NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

RHS Digital Collections

23/7/2023

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has launched a new Digital Collections platform, allowing anyone to access 10,000 library items and herbarium specimens online for free.
RHS launches digital library of over 10,000 items, including rare treasures from their collections

Great progress has been made in digitising the collections in the RHS Lindley Library - of garden history and science - over the last five years. Below I cover

what is now available
the Terms and Conditions of Use
how I suggest you explore what's available to see

The project started in 2018 and was helped by funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thousands of botanical artworks have been photographed, including Nellie Roberts’s Orchid Award Committee paintings

Have you explored the RHS Digital Collections yet?

Search over 9000 objects including artworks, books, photos, herbarium specimens and more

500 years of gardening history, digitised and free to explore online for the first time □

□https://t.co/zXSc1WA1Bx pic.twitter.com/T9y4qwCKGB
— Royal Horticultural Society Libraries (@RHSLibraries) June 29, 2023

WHAT IS NOW AVAILABLE IN THE RHS DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

You can now access digital images of the following online via RHS Digital Collections

Archive: 661 Records
Artworks: 7485 Drawings and paintings in the RHS Art Collection - which can be interrogated by a limited number of genus:
- Narcissus
- Malus
- Prunus
- Pyrus
- Vitis
- Rosa
- Fragaria
- Cucumis
- Ribes
- Ananas
- Pyrua
- Rubus
Bookplates: 1352 Digitised Records - which can be interrogated by Genus
Herbarium Specimens: 8295 Records - which can be interrogated by Genus

Here's an example - which can be downloaded - together with the detail which can be identified and listed if republished.

Tulipa cultivar white and red attributed to August Wilhelm Sievert (1705-1751) | Part of Hortus Florum Imaginum (Sievert album) | RHS Lindley Collections | Repository Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library

The Collections include:

Treasures

Themes

Gertrude Jekyll: Gertrude Jekyll and Gertrude Jekyll's Scrapbook
Growing up in the garden
RHS Garden Wisley
William Robinson

Some plants have "everything we've got on"

Record type

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

You can find the Terms of Use here. Clear distinctions are drawn between:

material out of copyright
orphan works - where the name of the originator is not known
material that is copyrighted to the RHS but published under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Licence

0 Comments

Margaret Flockton Award 2023: Call for Entries

30/4/2023

0 Comments

Two important dates in May for scientific botanical illustrators:

The deadline for entries for the 2023 Margaret Flockton Award is Sunday 21 May EST
You can start submitting entries on Monday 8 May.

What is the Margaret Flockton Award?

The Margaret Flockton Award - organised annually by the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney - commemorates the contribution Margaret Flockton (1861-1953) made to Australian scientific botanical illustration.

Every year, illustrators from around the world submit scientifically accurate drawings that accompany the published taxonomic description of a plant, clearly highlighting all of the distinctive features of the species. Original taxonomic illustrations are highly detailed black and white drawings primarily undertaken in pen and ink, pencil or digitally rendered.

You can read more about past winners on my dedicated page The Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Illustration

Who can enter the Margaret Flockton Award?

Entries are welcomed from all those who generate scientific illustrations of plants.

All previous winners of the Margaret Flockton Award are eligible to enter, EXCLUDING the 2020, 2021 AND 2022 first prize winning artists.

Typically, the people who submit illustrations for this award - and win awards are professional botanical illustrators / people who produce scientific botanical illustrations for botanical gardens and botanists on a regular basis. However they' are NOT the only people who enter.

Enthusiastic botanical illustrators ALSO make up at least half the entries

this competition is NOT limited to those who generate income producing scientific botanical illustrations
scientific illustration entries from a wider group are always welcomed.

What can you enter?

The page relating to the Award includes a Guide to Scientific Botanical Illustrations - which I recommend you read before processing any further.

All illustrations MUST have been have been produced in the last two years i.e. after May 2021
Each artist may submit up to two illustrations. If you'd like to see the standard of work submitted you can view the 2020 Flickr Gallery for the Margaret Flockton Award 2020
Only full plate illustrations will be accepted (inclusive of habit study and diagnostic features of the species).
- There are very precise dimensions for the images you can submit
- Inclusion of scale bars, whilst not compulsory, is highly recommended.
Illustrations MUST be MONOCHROMATIC (i.e. not coloured - see above)
- EITHER black and white illustrations (for example created using pen and ink, graphite or scraperboard)
- AND/OR monochromatic, digitally rendered illustrations
- either published or unpublished
The illustration should include a small legend
- with plant name and all lettered components
- neatly written or typed at the bottom of the artwork
- outside of the image area
All illustration MUST be 100% of original artwork size
- the image area MUST be:
  - no larger than A3 (295 mm x 420 mm) and
  - no smaller than (180 x 250 mm), EXCLUDING legend.
  - Illustrations outside of these parameters will not be accepted.
- The digital canvas size may only be longer than A3 to allow for the legend.
All illustrations must be intended for 2D printed output.
- Animated or 3D rendered works or images dependent on digital viewing, as well as photos and photo montage works, are NOT eligible for submission.
- Eligible entries may be printed at 67% of original size to assess reproducibility at judging.
High resolution digital images of the each illustration MUST NOT exceed 200MB

0 Comments

Deadline for ABBA Online Exhibition is 1st September

27/8/2021

2 Comments

The deadline for entries for ‘ReflectionS’, no plants-no planet’ - the Online Exhibition by the Association of British Botanical Artists is Wednesday 1st September

BELOW is a summary of the key "need to know" points

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The aim of the exhibition is to stimulate discussion about biodiversity and the impact of climate change using the medium of botanical art to tell a story through imagery which is visually appealing and immediately accessible to a wide audience.

This exhibition was inspired by COP26 - the United Nations Climate Change Conference due to be held in Glasgow in November 2021. COP26 has six major themes and the theme that is relevant to this exhibition is:

“ Nature - to safeguard and restore natural habitats and ecosystems to preserve the planet’s biodiversity “

The exhibition will comprise a juried and digital collection of botanical art by ABBA members that reflects the pivotal role that plants play in preserving the planet's biodiversity.

This digital exhibition will be displayed as follows:

Dates: 16th October 2021 and 27th March 2022
Viewing:
- On a large screen at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew Gardens, between - for viewing by visitors to the Gallery
- AND simultaneously exhibited in the ABBA Online Gallery on its website - for an international audience.

ABOUT THE CALL TO ENTRIES

Who can enter: Members of the Association of British Botanical Artists.

Despite the name this means entries can come from artists based anywhere in the world.
ABBA have a very reasonable subscription fee.

2 Comments

ABBA: Call for Entries for 'Purely Botanical'

23/6/2020

0 Comments

The Association of British Botanical Artists (ABBA) have announced their Call for Entries for their next botanical art exhibition called "Purely Botanical" - and it opens for submissions today. (I was alerted to this by ABBA after publishing my last post - and they very kindly sent me the details this morning!)

As an Association of Botanical Artists our focus is on reflecting accurately the natural beauty of plants that surround us, particularly native plants.

Purely Botanical - Call for Entries

This call for entries is a bit different

This is NOT an Open Exhibition. The exhibition is only open to those who are members of the Association of British Botanical Artists. However see my note about membership below.
This is a virtual exhibition - NOT an exhibition "in a place".
This is NOT a juried exhibition - except insofar as making sure all entries relate to "botanical art"

That said, the Gallery software and presentation of their last exhibition "Winter Warmer (2019)" is excellent. I really like the way that it:

provides permanent online exhibition space on the website - with hanging space for any size of picture
each image is listed WITH an artwork title, the name of the artist and a description
it's really easy to move from one artwork to the next - in the "slideshow" format
right click is disabled - meaning images cannot be downloaded
the preamble lists all the artists and where they come from PLUS a map showing where artists live. The last exhibition included artists living across the world.
the images are excellent - and upsize to a reasonable if clicked - at which point you also access a more detailed description of the artwork
it remains online until the next online exhibition.

Entry Criteria

Who can enter:

Only Members of ABBA can submit artwork. However despite the name the website makes clear that ABBA is ....

ABBA is for every one - every where - every ability

the membership fee has been reduced significantly in the current context to £25p.a. (for which I applaud ABBA!) See the membership page for more details.

What artwork can be entered:

botanical art (I'd like to see a link to a more precise definition of "botanical art" on the ABBA website)
their preference is for plants native to your location (which makes them a bit different to other art societies who allow international entries but prefer to stipulate that entries should be relevant to the location of the organisation)
Either an existing artwork or a new piece.
The exhibition is not juried other than ensuring the work is "botanical art".
A maximum of two pieces of artwork can be submitted - of which at least one will be exhibited.

Key dates: The key dates are:

Open for Submissions: 23rd June 2020
Closing Date for Submissions: 20th September 2020
Exhibition Opens: 4th October 2020

How to submit: This is the Artwork Submission Page. You need to submit the following details plus a digital image

Title
Description
Scientific name(s) if possible
Size of your image (inside mount measure - width and height in cm)
Scale - if other than life size (i.e. 2x OR you have drawn a scale bar)
Your digital image - of "publishable quality". The technical requirements for the image to display optimally are:
- scanned ( professionally preferred) or a quality photograph
- minimum resolution of 72 dpi
- a minimum of 2500 pixels on the shortest side
- format can be .tiff or .jpg (100% or Max) .png
- a maximum file size of 10MB

An "Original" Concern
I'd recommend that ABBA always stipulate that all artists confirm that...

artwork submitted is wholly ORIGINAL (i.e. not copied in whole or part)
the sole work of the artist (i.e. not created in a class taught by another artist or done as part of an exercise in a book)
any reference photos used by the artist are also their own (i.e. taken by the artist not paid for by the artist)

It helps to avoid the wholly avoidable and potentially expensive complications with third parties - for both ABBA (as publishers) and the artist - if somebody asserts that an artwork displayed in an exhibition has infringed their copyright. It's now very much a standard requirement for most art competition and open exhibitions - precisely because this problem has occurred (again and again) in the past. I've personally known of a number of examples told to me by various art societies and/or the artists who have had their copyright infringed over 15 years of writing online about open exhibitions. I've also reported infringements to art societies! (I see and know a LOT of artwork!)

A stipulation by the organisers that all work MUST be completely original - plus an immediate takedown when notified with adequate proof - almost always performs the "get out of jail free card" function for the organisation concerned. (Not so for the artist though)

However the stipulation very often avoids the really awful experience for an art society of being notified that somebody has been very naughty - and it's there for all to see!

0 Comments

Niki Simpson and Juliet Williamson win Jill Smythies Award 2018

31/5/2018

0 Comments

Every year the The Jill Smythies Award is awarded to one or more botanical illustrators - for outstanding botancal illustrations in publications.

Last week, on 24th May 2018, the Annual Anniversary Meeting of the Linnean Society started with the presentation of annual medals, recognising outstanding contributions to the Natural Sciences by a variety of different people.

The Jill Smythies Award was founded in 1988 and awards a prize of £1000 to a botanical artist for outstanding illustrations.

I've now created a page about the The Jill Smythies Award which lists the people who have received the award to date and how nominations are made. The list includes some famous names in the world of contemporary botanical art have received the award plus a lot of very experienced botanical illustrators who work in Botanic Gardens across the world. It finishes with a summary biography of Jill Smythies.

I've checked and you don't have to be a fellow to nominate somebody for the Award!

Niki Simpson receive her Jill Smythies Award

Niki Simpson

Juliet Williamson

Juliet Williamson receiving her Jill Smythies Award

The Jill Smythies Award 2018

For 2018, the Council agreed to make two awards: to

Niki Simpson - who has developed a technique for digital botanical images similar to conventional botanical illustration plates.
Juliet Williamson - who illustrated The Kew Plant Glossary: An Illustrated Dictionary of Plant Identification Terms - which contains 700 of her line drawings.

Juliet seems to be quite a private person and there's very little about her online other. However my 'sources' say she's been producing botanical illustrations for Kew for years - dating back to 2002. (However I'm very happy to correct any inaccuracies).

Niki is pretty well known within the botanical illustration community for being the first person to recreate botanical illustration using digital imaging technology and software.

Niki with a display of her digital botanical illustrations for the viewing by the Fellows of the Linnean Society. Photo copyright Niki Simpson.

The aim is for scientific, reference-standard images. Each composite illustration is a comprehensive plant portrait of a single taxon or plant species, showing the diagnostic and, where space allows, the characteristic features of that plant. All parts and dissections are shown to scale by a metric scale bar, and where appropriate, the notable parts are colour referenced. In addition, each illustration contains a time bar showing the month/s of flowering, a title block and symbols indicating the plant's life form and sexual arrangement.
Visual Botany - Artist Statement

I've previously featured Niki's work on my page about Artists using Other Media which highlights her exhibition catalogue Niki Simpson: Digital Diversity | Exhibition Catalogue on Issuu. I spent a lovely afternoon in the Linnean Society when her book was published - looking at the way she manages to develop her plates. - which is a complex process.

Finally - the medallists from all the different categories have a group photo - and this is the one for 2018.

The Linnean Society Medallists 2018 (24 May 2018)

0 Comments

Margaret Flockton Award 2017 - Exhibiting Illustrators and Feedback

14/5/2017

0 Comments

The botanical illustrators exhibiting at the Exhibition for the Margaret Flockton Award 2017 at the Joseph Maiden Theatre, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney are detailed below.
Below are two sections relating to:

feedback from the judges about what worked well and which areas need more attention.
The names, countries and specimens of the exhibiting artists.

The exhibition continues until Sunday 28 May 2017. It's open daily 10am - 4pm

You can read about those botanical illustrators who received the First and Second Prizes and the Highly Commendeds in my previous post Second Margaret Flockton Award win for Lucy T. Smith

You can see the highly rated illustrations and larger versions on the website (right click the images to see larger version)

Highly Commended: Echium wildpretii subsp. wildpretii by Juan Luis Castillo (Spain) - one of the first drawings made using digital media to be entered in the competition

Feedback from the Judges

Far beyond the pure technical drawing required to support botanical research, these exquisite works embody the creative and innovative potential of contemporary scientific botanical illustration.
Judges

It's always interesting to hear what Judges think about entries and one of the delights of the botanical art world is at the top level, it's not unusual to get feedback.

Key points made by the judges are summarised below

Scope and breadth of the artwork

work was submitted in a variety of media - pencil, ink wash, pen and ink, nib and ink, and (for the first time) digital media [see an excellent example above of a drawing made using digital media - drawn by Juan Luis Castillo (Spain)]
the subjects chosen were complex
the diversity in both style and media made critical comparison very challenging

Artwork which won prizes

prizewinning submissions demonstrated consistency of quality across all 5 judging criteria
these included stunning examples of scientific clarity, superb penmanship and creative flair.

Areas needing more work

Artists need to think more about the impact on rendering when a drawing is reduced for publication e.g. elements of some drawings rendered well at full-size, but were too pale upon reduction; other elements would block-in as a result of details being drawn too dark.
Information was unclear when elements overlapped and obscured important information from view;
Others lacked the all-essential ‘white-halo’ effect that separates overlapping features, creating depth and clarity.
Lack of consistency of style or scientific accuracy across the plate was penalised
The story of the plant needs to be told - and that requires a strong design. Some lacked the compositional strength to carry the eye naturally through the whole of the visual story of the plant.

Exhibiting illustrators: Margaret Flockton Award 2017

The complexity of subjects chosen and the breadth of media explored in The Margaret Flockton Award 2017 reflects the ambition and devotion of illustrators who insist on challenging themselves.
Judges

Mariko Aikawa (Japan) Aechmea recurvata var. ortgiesii (Mariko won the Best Exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2016 - see Interviews with RHS Botanical Art Gold Medallists 2016 - from Asia)
Annick Ansselin (Australia) Tasmannia lanceolata - a retired neuroscientist, with a passion for fine detail; SBA DLDC 2015
Juan Luis Castillo (Spain) Dracaena draco subsp. draco AND Juan Luis Castillo (Spain) Echium wildpretii subsp. wildpretii
Susana Ferreira (Brazil) Lavoisiera imbricata AND Macropeplus friburgensis
Lucinéia Chamorro e Silva (Brazil) Taraxacum officinale
Sergio Hernandez Bello (Spain) Himantoglossum metlesicsianum AND Kunkeliella retamoides
Molly Kamenz (Australia) Syzygium australe
Rogério Lupo (Brazil) Drosera magnifica sp.nov. AND Lychnophora mutica sp. nov.
Asisa Madian (Germany) Astrophytum ornatum
Maria Luisa Palanca (Spain) Amanita muscaria AND Plumeria rubra - previously selected to exhibit at the Hunt
Christina Selinger (Australia) Citrus australasica
Heather Simkin (Australia) Eremophila maculata
Lucy Smith (UK) Hydriastele sp. nov. “simbiakii” AND Calamus sp. nov. “pintaudii”
Klei Sousa (Brazil) Aechmea calyculata AND Annona squamosa
Alice R. Tangerini (USA) Desmodium sp. nov. AND Melicope stonei
Jolanta Urbanik (Poland) Phelipanche sevanensis
Lillian Webb (Australia) Callistemon subulatus
Esmée Winkel (Netherlands) Cleisostoma pantherina AND Monanthotaxis pynaertii
Golshan Zare (Turkey) Reseda alba AND Reseda germanicopolitana

0 Comments

The Margaret Flockton Award 2017 - call for entries

28/1/2017

0 Comments

The Margaret Flockton Award is for Excellence in Contemporary Scientific Botanical Illustration - and entries for the 2017 Award open and close very soon.

Some consider it the premier award for strict botanical illustration for reproduction in scientific journals. A lot of the people who enter are professional botanical illustrators working for or with botanical gardens all over the world.

It's also a valuable Award given that

the first prize is AUS$5,000 and
the second prize is AUS$2,000.

To participate....

Illustrators from around the world submit scientifically accurate drawings that accompany the published taxonomic description of the plant, clearly highlighting all of the distinctive features of the species. Original taxonomic illustrations are highly detailed black and white drawings primarily undertaken in pen and ink, pencil or digitally rendered.

Call for Entries: Margaret Flockton Award 2017

Entries for The Margaret Flockton Award 2017 have to be submitted between 1 Feb and 28 Feb 2017.

Works must have been produced after February 2015 - but there has been an important change for the 2017 Award.....

Changes to note: 2017 Margaret Flockton Award and Exhibition
From 2017 all illustrations and paperwork must be submitted digitally.
Original artworks and paperwork sent via the postal system will no longer be accepted.

You can

click the link above to find out more from the RBGS website
find out more on my NEW PAGE dedicated to the Margaret Flockton Award; and
see the 2016 winners online

The Award is

organised by the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney and all enquiries should be directed to them Enquiries: [email protected] | Ph: 02 9231 8111
sponsored by The Maple Brown Family and the Foundation & Friends of the Botanic Gardens

The Exhibition

Works selected for exhibition will be on display later this year in May at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.

Venue: Joseph Maiden Theatre, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney - enter via Woolloomooloo Gate on Mrs Macquaries Road
Dates: Saturday 6 May - Sunday 28 May 2017, daily 10 am - 4 pm.
Cost: Entry to the exhibition is free - selected works will be available for sale direct from the artist

Hopefully the move to digital entries will mean that we might also see the exhibition travelling to other parts of the world where entries can be printed and mounted or framed for exhibition.

I know I'd love to see the Margaret Flockton Award exhibition either at the RHS Botanical Art Show or at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery!

0 Comments