NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Banks 2020: Jan Hendrix at Shirley Sherwood Gallery Kew

3/10/2019

2020 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Sir Joseph Banks on 19 June 1820. A number of events are planned to commemorate his contribution to science. One of these is an exhibition at Kew Gardens which will combine art with science.

Artwork by Jan Hendrix is based on the plants collected by Joseph Banks in Australia. This will feature in the major exhibition in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens between April and September 2020.

Sir Joseph Banks, Bt (1771-1773) by Sir Joshua Reynolds oil on canvas, 50 in. x 40 in. (1270 mm x 1015 mm) overall (Collection of the National Portrait Gallery)

About the 'Paradise Lost' Exhibition

Title: Paradise Lost
Venue: Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew Gardens
Dates: April – 20 September 2020
Admission: Free with admission to the gardens

The Paradise Lost exhibition will feature artwork based on the collection of cuttings made by Joseph Banks while travelling around the around the world with Captain James Cook on the voyage of exploration of HMS Endeavour(1768–71) via Brazil, Tahiti, and 6 months in New Zealand and Australia

At the time, James Banks was a relatively unknown figures in British science. However his activities on Captain Cook's first expedition - taking cuttings from more than 1,000 species of plant that were previously unknown to Europe - served as a launchpad for his subsequent career as a world-renowned botanist. Later in his life he became

Kew’s first unofficial director. Under his oversight Kew Gardens began to flourish as a centre of botanical research.
the president of the Royal Society (1778–1820). He sought to improve the position of science in Britain and cultivated interchange with scientists of other nations
a night of the realm - the order of Knight Commander of the Bath was bestowed upon him in 1795

The 124 plant specimens collected and preserved in 1770 by Banks and his colleagues at the Endeavour River in Queensland, and Botany Bay in Sydney, Australia, form the foundation of Hendrix’s exhibition at Kew. Carefully pressed at the time in a copy of the poet John Milton’s Paradise Lost, these collections are now held in the Natural History Museum, London.

Map of Botany Bay

Botany Bay was named by Captain Cook in honour of Banks and fellow botanist and crew member, Daniel Solander. However, since Australia’s colonisation, Botany Bay has been transformed by development and is now part of the southern part of the city of Sydney - with Sydney airport jutting out into the Bay.

Map of the Endeavour River

The Paradise Lost exhibition will recall the memory of the area as it was documented by Banks 250 years ago and its subsequent changes.

Following this theme, Hendrix will focus on these changing landscapes in Paradise Lost, the first being the landscape that Cook and Banks encountered when they arrived.

The second is the landscape transformed by man’s intervention.

The exhibition has been conceived of two elements engaged in a dialogue

the first is some related historical material from Banks’ expedition, and
the second is the contemporary pieces created by Hendrix, including exquisite enamel plates and contemporary drawings based on Banks’ herbarium sheets.

The centrepiece of the gallery will be a ‘folly’, the Mirror Palace Pavilion, the form of which is inspired by two plant species named after Banks and Daniel Solander, Banksia serrata and Banksia solandri

Jan Hendrix's current exhibition, Tierra Firme, at the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City. Credit Oliver Santana

Jan Hendrix's current exhibition, Tierra Firme, at the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City. Credit Jaime Navarro

The exhibition will also feature

a series of floating wall mounted bronzes representing seed and fern forms,
silk screens on silver leaf,
a series of glass pieces and
a moving image work created by Jan Hendrix in collaboration with filmmaker Michael Leggett specifically for the show at Kew.

A book to accompany the exhibition will also be published by Kew Publishing.

“We cannot think of anyone better to highlight Joseph Banks’ contribution to botanical science through the prism of contemporary art than Jan Hendrix. Jan’s long-standing interest in the life and work of Banks coupled with his passion for plants and nature lays the foundation for what promises to be a ground-breaking exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery. The exhibition will offer an opportunity to bring to the attention of arts audiences the impact that we have as human beings on the planet, by using the example of Botany Bay and how it was irrevocably changed after 1770. We hope that our visitors will find it a thought provoking yet beautiful experience."
Maria Devaney, Galleries and Exhibitions Leader, RBG Kew

Note: None of the artwork featured above will be in the exhibition.

About Jan Hendrix

0 Comments

Ask an Expert - the next 3 Botanical Art Surgeries at Kew Gardens

11/7/2019

0 Comments

The dates of the next "Ask an Expert - Botanical Art Surgeries" with botanical illustrators who work with the botanists at Kew Gardens (and other clients) in the Art Galleries at Kew are as follows:

Venue: Marianne North Gallery

Venue: Shirley Sherwood Gallery

19th January 2020 - Lucy Smith and Hazel Wilks (link to the website for more info will be available nearer the date)

The botanical art surgeries are FREE with admission to Kew Gardens.
Each workshop will last from 11am to 3pm.

About Christobel King

Christobel King - pictured with some of her artwork at the "Brazil - A Powerhouse of Plants" exhibition at Kew in 2016

Christabel King graduated in botany and then studied scientific illustration, before she began working as a botanical illustrator with the botanists at Kew Gardens and became one of the world’s top botanical illustrators. She started producing plates for Kew's Curtis's Botanical Magazine in 1975 and has now spent over 40 years working at Kew (although I gather this is part-time these days as she has now officially retired!)

In 1989 she was awarded the Jill Smythies Award for excellence in botanical illustration by the Linnean Society. She also has the RHS Grenfell Gold Medal,

Christabel is the author of The Kew Book of Botanical Illustration - the first art instruction book by the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew - which also shares some of her wealth of experience, expertise and tips.

You can read an interview with her In the Studio: Christabel King about her techniques and art materials -

About Rachel Pedder Smith

Home Page graphic for Rache Pedder Smith's website

0 Comments

Talk about Marianne North at Kew Gardens

18/6/2019

0 Comments

There is a talk - an Introduction to Marianne North - in the Marianne North Gallery in Kew Gardens this coming Saturday 22nd June - starting at 1pm.

Learn more about the the nineteenth century traveller and painter of plants Marianne North - her background, explorations and her paintings of plants which she created on her travels around the world - from Philip Kerrigan from the University of York.

Philip Kerrigan has a PhD from the Research Centre for Social Sciences at the University of York, and has undertaken research into how Marianne North’s paintings reflect the ideas of Charles Darwin and other scientific views of the late 19th century. He researched and wrote the article Marianne North: Painting a Darwinian Vision

View of the interior of the Marianne North Gallery where the talk will take place

If anyone wants to book a place please

EITHER email shirleysherwoodgallery@kew.org
OR ring 0208 332 3622.

A ticket for the event is included with the price of admission to Kew Gardens..

If you can't make it to the incredible Marianne North Gallery (once seen, never ever forgotten!), and want to know more about her, why not take a look at my web page about her About Marianne North (1830-1890).

However I shall be trying to get to the talk this Saturday!

The exterior of the Marianne North Gallery - next to the Shirley Sherwood Gallery

0 Comments

Kew Video: What is Botanical Art?

25/4/2019

1 Comment

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew have published a new video about 'What is Botanical Art'.

Botanical art plays an important role in Kew’s scientific work. Find out how Kew’s botanical artists reconstruct specimens, and how their drawings help our botanists study plants.

It features somebody I know well - Lucy T. Smith - who is one of the botanical illustrators who work at Kew. She produces assignments for the botanists and for publication in Curtis Botanical Magazine and other botanical publications - as well as teaching students of botanical illustration.

Also involved is Dr Maria Vorontsova FLS who explains why botanical illustration is still superior to photography in terms of recording what's important and helping scientists differentiate between plants - and why she finds Lucy's illustrations of her plants so valuable.

Botanical illustrations aren't just art. They communicate precisely what's needed for the taxonomic science.
Maria Vorontsova, Research Leader

Lucy T Smith working on a botanical illustration at Kew

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for those needing a two minute introduction to precisely why botanical illustration is needed and how it is produced.

1 Comment

A retrospective perspective on recent exhibitions at Kew

17/3/2019

0 Comments

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

0 Comments

Ask an expert: botanical art surgery - with Deborah Lambkin

11/2/2019

0 Comments

Don't forget - next Sunday is the third and final botanical art surgery with an expert in botanical illustration at Kew Gardens.

Expert: Deborah Lambkin
Venue: Main Gallery of the Shirley Sherwood Art Gallery, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
Date: Sunday 17th February 2019
Time: 11am - 3pm

It's a great way of being able to ask questions about your own work and also about life as a professional botanical illustrator.

About Deborah Lambkin

Come and see me paint in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery @kewgardens on 17 Feb. I will be there to answer questions and to chat about my favourite subject- botanical illustration! #botanicalillustration #botanicaldrawing #art pic.twitter.com/3bZfzQD48j
— Deborah Lambkin (@DeborahLambkin) February 7, 2019

Some facts about Deborah Lambkin:

born in Ireland but now lives in London
trained at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin
official orchid artist for the RHS Orchid Committee since 2005 - and has painted over 200 different orchids
an artist member of the RHS Picture Panel which judges exhibits at the RHS Botanical Art Shows
One of only two Irish artists (to date) to win a gold medal at the RHS exhibition, the other being Wendy F. Walsh. She won an RHS Gold Medal for her collection of eight paintings of nerines in 1999.
Contributes paintings to Curtis's Botanical Magazine regularly.
This is an article she wrote about Dealing with plant specimens – Deborah Lambkin

Social Media Accounts

0 Comments

Lucy Smith filmed by BBC News

22/12/2018

0 Comments

Botanical Illustrator Lucy Smith was telling me earlier in the week about how exciting it was to be filmed creating one of her botanical illustrations for the Kew Herbarium Archive by a BBC News crew who came to Kew Gardens. (This is part of a wider filming project by the BBC at Kew)>

Her item was due to run on yesterday's news.

...and so:

the good news - the title given to the piece is The woman who draws the world's plants
the good news - you can still see the video on the BBC website - just click the blue link above. In it she describes how she draws a NEW species and what she has to do to dry botanical material in order to see its features properly - and how long it takes her to produce an illustration
the bad news - the piece about her got bumped by a drone! BBC News needed extra time for the impact caused by the awful men who closed down Gatwick by flying drones with a view to causing maximum disruption!

RECOMMENDED VIEWING: Do take a look at the video - it's only short but packed full of information!

There's also an article about Lucy Smith on the Kew Gardens website
RECOMMENDED READ: Meet award-winning botanical illustrator Lucy Smith & discover her line drawings

You can also read more about Lucy and what she does on:

her website http://www.lucytsmith.com
her Facebook Page - Lucy T Smith Botanical Artist
her Twitter account - Lucy Smith at https://twitter.com/palmsmithy

Blog posts are emailed to you when you
Subscribe to Botanical Art & Artists - News by Email
Emails are only sent to you after you have activated the link you will receive.

0 Comments

<<Previous