NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Remembering Mally Francis FLS FEPFS FCPGFS

22/4/2019

Mally Francis FLS FEPFS FCPGFS, the Cornish based botanical artist, illustrator and tutor and Founder Chairman of the Eden Project Florilegium Society, died on Saturday 13th April 2019 after a short illness.

This post remembers Mally and her achievements. It contains

a timeline of her life in botanical art
a video of Mally talking about botanical painting and
references to her artwork, articles about her and a book she illustrated.

I last saw Mally at the Royal Horticultural Society Botanical Art Show last summer. She was there supporting both Laura Silburn who was taught botanical painting by Mally and the Association of British Botanical Artists' stand. Her fabulous painting of 'Babington's Leek' was displayed on the stand and attracted the attention of Shirley Sherwood who bought it - hence the red spot!

Indeed I first heard about Mally Francis at the 2013 RHS Botanical Art Show when I met Laura Silburn for the first time and interviewed her for my Gold Medal Winner Interviews. She told me what an inspiration Mally was to her and what an excellent teacher she was.

Mally Francis with her painting of Babington’s Leek (Allium ampeloprasum var.babingtonii) at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2018 (12th July 2018)

Mally Francis with her painting of Babington’s Leek (Allium ampeloprasum var.babingtonii) at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2018 (12 July 2018)

Mally Francis - a Timeline in Botanical Art

1946 - born in Yorkshire

1967 - qualified as a speech and language therapist in Edinburgh

1988 - started to learn about botanical art; studied with Anne-Marie Evans in Leicestershire - and followed her principals for all her artwork and teaching

She was a particularly lovely person and always very kind. I have known her for well over 30 years. She started botanical painting with me at the Leicester college and became a member of the LSBI. She also attended many of my Summer Schools at Market Overton. She then moved to Cornwall and started teaching but we kept in contact and I have always heard particularly flattering comments about her teaching. I am sure that all who had the privilege of knowing her will miss her
Anne-Marie Evans

1996 - moved from Leicester to Cornwall

2000 - started her botanical painting classes at her Sawpit Studio

2001 - Founded the Eden Project Florilegium Society

2012 - Made a Fellow of the Linnean Society for her contribution to botanical art.

Below is the story of what happened during those years....

Mally and her husband Charles, a photographer, moved to the Heligan Estate and embarked on their joint creative endeavour. Here they

renovated the Wagon House - eventually creating accommodation for their students
rebuilt the derelict sawpit, creating the Sawpit Studio for botanical painting and as a photographic studio.

The Studio was originally built about 250 years ago as the Sawpit for the Heligan estate when logs were dragged in by a horse and then cut into planks and beams by two men using a pit saw. One above, standing on the log (the top-dog) and the other below in the pit, covered in sweat and sawdust, (the under-dog).
When we bought The Wagon House in 1997 the Sawpit had become a ruin with only two cob walls standing and the brick piers opposite to support the roof.
In 1999 we commenced the restoration and it came into full use as our studio early in 2000. The Sawpit, thirty feet long and six feet deep still remains beneath the floor as a little piece of Heligan history.
Nowadays, the Sawpit is in full time use again, either for the Botanical Painting classes or as a Photographic Studio. A collection of old saws are attached to the roof beams.

TEACHING: Mally ran her botanical painting courses in the Sawpit Studios from 2000 - until just recently. She also taught botanical art classes at the Eden Project, the Bath Society, the South West Society, Stourhead, Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, Truro Arts, Boconnoc House and Trengwainton Gardens in Cornwall.

She tutored artists ranging from complete beginners through to advanced levels - with two artists awarded Gold Medals in recent years by the RHS. She was the sole tutor of Laura Silburn who has now won three RHS gold medals and who credits Mally Francis with her involvement in botanical art.

My teaching philosophy is to encourage all students to develop their own skills to the highest level possible. There is never any competition in my classes and everyone can work at their own pace. The courses are always enjoyable and old friends meet each other year after year as they return to continue their studies. Everyone has their own aspirations and it gives me great pleasure to help them to achieve their own goals.
Mally Francis (in Mally Francis Paints the Lost Gardens of Heligan
February 1, 2011 by Tania Marien)

a still from the video about her botanical painting classes at the Wagon House

GARDENS AND PLANTS: Their life was intertwined with two major garden projects in Cornwall largely created by Sir Tim Smit KBE

The Lost Gardens of Heligan - they lived on the Estate
The Eden Project - a 20 minute drive away

The connections were intrinsic to communicating the structures and plants in both locations.

Tim Smit asked Mally to illustrate Heligan Wild: A Year of Nature in the Lost Gardens (1999) a book about the Lost Gardens of Heligan. She also illustrated Heligan Days - A Perpetual Diary (2005)
Charles was the official photographer of the Eden Project (1997-1984) - while it was being built

EDEN PROJECT FLORILEGIUM SOCIETY: Mally founded the Eden Project Florilegium Society (EPFS) in 2000 and became its first Chairman of in 2001 - and held that position until 2012 when she retired and was made the Honorary Founder Chairman of EPFS.

She provided tuition and inspiration to two-thirds of the artists whose work features in the Eden Project Florilegium. She also organised many exhibitions of artwork by her students and members of the EPFS.

The Florilegium was the inspiration of Mally Francis FCPGFS, FEPFS who founded the Society in 2000, and was its Chairman from 2001 to 2012. Mally stepped down in January 2012, and was made Honorary Founder Chairman of the Society, and a Fellow of The Linnean Society in recognition of her contributions to world of Botanical Illustration and Botany.
Eden Project Florilegium Society

RECOGNITION: In 2012, on her retirement from being Chairman of the Eden Project Florilegium Society she was made an Honorary Founder Member of the EPFS and a Fellow of the Linnean Society for her contribution to botanical art. She was also a member of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society.

More recently, her painting of Babington’s Leek (Allium ampeloprasum var. babingtonii) was a feature image for "In Ruskin's Footsteps" at the Peter Scott Gallery at Lancaster University in May 2018 - the UK contribution to the Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art organised by the Association of British Botanical Artists. Below are links to articles discussing the development of the artwork.

It was also displayed at the RHS Botanical Art Show (see my photo at the top of this post) and was bought by Shirley Sherwood for her collection.

Below is a video Mally Francis talking about the difference between flower painting and botanical painting - and why everybody can have a go at creating botanical art.

Mally Francis died on Saturday 13th April and leaves a husband Charles, two daughters and four grandsons.

She also leaves a legacy in terms of the interest and competence in botanical art she stimulated in very many of her students - in Cornwall and around the world - and her paintings in her studio, private collections and the archives of two Florilegia Societies.

Please feel free to add your own comment about and/or memories of Mally Francis via comments below.

FUNERAL DETAILS
Her funeral will be at 14:00 on Friday 3 May, at All Saints church, St Ewe, Cornwall. (Google Map)

REFERENCES

Obituary

Mally Francis FLS, FCPGFS 1946 - 2019 | ABBA

Titles, Memberships and Roles

Fellow of the Linnean Society.
Honorary Founder Chairman of the Eden Project Florilegium Society (2001-2012)
Fellow of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society.
Eden Project Botanical Art tutor

Mall Francis Online

Website: https://mallyfrancis.com/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mally.botanicalartist/
Twitter https://twitter.com/mally_francis
Eden Project Florilegium Society - About Us

Paintings for the Eden Project Florilegium Society

Paintings by Mally Francis

Articles / Blog posts

How to illustrate a six-foot-tall-plant – a master class! | Eden Project Florilegium Society
Babington’s Leek – Mally Francis ABBA Blog
Mally Francis is "Remembering Heligan" BAA Blog
Mally Francis Paints the Lost Gardens of Heligan by Tania Merian | Art Plantae

Books

Heligan Wild: A Year of Nature in the Lost Gardens (1999) - by Colin Howlett (Author), Mally Francis (Illustrator), Angus Hudson (Illustrator), Tim Smit (Introduction)
Heligan Days - A Perpetual Diary (2005) - illustrated by Mally Francis

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A retrospective perspective on recent exhibitions at Kew

17/3/2019

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Today was the last day of four exhibitions at the Shirley Sherwood Galleru of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens.

Mark Frith: A Legacy of Ancient Oaks 
Trees: Delight in the Detail
Rankafu: Masterpieces of Japanese Woodblock Prints of Orchids
Botanical Theatre: The Art of Pandora Sellars (1936-2017)

This post reflects on my impressions and some of what I learned over what I think were seven visits to the exhibitions in total. (Note: I wrote about what they covered in Four new botanical art exhibitions at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery.)

I'm writing today essentially as a record of the exhibitions

of what was there to be seen and
about the impact that each made on me.

It's also a record of why only seeing an exhibition once doesn't always give full value - whereas multiple visits (for those fortunate to be able to do) pays dividends and enables you to realise which paintings you look forward to coming back to see.

I'm also going to confess to the fact that I've found it very difficult to write about Pandora. Multiple viewings following by viewing with other friends finally enabled me to articulate the impact of that exhibition - but verbally rather than in writing.

I'm also very grateful that Kew now allows photographs of artwork during exhibitions - and I can continue to view and review the exhibitions in the months and years to come.

Dr Shirley Sherwood at the PC with artists, curators and artists involved with the exhibition

People love trees

Four walls like this

The exhibition of the graphite drawings of heritage oaks across the UK by Mark Frith has been an enormous success. It has had lots of visitors many of whom lingered long at the different heritage oaks drawn in graphite. They also bought lots of the book about the exhibition and lots of prints (some of which sold out).

Maybe it's because trees are more accessible and people understand trees? Maybe it's because more of us live in towns and never seem to see enough trees? Maybe it's because in this instance it's rare to see trees which are so old and so big and create such a massive impact.

It reminded me in some ways of the way the public responded to the trees in David Hockney's 2012 exhibition of landscapes at the Royal Academy which also included very many paintings of trees (see my Review: David Hockney RA - A Bigger Picture).

If you wait until the end of the afternoon there are fewer people!

Looking back
This exhibition for me was all about the overall impact. Each drawing measured 1.7 m wide. I didn't spend time looking at how he drew although I did spend one visit going round looking closely at the labels as well as the trees and was fascinated to learn about their height and girth, how old they are and where each was located. It grounded what seem at times to be fantasy drawings of trees.

What I didn't quite appreciate when this exhibition opened was the extent to which this exhibition of ancient oaks without leaves would resonate more with the gardens around and about over time - as the deciduous trees outside first lost and then stood without leaves. Consequently there was a connection between the two.

I know that for me, every time I looked at the exhibition, it was the overall impact which grabbed me every time. It was almost impossible to look at each tree in the same amount of depth. I found I started to look at parts of the trees - and took a series of photos of the base of the trunk - which helped me appreciate the variation between them even better.

For those unable to see the exhibition

I can recommend the very good book about the development of the series of trees A Legacy of Ancient Oaks which has been selling strongly throughout the exhibition.
Some of the prints have sold out but are due back in stock in April and are available from the Kew Shop.
I don't think there will be another opportunity to see the stubbs of the pencils used to draw the trees.

Trees: Delight in the Detail

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Botanical Painting Courses at The Prince's School of Traditional Arts

11/12/2018

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The Prince's School of Traditional Arts provides a range of workshops and short, practical courses in traditional arts and crafts as part of its Open Programme. Between March and May 2019 these will include some rather unusual courses in different kinds of botanical painting.

The art courses listed below are a variation of those normally provided to students of botanical painting. They offer an opportunity to explore how to paint plants and flowers using different media and approaches to botanical painting

All the courses are held at The Prince's School of Traditional Arts, 19-22 Charlotte Road, London EC2A 3SG (Nearest tube stations are Old Street or Liverpool Street; absolutely no parking!)

This five-day practical course will introduce you to the basics of botanical morphology so students will know what to look for when drawing and painting flowers. It will also reveal the development of botanical art through time.https://t.co/BXkMORxl3e pic.twitter.com/bYrcMlFarb
— School of Traditional Arts (@princesschool) November 19, 2018

Botanical Painting and Taxonomy
Dates: 11 March 2019 - 15 March 2019
Time: 10:30 - 17:30
Tutor Jessica Shepherd
Course Fee: £385

This five day course will

introduce the basics of botanical morphology
reveal the development of botanical art through time
demonstrate how drama can be created through thoughtful lighting,
examine the importance of composition
explore the colours and techniques needed when painting flowers and leaves.
develop a painting including the techniques learned on the course.

Jessica Shepherd trained in botany at the University of Plymouth and University of Edinburgh before she became a botanical painter

Persian Miniature Painting: Flowers and Trees
Dates: 11 March 2019 - 15 March 2019
Time: 10:30 - 17:30
Tutor: Farkhondeh Ahmadzadeh
Course fee: £385 (concessions)

This course focuses on the details of nature in Persian miniature paintings.

covers trees, rocks, and different types of flowers,
practice how to draw and paint them using Persian miniature techniques.
Through a series of practical demonstrations, including traditional paper treatments, pigment preparation, and brush techniques, students will prepare their own papers and paints to be used for their paintings.

Farkhondeh Ahmadzadeh is an Iranian artist based in London. She graduated with distinction from The Prince's School's MA programme in 2011 and was awarded the Jerwood prize for Islamic traditional art.

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Botanical Indian Miniature Painting
Dates: 6 April 2019 - 11 May 2019
Time: 10:00 - 16:30
Tutor: Samantha Buckley | £350

This course is inspired by examples of Mughal botanical paintings and focuses on

the process of creating an Indian miniature painting,
the traditional method of transferring the image to burnished wasli paper using ink and squirrel hair brushes.
the use of handmade pigments from India and how to prepare, apply and then burnish these colours in preparation for the detailed work of miniature painting.
the special technique of prataj to create the detail associated with these beautiful paintings.

Botanical Indian Miniature Painting - At The Prince's School Of Traditional Arts (Day 1) is an excellent blog post by somebody who took the miniature painting course with Sam Buckley in 2016.

Samantha Buckley completed her MA at The School in 2006, receiving a distinction for her studies in miniature painting. In 2011 she was invited to undertake a one-year apprenticeship in India to extend her knowledge and technique of miniature painting,

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Margaret Mee 1909-1988: 30th Anniversary

30/11/2018

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Today marks the 30th anniversary of the tragic death of Margaret Mee (1909 - 1988) the renowned painter of the flora of the Amazon Forest and dedicated environmental conservationist.

She and her husband had returned to England in November 1988 for a major exhibition of her paintings at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew coupled with the launch of a book Margaret Mee in Search of Flowers of the Amazon Forest (1988) based on Margaret's diaries - and discussion about the future of her paintings.

Very sadly she was killed at the age of 79 in a car crash in Leicester on 30 November 1988 a few months after her last expedition to the Amazon.

Those attending her memorial service, held at Kew on 16 January 1989, included representatives of the Duke of Edinburgh, the Brazilian government, and the world of botany.
In May 1989, her ashes were scattered in the Amazon Forest by her husband and close friends. A plaque was fixed to a tree to record her passing.

Paintings by Margaret Mee at the the "Brazil: a powerhouse of plants: Margaret Mee, pioneering artist and her legacy" Exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery (20 February 2016 to 29 August 2016)

About Margaret Mee

About Margaret Mee is my page about this remarkable and very petite woman, who was

a famous and important botanical artist, who specialised in painting the flora of the Amazon Forest. 
an ardent conservationist who highlighted the way in which the forest was being destroyed; and
a botanical painter who inspired a number of botanical artists around the world - notably a number of Brazilian botanical artists.

In Search of Flowers of the Amazon Forest

from Amazon UK

Her legacy includes

images from her 15 expeditions into the Amazon Rainforest
nine new plants - previously unknown to botanical record
400 folios of gouache illustrations, 40 sketchbooks and 15 diaries - many now archived at Kew Gardens
her diaries and three books about her work and her paintings
a heightened awareness of the importance of conservation of habitat in the Amazon rainforest.
inspiration for a number of Brazilian artists - notably the Demonte family, Marlena Baretto, Patricia Villela and Alvaro Nunes
The Margaret Mee Amazon Trust (closed 1996) followed by a Fellowship Programme which enables Brazilian artists to train at Kew Gardens
3,000 dancers paraded to a Margaret Mee theme at the Rio Carnival in 1994!

Plus a number of plants are named after her, including:

Heliconia chartacea var. meeana - which has vivid blue berries
Aechmea polyantha - a vaselike Bromeliad discovered by Margaret Mee

On About Margaret Mee you can find out about:

A Timeline of her life and work
Margaret Mee and the Amazon Flora
Margaret Mee's Paintings - and her approach to painting
Exhibitions of Margaret Mee's paintings - in the UK, USA and Brazil
The Margaret Mee Trust and Fellowship Programme

Videos and Slideshows of her work

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Trees, Tropical Plants & Theatre in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art (October 2018 - March 2019)

12/10/2018

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On Monday I went to see the four new botanical art exhibitions at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew Gardens. I'll be reviewing them all individually on this blog in future but today I thought I'd give you a taster of what can be seen - so you start planning a visit!

The four new exhibitions run from 6 October 2018 – 17 March 2019 and have a couple of over-arching themes

Orchids and tropical plants

Orchids and tropical plants are featured in the first two exhibitions

Rankafu: Masterpieces of Japanese Woodblock Prints of Orchids (Galleries 1 and 2) - this is the first exhibition as you walk in through the main entrance
Botanical Theatre: The Art of Pandora Sellars (1936-2017) (Galleries 3 and 4) - This is very likely to be extremely popular with all experienced botanical artists and aspiring students. Her works features a lot of tropical plants and orchids (and cyclamens, lilies and arum) and a lot of foliage.

The Botanical Theatre of watercolour paintings by Pandora Sellars

Mark Frith: A Legacy of Ancient Oaks (Gallery 5) 7 of the 20 oaks on display

Trees

The tree theme is particularly relevant to the Charter of the Forest in its 800th anniversary year.

Mark Frith: A Legacy of Ancient Oaks (Gallery 5) - in the large square central gallery
Trees: Delight in the Detail (Gallery 6) - the first exhibition you encounter when approaching from the Marianne North Gallery.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: This is one of the best combination of exhibitions that I've seen here. There's a lot of excellent quality art to look at - I found it quite overwhelming - and it's really difficult to take it all in on one visit. So think very seriously about:

planning enough time for your visit
or maybe even planning more than one visit!

I know one artist who has already visited twice on one day and wants to go again!

PS You will need a magnifier or a loupe to properly appreciate some of the paintings in these exhibitions. If you forget yours, you can borrow one from reception.

Rankafu: Masterpieces of Japanese Woodblock Prints of Orchids

View of the exhibition of Rankafu wood block prints of orchids

These impressive and very beautiful woodblock prints of orchids are based on the watercolours of Zuigetsu Ikeda. They were first published in 1946.

Rankafu means as ‘Orchid Flower Album’. These prints are on loan from the Collection of Stephen Kirby and this is first major exhibition of the Rankafu woodblock colour prints outside of Japan.

Woodblock printing of this quality is technically demanding and the exhibition includes a display explaining how they are produced.

Botanical Theatre: The Art of Pandora Sellars

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - This is an exhibition NOT TO BE MISSED.
It's unlikely you'll ever see its like again.

Many experienced botanical artists will need no introduction to the late Pandora Sellars. She has been described by Shirley Sherwood as “One of the most important botanical artists of all time[1]” and “the best leaf painter ever”. Others would characterise her as being one of the best botanical artists when it comes to tackling a complex composition which shows off the botanical features of a plant to best effect.

However very few will have ever seen more than a few examples of her artwork in person.

This exhibition is unique and a wonderful opportunity to

view a retrospective of c. 50 artworks and items produced from her art - just a small percentage of the artwork she produced over a period of nearly 40 years.
note how her artwork developed over the years - between 1972 and 2007
see the scope of her work - from botanical illustration commissions for Kew and other publishers to botanical artworks produced for her own pleasure.

Those who do not know about Pandora Sellars can read all about her and her botanical artwork in About Pandora Sellars (1936-2017) my dedicated page on this website.

The artwork is on loan from:

Kew Collection (17 works)
Shirley Sherwood Collection (8 works)
RHS Lindley Library (1 work)
Cyclamen Society (7 works)
Postal Museum (5 works)
Private Collections (12 works - plus her painting materials
Plus a selection of books containing botanical illustrations by Pandora Sellars

Mark Frith: A Legacy of Oaks

Six of the Veteran Oaks drawn by Mark Frith - in Gallery 5

This is an exhibition of a series of 20 highly intricate, large-scale graphite drawings of Britain’s most characterful veteran oaks, many of which are more than 1,000 years. The trees are shown in winter - devoid of all leaves and new growth.

They were drawn by Mark Frith who studied Fine Art at Bristol before becoming a BAFTA award-winning filmmaker before starting to draw his first tree in 2011.

The series were commissioned by publisher, poet, and philanthropist, Felix Dennis. After he died, ten trees were gifted to the Kew Collection and ten are now owned by the Heart of England Forest - founded by Felix Dennis.

Trees: Delight in the Detail

View of "Palms" - one small section of "Trees: Delight in Detail"

This exhibition leans very much towards looking at the details of trees rather than the tree as a whole - and different approaches used to paint the details of trees.

The artwork represents trees from all over the world - from temperate areas and the tropics - and the detail of their leaves, cones, flowers, fruits, seeds and nuts.

Sizes vary enormously according to real life but also due to enlargement employed to show the detail of a particular aspect.

The artwork comes from the Shirley Sherwood Collection - collected from artists from all over the world. Artists include:

UK: Jenny Brasier, Brigid Edwards, Annie Farrer (2 works), Flappy Lane Fox, Katherine Manisco, Rory McEwen (2 works), Margaret Mee (2 works), Barbara Oozerally, Jess Shepherd, Julie Small (2 works)
Australia: Jenny Phillips
Austria: Jakob Demus
Brazil: Maria Alice de Rezende, Alvaro Nunes (7 works)
Germany: Regine Hagedorn,
India: Arundhati Vartak
Japan: Mariko Ikeda, Mieko Ishikawa, Kimuyo Maruyama (2 works), Michiko Toyota
Philippines: Emmanuel Cordova
Russia: Olga Makrushenko
South Africa: Gill Condy, Ann Schweizer, Vicki Thomas
Thailand: Phansakdi Chakkaphak
USA: Monika de Vries Gohlke; Anne Ophelia Dowden, Ingrid Finnan, Hillary Parker,

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Florentia International Exhibition of Botanical Art

28/9/2018

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Botanical art enthusiasts in Italy can visit the Florentia International Exhibition of Botanical Art (29th September - 7th October 2018).

It's the first international exhibition of contemporary botanical art in Florence. It will showcase

approximately 80 original botanical watercolours
by well known botanical artists coming from Italy and 11 different countries (Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, The Netherlands, Russia, United Kingdom, United States).

Poster for the First International Exhibition of Botanical Art in Florence

Title: Florentia International Exhibition of Botanical Art
Catalogue: available
Venue: Villa Bardini, Costa S. Giorgio, 2-4, 50125 Firenze FI, Italy
Dates: September 29 - October 7, 2018
Opening hours: 10.00am - 7.00pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Free entry on the first Sunday of the month.
Sponsors: Società Toscana di Orticultura/Tuscan Horticultural Society - on the occasion of the traditional "Autumn and Plant Market Exhibition"

Purpose of the Exhibition

Florentia is intended as an opportunity to foster collaboration and sharing between participating artists, raise awarness of this artistic genre and demonstrate the contemporary botanical art renewed vitality, especially in Florence, in the wake of an ancient and prestigious tradition.

In the Medicean Florence, thanks to the interest of the Grand Dukes both for botany and art, great artists such as Jacopo Ligozzi and Giovanna Garzoni, were called to represent, in beautiful watercolor and gouache, the best of the floral and fruit crops and the most precious medicinal plants.

Organisers

The Florentia exhibition is co-organized by two Tuscan botanical artists:

Simonetta Occhipinti GM who lives and works in Florence, and
Giuliana Gallo who was born in the island of Elba but lives in The Netherlands and is a member of the Dutch Society of Botanical Artists

Simonetta Occhipinti GM with part of her Gold Medal winning exhibit of The Citrus of the Medici Family

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Flowers and Fruit - solo show by Kathy Pickles

23/9/2018

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Kathy Pickles GM's new solo show "Flowers and Fruit" opened yesterday in the Exhibition Room of the Old Library in Kirkwall on the Isle of Orkney in Scotland. It continues until 13th October 2018 and is open Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm.

Her solo exhibition contains 64 botanical paintings in watercolour - mostly on paper but with some on vellum. 24 paintings were sold at the Preview Evening and another 8 in the gallery yesterday morning so Kathy got to the half way mark in terms of sales after the preview and 3 hours of being open to the public! I gather her paintings on vellum are going fast!

If you're starting a collection, I'd very much recommend you take a close look....
My experience of Kathy's paintings in the past are they priced to sell - and she almost always sells nearly all of them!

You can also read more about Kathy Pickles at the end of this post.

Flowers and Fruit

While not everybody can get to Orkney to see the exhibition, you can see most of the work in the show on Kathy's Facebook Page - Kathy Pickles Botanical Art or her website at www.kathypickles.co.uk. Plus she is a regular participant in the Botanical Artists Facebook Group where she also posts her new work.

Kathy works - very fast - from observation (and never from photographs) and her paintings follow the seasons and what she's growing in her garden!

Crops of Botanical Paintings by Kathy Pickles - on her website

About Kathy Pickles

Kathy Pickles GM - with her 7th Gold Medal exhibit at the RHS London Botanical Art Show 2017

Kathy Pickles was born in London but has lived on Orkney since 1981. Her art education started with a Foundation Course at Canterbury College of Art. She also studied textile design at Winchester School of Art before going to Sussex University where she gained a degree in the History of Art.

She has won seven RHS Gold Medals (1991-94, 1996, 2015, 2017) - which is more than any other botanical artist I know!

Her Gold Medal in 2015 was for 16 paintings of Fritillaria and Helleborus
The Gold Medal in 2017 was for 12 paintings of Clematis. Rachel de Thame bought one of her paintings!

You can view my Video Interview with Kathy Pickles at the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2015

Other achievements in the botanical art world include:

She has also exhibited in a three person show at the Kew Gardens Gallery (1995-96)
She designed the 1997 Chelsea Flower Show Plate which celebrated the Golden Wedding Anniversary of Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip. Later that year she was invited by Orkney Islands Council to meet the Prince of Wales and show him her original painting while he was in Orkney viewing the work of a number of local artists and craftsmen.
her study of Mertensia maritima was one of the paintings of endangered species included in the special 250th anniversary edition of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine

Prestigious Botanical Art Collections which own her work include:

The Royal Botanic Garden Kew
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh,
the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh and
the Shirley Sherwood Collection.

Her professional combines fine art with botanical illustration for commercial purposes and since 1994, she has designed over 150 designs for floral mugs for Dunoon Ceramics - including designs containing Scottish Wild Flower which included some Orkney favourites such as Primula scotica, Northern Marsh Orchid, Yellow Flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus) and Oyster Plant (Mertensia maritima).

She has been having solo shows on Orkney for the last 30 years and also works to commission.

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More about botanical artists and exhibitions

ARTISTS: You can see more Contemporary botanical artists and illustrators around the world on my dedicated pages on my website

EXHIBITIONS: You can find out about more Botanical Art Exhibitions & Collections - around the world. Current and future exhibitions in different parts of the world are listed or signposted on the following pages:

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