NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Selected Canadian artists for 'Art of the Plant' (Botanical Art Worldwide #6)

25/2/2018

The Art of the Plant / L'art de la Flore Exhibition will be held at the Stone Wall Gallery at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Canada between 10 May - 14 October 2018. This is Canada's contribution to the Botanical Art Worldwide Exhibition in 2018 - taking place in 25 countries across the world.

At the end of this post are details of the various regional exhibitions being organised by the botanical art groups associated with different provinces and territories.

Below you can find a list of the artists who will be exhibiting - with

profiles of each artist (from available information online) and
links to their websites (embedded in their names if available).

There are also images of two of the botanical artworks selected for the exhibition. I've also linked to where artists have highlighted their works online. Please contact me if you'd like to send me an image of your artwork or would like a link inserted to where online you've displayed or written about your artwork for the exhibition.

Sorbus americana – Mountain ash © Barbara (Bee) van Blomestein Calgary, Alberta. Watercolour on paper 34 x 26.5cm

Organisation

The Canadian exhibition which will form part of Botanical Art Worldwide has been organised by:

a Committee of the various Canadian Botanical Art Organisations
a Steering Committee comprising an Exhibition Chair - Kerri Weller (Ottawa) - assisted by two Advisers, Margaret Best (Calgary) and Myra Soarkes (Toronto) who is an ASBA Board Member.

Native Plants of Canada

Two sources were used for guidance on the Native Plants of Canada

Selection

The Canadian exhibition is different in the sense that a number of artists had their work juried in, while a number of artists were invited to exhibit based on existing and proven standing. See the artists for more details.

The Jury for the selection of artwork was wholly independent of the organising Committee. The Jurors were:

Lugene Bruno - Curator of Art of the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation
Jennifer Doubt - Curator of the National Herbarium of Canada at the Canadian Museum of Nature
Katie Lee - Botanical Artist and former Instructor at the New York botanical Garden

Selected artists and plants native to Canada

You can see the names of the plants selected on this page of the exhibition website.

Below are the selected artists

Rosalind Allchin (3 works)
Lives in Ottawa and discovers a lot of what she paints while on morning walks with her energetic dog.

Margaret Best (2 works)

Gerard Brender à Brandis (3 works)
Born in Holland and came to Canada with his family in 1947. Lives in Stratford Ontario. Began printmaking on a course at McMaster University in 1964 where he graduated with a BA in Fine Arts. He is a wood engraver and is a member of the Wood Engravers’ Network. He's well known for his original botanical wood engravings on his own hand made paper.

Lynette Carrington-Smith (1 work)
Spent her childhood in Somerset in the UK. Studied and qualified as a Textile Designer at the West of England College of Art. Emigrated to Ontario, Canada in 2012. Awarded an RHS Silver Lindley for her paintings of Victorian Violets. Elected a member of SBA and became a tutor in Botanical Art. Painted indigenous fauna and flora for fourteen years in Spain.

Katherine Chorney (1 work)
Works as a scientific and medical illustrator. Has a Master of Science in Biomedical Communications (MScBMC) degree from the University of Toronto. Since 2004 she has been a full-time Professor in the Bachelor of Illustration program at Sheridan College in Oakville (near Toronto), Canada. She has regularly exhibited in the past with the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI), juried exhibits throughout the US, the Focus on Nature biennial exhibit at the New York State Museum, and other international exhibitions. In Canada she has shown with the Southern Ontario Nature and Science Illustrators (SONSI), and Botanical Artists of Canada. She has also served a number of times as the juror for BAC exhibitions. Her website is very interesting - check out her most recent nature journal

Lilyane Coulombe (2 works)
Born in Île d'Orléans, a nature area near Quebec City, in 1957 and continues to live there. Studied Natural Science but also very interested in art - and the use of very traditional techniques. Most of the plants she illustrates in her drawings and paintings come mainly from the Île d'Orléans. Most of her botanical artwork is executed in oil on panels. She has exhibited widely. She has produced nature designs for coins for the Royal Canadian Mint.

Solidago altissima with Procecidochares atra galls Emily Damstra

Solidago altissima with Procecidochares atra galls by Emily Damstra

Emily Damstra (1 work)
A full time self-employed natural science illustrator. Her entry is a drawing of Golden Rod which exhibits fly larvae which produces rosette galls (Solidago altissima with Procecidochares atra galls )

Vicky Earle (2 works)
Has a degree in Medical Illustration from the University of Toronto. She is a natural science, medical and botanical illustrator based in Vancouver for the last 30+ years. She prefers to work in watercolour, but occasionally uses metalpoint and mixed media. She is a a member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, the American Society of Botanical Artists, and the Health and Science Communications Association. She has designed and produced thousands of illustrations for scientific and medical textbooks, journals and brochures, as well as artwork for legal litigation, video, animation and websites.

I chose to paint Garry oak leaves, to help raise awareness for this species. Garry oaks, along with their associated ecosystems, are among the most rare and endangered in Canada! These ecosystems occupy only a small portion of the Coastal Douglas-fir zone, which itself comprises only 0.3% of the land area in British Columbia. Garry oak and associated ecosystems are home to more plant species than any other land-based ecosystem in coastal British Columbia, and many of these species occur nowhere else in the country. Over 100 species of plants, animals, birds and insects are officially listed as “at risk” in these ecosystems. For more information and to learn ways you can help, please visit the Garry Oak Ecosystem Recovery Team website.
Art of the Plant | L’art de la Flore | Draw in Nature Studio News

Garry Oak leaves copyright Vicky Earle

Margaret (Peggy) Graeb (1 work)
Exhibited at the 9th International Exhibition at the Hunt Institute

Heather Gross (1 work)
Started studying botanical art with Margaret Best at the Dundas Valley School of Art in January 2017. Lives in Cayuga, Ontario, her backyard of Carolinian Forest provides inspiration. Her painting of the Kentucky Coffee tree (Gymnocladus dioicus) was used for the poster for the exhibition.

Working with a live specimen, I thoroughly enjoyed depicting the beautiful bean pods of the Kentucky Coffee-tree with their mingling hues and leathery look. Poisonous if eaten raw, the roasted seeds and pods may have been used by early settlers to make coffee. This “threatened” Carolinian tree has an alternate, double compound leaf, the largest leaf of any native tree. Gymnocladus dioicus, means ‘naked branch’, this tree is without leaves up to nine months a year.

Marcel Jomphe [Facebook Page] (2 works)
Based in Quebec, Canada. He illustrated plants, mushrooms, bryophytes, lichens and others for an exhibition at the National Herbarium of the Canadian Museum of Nature. He was the permanent botanical illustrator for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. He has exhibited at the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, the Pittsburgh Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation (twice) and Evergreen at the Canadian Museum of Nature.

Nina Kilpatrick (1 work)

Linda LeGeyt (1 work) - BAC Gallery
Draws and paints the native plants of southern Alberta from her home southwest of Okotoks, Alberta.

Ann Love (1 work)
Born in Toronto and lives nearKing, Ontario. Graduated with an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Toronto and now a retired Librarian and author of non-fiction books for children. Also an avid naturalist and botanical artist. Recently she has been painting a series of works to record the native plants of the Happy Valley Forest, Oak Ridges Moraine. (some of her work)

Kathryn Macdonald (3 works) BAC Gallery
Lives in Port Moody BC. Originally trained in Nursing before studying for her diploma in Electro-mechanical Engineering Design Technology. In 2004 she graduated with a BFA in General Fine Arts at Emily Carr University, Vancouver, British Columbia and in 2009 she gained her Master Gardeners certificate after which she decided to combine her two passions of plant and art and learn how to paint in watercolour!

Big Leaf Maple Acer macrophyllum © Kathryn Macdonald

Woodland Jack In The Pulpit © Suzanne Matheson

Suzanne Matheson (1 work) Facebook Page
An author and illustrator of children’s books and educational materials, as well as artistic contributor to web sites and digital games. She has a growing portfolio of botanical and nature inspired art.

Sherry Mitchell (2 works)
Grew up and lives on Vancouver Island. She is now a watercolour botanical artist, specialising in the native flora of British Columbia, Canada. She is a Senior Signature Member (SFCA) of the Federation of Canadian Artists and a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists and the International Guild of Realism. She is also a published botanical illustrator. Her work has been included in regional, national and international juried exhibitions and received awards. Her work is included in the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation.

Lynn Moore (1 work)

Carol Paton (2 works)
Lives in Northumberland County, Ontario. Diploma in adverting art from Ontario College of Art. Initially she had a career in commercial art before beginning to focus on botanical art. Awarded an RHS Silver medal for her paintings of the provincial and territorial emblems of Canada.one of two artists showcased at the 1996 Visions from the Gardens show at Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens and was the featured artist for the same show in 1998. Two works exhibited at the International Exhibition at the Hunt Institute in 2000.

Rhus typhina - Staghorn Sumac © Sengmany (Seng) Phommachakr, Ottawa. Ontario. Watercolour on paper 43 cm x 50.5 cm

Sengmany Phommachakr (2 works)

Nellie Sue Potter (2 works)
Lives in Ontario. B.A. in Art History from the University of North Carolina. As a botanical artist for the North Carolina Botanical Garden (NCBG), Nellie Sue illustrated a trail guide for an area of North Carolina which had escaped glaciation and was unique in its biodiversity. She has served as Programs Director, Exhibition Director and President of of the Botanical Artists of Canada. She is a member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation and the American Society of Botanical Artists. Currently teaches Botanical Art at the Royal Ontario Museum and
painting the plants of the Oak Savannah habitat of the Great Lakes.
Tom Reaume (1 work)
Retired. Studied wildlife biology at university. Created 620 Wild Plants of North America - a picture book of plant anatomy - which took 10-years to create and $250,000 in grants. All 10,000 of the drawings done for the book are now in the collection of the Canadian Museum of Nature. 500 drawings in The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh, USA. Illustrated 620 wild plants of North America with pen and ink drawings. Also photographs natural history and plants.

Kristin Rothschild (1 work)

Jan Salmon (1 work)
Member and Past President of Ottawa Society of Botanical Artists

Sheila Siegerman GM (1 work)
Born in British Columbia. Began botanical art in the 1980s and has had solo exhibitions at different venues. Awarded Gold and Silver medals by the RHS. Exhibited in the Seventh International Exhibition of Botanical Art and Illustration at the Hunt Institute. Her work is also included in the Highgrove Florilegium and the Shirley Sherwood Collection - and included in the "A New Flowering - 1,000 years of botanical art" exhibition.

Pamela Stagg GM (2 works)
Won an RHS Gold Medal only 4 years after discovering an interest in botanical art. Also won the Grenfell Medal. The Royal Canadian Mint commissioned her to design the Trillium Coin for the prestigious Pure Gold Coin series. Her book Roses: A Celebration was published by Northpoint Press in the Fall of 2003

Barbara van Blomestein (1 work)

Kerri Weller (2 works)
Graduate of the Ontario College of Art and the University of Toronto’s medical illustration program.Trained as a graphic designer and medical illustrator. Previously worked as the Exhibits Graphic Designer with the Ontario Science Centre. Produces botanical art for both the fine art market and commercial applications. Works in oil as well as watercolour. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. Her paintings have been juried into 5 International Exhibitions of the American Society of Botanical Artists.

Regional Exhibitions

The regional exhibitions that also been organised to support this initiative. These are as follows

Botanical Artists of Canada

Title: Native Plants of Canada
Venue: The Cotton Factory, Hamilton, Ontario,
Dates: May 5 - 27, 2018

Botanical Artists Guild of Southern Alberta

Title: Wild in the West! An exhibition of native plants of the prairies, alpine and coastal regions
Venue: Loughheed House, Calgary, Alberta,
Dates: May 18 - June 10, 2018

Botanical Art Society of Newfoundland & Labrador

Title: Rooted in Art: Native Plants of Newfoundland & Labrador
Venue: MUN Botanical Garden, 306 Mount Scio Road | St. John's, NL
Dates: May 3 – May 31 2018

Botanical Artists of Nova Scotia Association

Title: Nova Scotia Native Flora in Art
Venue: Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia,
Dates: May 19 – June 15 2018

Ottawa Society of Botanical Artists

Title: Plant Portraits: Native plants of Canada
Venue: Canadian Agriculture and Food Museum, Ottawa,
Dates: May 18 - October 31, 2018

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Botanical Art Worldwide:
Selected Artists - Other Countries

You can read the equivalent posts about other countries contributing to the Botanical Worldwide Art Exhibition below

Do please contact me if you'd like this sort of blog post listing for the selected artists for the Botanical Art Worldwide Exhibition in your country.

Botanical Art Worldwide - more information

For more about the Botanical Art Worldwide initiative you should view

EITHER the dedicated Official Website which has comprehensive information about the purpose of the exhibition and exhibitions in other countries
OR the official Facebook Page
OR the World Wide Exhibition of Botanical Art 2018 page - on this website - which has brief details about all the exhibitions on ONE page

Botanical Artists of Canada celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary

7/7/2017

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The Botanical Artists of Canada are celebrating Canada's 150th anniversary with an exhibition of Native and Indigeous Plants. Last night was the Opening Reception.

Dates: July 5 to 26, 2017
Venue: Robert Langen Art Gallery, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario. The gallery is open: Monday - Friday 8.30am - 7pm and Saturday and Sunday 11am - to 5.30pm.

The exhibition aims to:

depict native and indigenous plants of Canada.
celebrate the existence, beauty, uniqueness and diversity of Canada’s native and indigenous plants (including fungi);
connect people with plants and botanical art through the artist’s creative expression;
inform the public of how native plants sustain our lives, habitat and the natural world.

[I'm happy to add photos of the exhibition into this post if anybody would like to send me some.]

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Profiles of Selected Artists for 19th International (ASBA and The Hort.)

13/7/2016

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48 artworks out of 260 submissions have been selected for the 19th International Exhibition of the American Society of Botanical Artists and The Horticultural Society of New York

Juried Selection

The jurors were

Susan Fraser, Director, Mertz Library, The New York Botanical Garden
David Horak, Curator of the Aquatic House, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Catherine Watters, Botanical Artist

The selected artists come from the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom

Artists selected for the exhibition are listed below by the country where they live.

The links embedded in their name are to their website or ASBA profile. Links to artists' Facebook pages are also included where identified.

USA

Milly Acharya - lived in Ithaca, NY for over 30 years. She is inspired by local flora as well as tropical plants of India where she grew up. Won the 2011 Diane Bouchier Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in botanical art
Rosalind Allchin - also selected for the 16th, 17th and 18th - with sepia biased monochromatic colour base. See her painting selected for the exhibtition above.
Helen Byers - an active instructor
Monika deVries Gohlke - born in Germany and lives and works in New York. Well known for her botanical etchings with aquatint and drypoint
Carrie Di Costanzo - has exhibited widely in the USA
Jean Emmons - an awardwinning botanical artist whose technique for painting on vellum is based on medieval manuscript illumination. In 2007 she won “Best in Show” at the International Botanical Art Exhibition at the Horticultural Society of New York.
Margaret Farr - lives in Manassas, VA.
Beverly Fink - a member of the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens
Ingrid Finnan - Born in Poland; now lives in Riverdale, New York City. Recipient of the Horticultural Society of New York Best in Show Award, 2013
Jane Fisher - Studied botanical art at the Minnesota School of Botanical Art. Works in graphite.
Lara Gastinger - from Charlottesville, Virginia. She is the chief illustrator for the Flora of Virginia Project. (Facebook Page)
Jane Hancock - her work is included in the Florilegium of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
Asuka Hishiki - her work will also be seen in the Flora Japonica exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew Gardens in the Autumn of 2016 which showcases "Japan’s native flora as depicted by eminent Japanese botanical artists"
Wendy Hollender - works in coloured pencils and is also author and instructor
Rose James - a graphic artist who took up botanical illustration in 2009
Heeyoung Kim - focuses on painting wildflowers of prairies and woods
Karen Kluglein - trained as an illustrator and has moved from illustrating food for clients to teaching students about botanical art
Linda Medved Lufkin - Facebook Page
Patricia Luppino - born in Brooklyn, New York and lives on Long Island. Achieved a Diploma in Botanical Art with distinction from the SBA in 2008
Tammy McEntee - currently enrolled in the Botanical Art and Illustration program at the the New York Botanical Garden.
Derek Norman - devoted to graphically documenting the native flora of Illinois and the Midwest
Rose Pellicano - Born in Italy and now lives now lives in Garden City, New York and teaches botanical art at The New York Botanical Garden and Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Elizabeth Perry
Susan Pettee - Lives in Paris, France and Great Barrington, Massachusetts and has also had careers as a printmaker and antitrust lawyer!
Ramiro Prudencio - a past student of Heeyoung Kim
Betsy Rogers-Knox - recently painted a series of the Lifecycle of the Monarch Butterfly and the Milkweed Plant for the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition 2016 and won a Silver Gilt Medal
Constance Scanlon - Known as Connie; awarded an RHS Silver Grenfell Medal for her series of paintings, Preludes and Postludes on a Stem (2013)
Kathy Schermer-Gramm - Botanical art instructor at North Carolina Botanical Gardens and Sawtooth Center Facebook Page
Mitsuko Schultz - This is the story behind her exhibit in the 16th International
Deborah Shaw - This is the story behind her exhibit in the 17th International
Kerri Weller - Trained as a graphic designer and medical illustrator. Her paintings were juried into the 14th, 15th and 16th International Exhibitions
Carol Woodin - Specialises in painting rare plants in watercolour on vellum. She has been awarded an RHS Gold Medal and the Diane Bouchier Award. ASBA Exhibitions Director. Facebook Page

RHS Botanical Art Show 2016: Betsy Rogers-Knox - Lifecycle of the Monarch Butterfly and the Milkweed Plant

Australia

Deb Chirnside - an Australian artist who lives near Geelong
John Pastoriza-Pinol - completed his docturmiento in Botany at University of Vigo, Galicia, in Spain. Now lives in Australia and has work in the Highgrove Floriliegium.

Brazil

Fatima Zagonel - an ex Margaret Mee Scholar (1999). Major collections including her paintings include the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Shirley Sherwood Collection and the Hunt Institute.

Canada

Margaret Best - a botanical art tutor and a member of botanical art and florilegium societies around the world Facebook Page

Japan

Akiko Enokido - began painting Camellia Japonica when she returned to live in Japan in 2012 and won an RHS Gold Medal for them in 2016 (see Interviews with RHS Botanical Art Gold Medallists 2016 - from Asia)
Noriko Kaneko

Akiko Enokido with her gold medal winning display of Classical Camellia Japonica at the RHS London Botanical Art Show 2016

RHS London Botanical Art Show 2016: Esmee Winkel won another Gold Medal for her display of pen and ink drawings of rare and endangered orchids.

Netherlands

Esmee Winkel a Scientific Illustrator for the Nationaal Herbarium Nederlands. Awarded RHS Gold Medals in 2013 and 2016 (and the Jill Smythies Award for excellence in botanical illustration by the Linnean Society in 2014. (see Interviews with RHS Botanical Art Gold Medal Winners 2013)

Fritillaria Crown Imperial Rubra by Dianne Sutherland (watercolour on Kelmscott vellum)

Gaynor Dickeson - active member of the Society of Botanical Artists and the Society of Floral Painters and tutor.
Denise Heywood - also a member of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers. Exhibited at the 15th International Exhibition of Botanical Art at the Hunt Library
Lizzie Sanders - Winner of three RHS Gold Medals. Represented in the USA by Susan Frei Nathan Fine Works on Paper
Liz Shippam - lives in West Sussex. Her plums were exhibited in the 18th International which also featured on the December 2015 cover of the ASBA Journal. Facebook Page
Dianne Sutherland - Botanical Art Tutor. Exhibited in the 12th International Exhibition at the Hunt. Facebook Page
Julia Trickey - winner of 4 RHS Gold Medals (2006,2008, 2011, 2013) Facebook Page

If you'd like an image of your artwork added in to this post please contact me and email me the image.

The Show has a number of awards:

The Hort’s Best in Show Award of $500
ASBA Eleanor Wunderlich Award of $500
Helen Gray Garber Award of $500
Richmond and Lili Bates Award for Excellence of $300 in recognition of an Artist by a Fellow Artist
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Award for Print or Drawing of $250

The exhibition will be held between 3rd November 03 and 30th December 30, 2016 at The New York Design Center, 200 Lexington Avenue, 10th Floor, New York, NY

Blog Posts: 18th Annual International hosted by ASBA and the Hort

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