie Hughes and Julie Nettleton

The first paintings you see on your left as you walk through the door contain some stunners.

The small gem-like painting of Agapanthus is by Susannah Blaxill. It's painted in watercolour and gouache on (if I recall correctly) some Rory McEwen vellum which she painted for the Rory McEwen exhibition in the gallery in 2013. I seem to recall there's a story that she had never painted on vellum before and was petrified of making a mistake. As you can clearly see she didn't - and if you take a very big magnifier and look very carefully you can see the tiny hatching strokes she used. It's an absolutely beautiful painting - a real gem!
Above it is a small painting of Violas, painted in acrylic by Paul Jones. It's been in quite a few exhibitions including "A new Flowering" exhibition at the Ashmolean in 2005
The large painting of an enlarged white Camellia japonica 'Elegans champagne' on white paper (800mm x 760mm) is by Annie Hughes GM (RHS: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2017). Annie won her first RHS Gold Medal for a suite of eight paintings of Camellias in 2011 and the painting was acquired from the exhibition at the Royal Botanical Garden in Sydney in March 2012.
The painting on the right is of Styphelia triflora by Julie Nettleton who won an RHS Gold Medal and 'Best Painting in Show' for an exhibit of Grass Trees in 2016. It has an amazing full page image in the book which allows you to see properly all the paintings of parts.

Paintings by Bronwyn van de Graaff , Celia Rosser and Beverly Allen.

The next three paintings speak Australia to me.

The Xanthorrhoea johnsonii Grass Tree is by Bronwyn van de Graaff which has a great composition.
The Banksia serrata Saw Banksia (1995) is by Celia Rosser OAM PhD (Hon.) who one is of the world's finest living botanical artists. She dedicated herself to producing watercolour paintings of every Banksia species every known Banksiaover 25 years. These were published as The Banksias, a three-volume series of monographs (1981, 1988 and 2000). This banksia requires you to take a magnifier with you if you want to see the level of detail she has achieved. It gets a full page in the book - but you need to get up close and personal with this painting! (You can see why in this blog post)
The Strelitzia nicolai by Beverly Allen GM (RHS 2007, NYBG 2010) is amazing and is the feature image of the exhibition. It's also used on the cover of the book produced in association with the exhibition.

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Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art #2: North and Latin American Artists

13/11/2019

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Today, I'm documenting information about the artists from North and Latin America who have artwork in the new exhibition Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art - celebrating 30 years of the Shirley Sherwood Collection - which opens at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens on Saturday 16th November 2019 - until 15 March 2020. (note the opening and last entry times at the end)

The art work in the exhibition comes from entirely from the private collection of Dr Shirley Sherwood.

(Shirley Sherwood) became interested in plants and art as a young child and went on to study Botany at Oxford University before earning her D.Phil as part of the team that discovered the drug Tagamet.

She started the Shirley Sherwood Collection in 1990 and it now includes over 1,000 paintings and drawings representing the work of over 300 contemporary botanical artists from 36 countries around the world.

Cycad 1998 Female cones of Encephalartos ferox by Leslie Carol Berge (1959-2017)

This post has two parts relating to the botanical artists in the exhibition who come from

North America - specifically USA and Canada
Latin America - specifically Brazil and Mexico

Every day this week - including Saturday when the exhibition opens - I am documenting information about the artists whose artwork has been selected to hang in this major exhibition. I'm also including images of some of the artwork in the exhibition. This is one you will not want to miss.

Yesterday I published information about the Artists of the British Isles and Ireland
Below you can find:

the names of artists whose work is displayed - with a link to their website embedded in their name (or a link to a dedicated page on my website for some of the deceased artists)
a short profile of each artist - focusing on their achievements
the names of the plants in their artwork which has been selected for the exhibition. Where plants have been featured in previous books by Dr Sherwood this is noted next to the name.

The remaining posts concern the botanical artists

Thursday - from countries in Europe,
Friday - from countries in Asia and South Africa and
Saturday - from Australia and New Zealand.

I'm very much looking forward to the Private View which a lot of those artists will be attending. This is a very special group of artists!

NOTES:

If you don't want to miss one of my blog posts, I suggest you subscribe to this blog - see side column or subscription box later in this post
The images below have been featured in previous posts of mine about previous exhibitions at the Gallery or about the artists. Many thanks to Sophie Cooper, Personal Assistant to Shirley Sherwood for providing me with the lists of artists and to Maria and Victoria for providing updates for what is hung.

Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art
#2 (a): North American Artists

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Francesca Anderson GM FLS (1995, 99)
b. 1946. (BA. MA, MFA) A botanical artist who always works in pen and ink with 13 works in the Shirley Sherwood Collection. She has received two RHS gold medals (Amaryllis in 1995; Brassica series in 1999). She is a former President of the American Society of Botanical Artists, founder and president of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium Society, a Fellow of the Linnean Society and and a Trustee of Brooklyn Botanic Garden. She has had her work exhibited extensively and internationally in museums in Sweden, Scotland, London, South Africa, Australia, Berlin, and Japan and has works in the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Hunt Institute, the RHS Lindley Library and the National Gallery of Modern Art in Scotland as well as other public and private collections.

Cyclamen 1992

Leslie Carol Berge (1959-2017) - see image at the top of the post
b. Massachusetts 1959. 8 works in the Shirley Sherwood Collection. Renowned for her paintings of cycads. Her painting of the female cones of the cycad, Encephalartos woodii (extinct in the wild) featured on the front cover of "A Passion for Plants" and was reproduced in the Washington Post. Graduated in Art History, Painting and Drawing from Bennington College, Vermont. MA in Illustration At Art Institute of Boston. Became a freelance artist in 1981. Participated in early botanical art courses organised by Dr Sherwood. Exhibited in the 7th International Exhibition at the Hunt in 1992.

Cycad 1998 Female cones of Encephalartos ferox
Bushman's Cycad 2001 Encephalartos trispinosus

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Exhibition: Hedgerow: Stories from a linear world by Yanny Petters

31/10/2019

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HEDGEROW, stories from a linear world is a new solo exhibition of new work by Yanny Petters. Yanny is a well known botanical artist in Ireland and also a Gallery Artist at The Olivier Cornet Gallery in Dublin

“Since childhood I have loved and observed hedgerows. Whenever we kids went rambling along the lanes of our neighbourhood, to pick flowers or blackberries or just wandering to each other’s houses, we wondered at the secrets within these linear worlds...”
Hedgerow, stories from a linear world by Yanny Petters

Her work raises awareness of the wild plants of Ireland - revealing them as an evolved species living in symbiotic harmony in ancient habitats rather just a bunch of weeds.

The exhibition comprises drawings and paintings of the Hedgerow, an iconic element of the Irish countryside. These are:

a series of Verre Eglomisé paintings of hedgerow silhouettes in Gold leaf and pigment
a series of seasonal paintings in watercolour on Arches Paper (see top image)
a series of black pencil drawings of the linear nature of the hedgerow

The Black pencil drawings and the 'Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter in a Hedgerow' series are also available as Archival pigment ink prints on watercolor paper, in a limited edition of 10 each only.

Gallery: Olivier Cornet Gallery, 3 Great Denmark Street, (beside Belvedere College, off Parnell Square) Dublin 1.
Dates: 13 October - 17th November 2019
Hours: Tuesday to Friday: 11am to 6pm (till 8pm on Thursdays); Saturday and Sunday: 12 noon to 5pm. Closed on Mondays (or viewing by appointment only)

Visit the exhibition's page the gallery website for images and more information

Below is what the gallery looked like as they got ready for the opening of the exhibition.

All is ready at the @OC_Gallery for the opening of Yanny Petters’ solo exhibition at 3 pm today. Do join us pic.twitter.com/dvf4blllbG
— OlivierCornetGallery (@OC_Gallery) October 13, 2019

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Yanny Petters, 'Elder, stile, gorse and the sheep gap', black pencil on conservation board (80x120cm). Available as an archival pigment ink print on w/c paper, in a limited edition of 10 each only (40x60cm), Unframed: 175 euro, Framed: 295 euro. @OC_Gallery is open till 5pm today pic.twitter.com/JEbnODfFVI
— OlivierCornetGallery (@OC_Gallery) October 28, 2019

About the hedgerow in Ireland

Increasing concerns about both a changing climate and the need to protect biodiversity means that hedgerows need to cherished for the health of our future generations.

The hedgerow goes back a long way in history. It both divides and holds together the rich habitat that remains after our forests were cleared. Land boundaries can be traced back to Neolithic times and the circa-12th-century Townland boundaries are the country’s longest standing land divisions.

Hedgerows also serve as windbreaks, to shelter our livestock, reduce soil erosion, aid drainage and provide homes for beneficial predators who protect our food crops from pests.

At a time when farming practices are changing in scale, many of these valuable hedgerow habitats are being removed and scrubbed out of existence. New hedges can be planted but ONLY the ancient hedgerows can support up to 3000 organisms from flowers and trees, birds and animals to insects and microscopic creatures.

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