NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Call for Entries - Margaret Flockton Award 2020

19/2/2020

Entries are now being accepted for the Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Illustration 2020.

Illustrators from around the world are asked to submit:

original scientifically accurate taxonomic illustrations completed since March 2018
These are highly detailed monochrome (black and white) drawings primarily undertaken in pen and ink, pencil or rendered using digital software.
They must clearly highlight all of the distinctive features of the species - as highlighted in the published taxonomic description of the plant .

All submissions must be in a digital format.
The deadline for digital online entry is Monday 2nd March 2020 (EST)

You can read more about it on:

the Margaret Flockton Award page on the RBGS website
the page about The Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Illustration on this website - where I break out and summarise all the important things you need to know if you want to enter - on one page

Crop of one small part (less than 25%) of the scientific botanical illustration which won first prize in 2019

The Margaret Flockton Award is unique amongst international art awards. This is because it

focuses exclusively on contemporary scientific botanical illustration (as distinct from botanical art) - which must be monochrome and 2D
commemorates the contribution Margaret Flockton made to Australian scientific botanical illustration.

The award is sponsored by The Maple Brown Family and the Foundation & Friends of the Botanic Gardens.
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Margaret Flockton Award Prizes 2020
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Most taxonomic botanical illustrators enter this award competition because of the credibility "awarded" to those selected for the exhibition. This is, of course, enhanced for all those who win the award or come second or get a "highly commended"

However the cash award for this international botanical illustration competition are significant.

First prize: AU$5,000;
Second prize: AU$2,000;
3 x Highly Commended.

In addition this Award brings additional benefits. First it is low cost

entry is free and
there are no costs involved in submitting your illustrations because it is all digital!

Plus you can also sell a print of your illustration direct to interested parties with no commission deducted. Those selected for the exhibition can sell prints of their work direct from their websites or email addresses to the public and collectors (meaning no commission is deducted by RBGS).

Overall it's a "win win" award for all concerned!

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Margaret Flockton Award 2020 - Exhibitions
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The exhibition will be held in the three different gardens which make up the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.

Royal Botanic Garden Sydney - Joseph Maiden Theatre (Saturday 9 May - Sunday 24 May 2020, daily 10am - 4pm) enter via Woolloomooloo Gate on Mrs Macquaries Road
The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan - The Australian PlantBank (Tuesday 2 June - Friday 31 July 2020, weekdays 10am - 4pm)
The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah - Visitor Centre (Tuesday 3 November - Sunday 13 December 2020, daily 10am - 4pm)

I'll be doing further blog posts about the artists selected for the exhibition and the prizewinners.

You can follow the two botanical illustrators who administer this Award on their Instagram Page https://www.instagram.com/rbg_illustration/

View this post on Instagram

Last stop for the 2019 Margaret Flockton Award Exhibition @bluemountainsbotanicgarden, Mount Tomah. 9 August to 15 September. Enjoying the view whilst bumping in, but not the tangled nylon cords!! #scientificillustration #bluemountainsbotanicgarden #margaretflocktonaward #botanicalillustrationpenandink #botanicalillustration

A post shared by Catherine W & Lesley E (@rbg_illustration) on Aug 7, 2019 at 9:03pm PDT

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Margaret Flockton Award 2019 - Exhibiting illustrators and list of selected works

1/4/2019

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35 contemporary scientific botanical illustrations by 23 illustrators from 16 countries were selected for the annual exhibition of the Margaret Flockton Award 2019 in Sydney Australia - and are listed below.

These were selected from 44 works submitted by 26 illustrators from a record number of 17 countries. Those selected included illustrations and illustrators from four new countries - Argentina, Canada, Colombia and Singapore. The majority of the works continue to be traditionally rendered in pen and ink but now also include illustrations which are rendered digitally.

BELOW are the

names of the exhibiting scientific botanical illustrators - organised alphabetically by country
a list of the titles of the botanical illustrations submitted and selected.
a summary of what differentiates quality in scientific botanical illustration i.e. the reasons why works won prizes or were not selected for exhibition

Links in the names are to the websites or sites about the illustrator. See my previous post Edmundo Saveedra wins Margaret Flockton Award for the third time for more about the botanical illustrators who received prizes or were highly commended.

Links in the works are to the images of those works which won prizes or were highly commended.

Images of the first and second prizewinners 2019

This year, 26 artists from 17 countries submitted 44 works.
A selection of 35 illustrations are exhibited here.
- 5 works are entirely or partially digitally rendered;
- graphite elements are on 10 of the plates;
- the remaining 29 illustrations are in the traditional form of ink on paper or board.

You can now see ALL of the scientific botanical illustrations SUBMITTED for the Margaret Flockton Award Exhibition 2019 on Flickr.

Note the album contains ALL submissions - not just those selected for the exhibition.
If you review the illustrations before you look at the list below - see if you can detect what media was used for an illustration and which were selected for the exhibition.

I highly recommend that all those thinking about applying next year review the images of scientific botanical illustrations in terms of the standards achieved - and the criteria used to assess each plate (see end for more about those criteria).

List of exhibiting illustrators and selected works

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Edmundo Saveedra wins Margaret Flockton Award for the third time

30/3/2019

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Edmundo Saveedra has won the $5,000 First Prize in the Margaret Flockton Award 2019 for scientific botanical illusration. He previously also won in 2011 and 2014.

Those works selected for the Margaret Flockton Award 2019 which have won prizes or been highly commended are listed below. Both the illustrations which won First and Second Prize were completed in pen and ink. Details of how to see the exhibition in Australia are also provided below.

My congratulations to all those selected as well as all those winning prizes and commendations.

Margaret Flockton Award 2019
for Scientific Botanical Illustration
Prizewinners

The Margaret Flockton Award is specifically about scientific botanical illustration. Entries are typically:

submitted by professional botanical illustrators
related to plates produced for the record and for scientific botanical publications.

Scientific botanical illustrators from around the world are invited by the curators of the exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney to:

digitally submit scientifically accurate taxonomic illustrations
i.e. highly detailed black and white drawings primarily undertaken in pen and ink, pencil or digitally rendered.
that accompany a published taxonomic description of the plant,
with the drawing clearly highlighting all of the distinctive features of the species.

The Criteria used to judge the Award are listed below:

Accurate interpretation and portrayal of the plant characters and diagnostic features highlighted in the botanical description
Technical merit
Artistic merit
Composition
Reproducibility

See A Guide to Scientific Illustration for more information on judging criteria.

The judges for the 2019 Award were

Gwen Harden - Editor, Flora of NSW Vol 1-4 and RBG&CP Honorary Associate;
Russell Barrett - RBG&CP Botanis; and
Catherine Wardrop - RBG&CP Botanical Illustrator and Margaret Flockton Award Curator.

1st Prize ($5,000 AUS)

Edmundo Saavedra, Mexico has been awarded the $5000 1st Prize his pen and ink illustration of Monstera deliciosa. He has previously won:

2018 - Second Prize
2015 - First Prize
2014 - Second Prize
2011 - First Prize

You can see the complete illustration on the website of the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney (and those of others mentioned below)

Edmundo Saavedra is a professional botanical illustrator who is member of the technical staff at the Instituto de Ecología AC de México.

Crop of Monstera deliciosa which won 1st Prize ($5000) for Edmundo Saavedra of Mexico.

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Call for Entries - Margaret Flockton Award 2019

25/11/2018

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The Call for Entries for the 2019 Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Illustration has been published by The Margaret Flockton Award Committee

The deadline for digital online entry is 29 January 2019.

Images from Margaret Flockton Award prizewinners and highly commended 2016-2018 - on Flickr

The Margaret Flockton Award

The Margaret Flockton Award is a prestigious international award for contemporary scientific botanical illustration which

celebrates the best scientific botanical illustration completed by botanical illustrators from around the world today
commemorates the contribution Margaret Flockton (1861-1953) made to Australian scientific botanical illustration.

In particular , the Award focuses on:

both traditional and digital techniques that best illustrate the botanical world
a range of plants from new or renamed species, to rare, vulnerable or endangered plants, as well as common native or exotic subjects.

The Award is run by Catherine Wardrop and Lesley Elkan, the botanical illustrators at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, Australia where Margaret Flockton worked in the Herbarium - on behalf of the Margaret Flockton Award Committee.

The Prizes are as follows

First prize: AU$5000;
second prize: AU$2000;
3 x Highly Commended.

However the best prize is probably the career development benefit of being identified as one of the best scientific botanical illustrators in the world.

This is an OPEN COMPETITION and the Award always welcomes new and talented illustrators. Those interested should first review the entries in the exhibition in 2018 - as exhibited on Flickr

How to enter

You can read about how to enter on:

The RBGS website - see The Margaret Flockton Award Register for updates with the enquiries email on this page.
This website - see The Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Illustration

You can send in an entry between Mon 14 January and Tues 29 January 2019. Note this is earlier than last year when the submission was in February.

Key points to note are:

All entries must be submitted digitally.

All original illustrations must be scanned or photographed at high resolution and then submitted via approved large-file transfer sites.
No original artworks will require sending or receiving.
Digital submission - forms
Digital submission - artwork
Permissions

Fully digitally rendered, printable illustrations are now eligible for entry.

but NOT animated or 3D works

Entries must comply with a range of technical requirements

these are explained in full on the website in addition to A Guide to Scientific Illustration

No artworks will be offered for sale by RBGS

BUT direct email or website details will be made available, with the consent of the artist for sales to be arranged direct with the relevant artist.

Assessment

Judging: Entries will be assessed in accordance with the following criteria:

accurate interpretation and portrayal of plant characters and diagnostic features;
technical merit;
reproducibility;
composition;
artistic merit.

See A Guide to Scientific Illustration on the RBGS page for more information on judging criteria.

Further Information

Exhibition

The botanical illustrations in the Exhibition can be seen at three different locations.

Works for sale - selected works will be available for sale direct from the artist
The exhibition details for the three locations are as follows:

VENUE 1:

Venue: Joseph Maiden Theatre, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney - enter via Woolloomooloo Gate on Mrs Macquaries Road
Dates: Sat 30 March – Sun 14 April 2019 daily 10 am - 4 pm.
Cost: Entry to the exhibition is free

VENUE 2:

Venue: The Australian PlantBank at The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan
Dates: Saturday 8 June – Sunday 28 July 2019, Mon – Fri 10 am – 4 pm and selected weekends

VENUE 3:

Venue: Visitor Centre at The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah
Dates: Friday 9 August – Sunday 15 September 2019, daily 9.30 am – 4.30 pm

More Information:

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Nataneal Nascimento wins Margaret Flockton Award 2018

24/4/2018

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Brazilian scientific illustrator Natanael Nascimento has won the Margaret Flockton Award 2018.

This Award and Exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney is very prestigious and attracts submissions from scientific botanical illustrators from all over the world - as demonstrated by the prizewinners below.

Margaret Flockton Award 2018
for Scientific Botanical Illustration

This is very much an award for the professional botanical illustrator since it is very much focused on the plates produced for the record and for scientific botanical publications.

What happens is that illustrators from around the world

digitally submit scientifically accurate taxonomic illustrations
i.e. highly detailed black and white drawings primarily undertaken in pen and ink, pencil or digitally rendered.
that accompany a published taxonomic description of the plant,
with the drawing clearly highlighting all of the distinctive features of the species.

The Criteria used to judge the Award are listed below:

Accurate interpretation and portrayal of the plant characters and diagnostic features highlighted in the botanical description
Technical merit
Artistic merit
Composition
Reproducibility

See A Guide to Scientific Illustration for more information on judging criteria.

First Prize $5,000 (AUS)

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Exhibit Gallery for Margaret Flockton Award 2017

11/6/2017

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I'm extremely pleased to see that there is now a Margaret Flockton Award 2017 Gallery on the website of the Royal Botanical Garden Sydney.

For the very first time we can now see all the exhibits by all the international artists online. The new on-line gallery includes

all Margaret Flockton Award 2017 artworks by all the international botanical illustrators
PLUS sales and artists’ details. This should help enormously in highlighting those who produce the very best in botanical illustration.

This will have happened in part because this year all submissions for the award had to be digital - and indeed some of the entries were also drawn digitally!

I've previously highlighted the award winners - see below for details.

Just some of the entries you can see in the Margaret Flockton Gallery 2017

More Information

The Margaret Flockton Award commemorates the contribution that Margaret Flockton made to Australian scientific botanical illustration.

You can find out more about the Margaret Flockton Award from the following sites and blog posts:

Royal Botanic Garden Sydney

Margaret Flockton - a page devoted to the woman who prompted this award
The Margaret Flockton Award 2017 - about this year's competition. It also includes a list of previous winners (2015-2017) and entry requirements for anybody who aspires to enter in future.

Botanical Art and Artists

The Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Scientific Botanical Illustration - a webpage dedicated to the award. (You can find it in the section about exhibitions in Australia and New Zealand)

These are past posts on Botanical Art and Artists News about the award:

Second Margaret Flockton Award win for Lucy T. Smith (May 2017)
Margaret Flockton Award 2017 - Exhibiting Illustrators and Feedback (May 2017)
The Margaret Flockton Award 2017 - call for entries (Jan 2017)
Pauline Dewar wins Margaret Flockton Award 2016 (April 2016)

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Second Margaret Flockton Award win for Lucy T. Smith

11/5/2017

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Australian botanical illustrator Lucy T. Smith GM, who now lives in England, recently notched up her second Margaret Flockton Award for Scientific Botanical Illustration by winning the First Prize in the 2017 Award

Details of the prizes and who was awarded what are below
a second post tomorrow will be about all the botanical illustrators whose work was selected for exhibition.

This Award and Exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney attracts submissions from scientific botanical illustrators from all over the world - as demonstrated by the prizewinners below.

It's very much focused on the plates produced for the record and for scientific botanical publications.

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.

This year was the first time that:

submission was entirely online - meaning original artwork did not need to be submitted
digital illustrations were accepted for the first time

Catherine Wardrop, a previous First Prizewinner and one of the judges, was interviewed for an article Botanical illustrations flourish in the digital age about digital botanical illustration in the Australian Geographic Magazine. I'm sure anybody contemplating an entry in future years will find it most interesting.

You can find out more about the Award by reading my Margaret Flockton Award page on this website or by clicking the link at the top of the page

Margaret Flockton Award 2017
for Scientific Botanical Illustration

The judges for the 2017 Margaret Flockton Award were:

Mike Ellott, Art Director, Australian Geographic;
Dr Matthew Renner, Royal Botanic Gardens’ Botanist; and
Catherine Wardrop, Botanical Illustrator and Margaret Flockton Award Curator.

The Criteria used to judge the Award are as follows:

Accurate interpretation and portrayal of the plant characters and diagnostic features highlighted in the botanical description
Technical merit
Artistic merit
Composition
Reproducibility

First Prize $5,000 (AUS)

Calamus pintaudii by Lucy Smith Pen and ink on bristol board 19.5 x 27 cm 2015

The First Prize went to Calamus pintaudii drawn by Lucy T. Smith. This is a new species of rattan from New Guinea, first published in April 2017. It was named in honour of the late palm botanist Jean-Christophe Pintaud (1970 - 2015)

Lucy Smith draws in Pen and ink on Bristol board. She has won many awards for her scientific illustration of botanical subjects - with palms being her speciality.

In 2004, she received the Jill Smythies Award for Botanical Illustration from the Linnean Society of London.
She has been awarded two Gold Medals by the Royal Horticultural Society - (Palms of New Guinea 2001)

In relation to the Margaret Flockton Award, at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, she has received a number of awards since first entering in 2005.

2014 - she won First Prize for Nepenthes petiolata
2013 - she won Second Prize for her pen and ink illustration of a rare Madagascan grass, Lecomtella madagascariensis
2012 - she was Highly Commended for Elaeocarpus macrocerus
2011 - she won Second Prize for Nymphaea thermarum - the world's smallest waterlily
2005 - she won Second Prize with Calamus sp. nov. 'jacobsii and Highly Commended (twice) with Borassus akeassii and Dioscorea sp. nov. "kituiensis"

Lucy works with the team of botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. You can read more about her work in this blog post published last year on the Kew website.

She is also one of the principal tutors for the Kew Certificate in Botanical Illustration run by the new Kew School of Botanical Illustration. Plus she provides guest tuition in scientific botanical illustration for other courses from time to time and she regularly gives talks and workshops to botanical art groups.

You can find Lucy online:

website: http://www.lucytsmith.com - You can commission Lucy to produce illustrations or drawings.
Facebook Page: Lucy T Smith, Botanical Artist
Twitter: @palmsmithy

Second Prize $2,000 (AUS)

Monanthotaxis pynaertii Esmee Winkel (copyright: Naturalis Biodiversity Center)

Second Prize was awarded to Monanthotaxis pynaertii by Esmée Winkel. This is a pen and ink illustration created for the PhD thesis of Paul Hoekstra.

Esmée works as a Scientific Illustrator and Botanical Artist for Naturalis Biodiversity Center, the Dutch Academic research institute and Natural History Museum. She draws plants at the Hortus Botanicus Leiden

She grew up in the Caribbean and moved to the Netherlands to study for a BSc degree in Biology at Leiden University. Her training in botanical illustration at the Nationaal Herbarium Nederland of Leiden University began after graduation. She became a member of the permanent staff there in 2008. Since then she has also graduated in Master Scientific Illustration (MSI) focussing mainly on (bio)medical illustrations.

Esmée draws using pen and ink, watercolour, pencil and/or digital drawing programs.

You can find her advice about drawing in pen and ink in the Pen and Ink Tips and Techniques section in the Education section of this website.

You can find Esmée online:
Website: www.esmeewinkel.nl
Workshops: esmeewinkel.nl/link.html

Highly Commended

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