NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Selected Irish Artists for Éireannach Exhibition (Botanical Art Worldwide #7)

11/3/2018

The judges have chosen paintings of 48 native plants - indigenous to Ireland - painted by 43 artists for the upcoming Éireannach exhibition organised by the Irish Society of Botanical Artists - and part of the Botanical Art Worldwide initiative taking place in May 2018. (For more details of this initiative see the note at the end of this post)

The names of artists whose work has been selected are listed below along with the names of the plant they have illustrated in terms of:

the English common name
the Latin name
the Gaeilge Planda

The images included are scanned and cropped from the artists' paintings and are provided with their permission. Many thanks to the ISBA for their co-operation with this blog post.

In addition

the website of the artist is embedded in the name (if available)
a short profile is provided (if available online).
Botanical artists who also contributed to the 'The Heritage Irish Plants – Plandaí Oidhreachta Exhibition are indicated by an asterisk *

Exhibition details are as follows:

Venue: National Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre, National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland
Dates: May 5 @ 10:00 am - May 27 @ 5:00 pm
Admission: Free

An open day is being held on the 18th May which will feature painting demos, a ‘tour’ of the wildflower paintings by Zoe Devlin, renowned wildflower expert and the mentor for the Irish project, and a chance to meet the participating artists.

The Steering Committee for the exhibition comprise: Zoë Devlin, Yanny Petters, Jane Stark and Lynn Stringer. They have received assistance from a number of the other participating artists.

Large-flowered Butterwort, Pinguicula grandiflora, Leith uisce, by Holly Somerville

If I've made an error in any of the profiles below, I'm happy to revised and correct if notified - please contact me

Hazel Beehan

Marsh Thistle, Cirsium palustre, Feochadán corraigh

Janet Bockett *

Marsh-marigold, Caltha palustris Lus Buí Bealtaine

Developed a strong appreciation of the natural world as a child and was encouraged to paint plants. More recently and since retirement, has been inspired by the botanical art of Patricia Jorgensen and has pursued her studies with her. Contributed to the 'The Heritage Irish Plants – Plandaí Oidhreachta Exhibition.

Fionnuala Broughan *

Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna, Sceach gheal

Background in botany and geology and writing about nature. Fionnuala began drawing plants, trees in recent times.

Ann Burn

Wood Anemone, Anemone nemorosa, Lus na gaoithe

Heather Byers

Cowslip, Primula veris, Bainne bó bleachtáin

Contributed to the 'The Heritage Irish Plants – Plandaí Oidhreachta Exhibition.

Marcella Campbell

Great Willowherb, Epilobium hirsutum, Lus na Tríonóide

Michael Campbell *

Bloody Crane's-bill Geranium versicolor Crobh stríocach

BFA (1976) Southern Illinois University. Certificate and Diploma in Botanical Art from the School of Botanical Art at Denver Botanic Garden. Participated in a number of botanical exhibitions in the USA. Member of the Irish Watercolour Society and the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society

Giulia Canevari (Facebook)

Hazel Corylus avellana Coll

Born in 1986 in Milan. Diploma in Illustration and Multimedia Animation, IED Milano and subsequently worked as a graphic designer. Came to Ireland in 2012; based in Dublin and inspired by nature, environment and ecology. Studied botanical art with leading Irish botanical artists in recent years. Involved with NCAD Community Garden in Dublin 8

Grainne Carr

Elder Sambucus nigra Trom

Betty Christie *

Wild Carrot Daucus carota Mealbhacán

Graduated with First Class Honours from the Belfast College of Art and Design in 1975, followed by an Art Teachers’ Diploma in 1976. Taught art. Lived in Belfast for over 40 years, but her work is still influenced by her rural upbringing, in Limavady, Co Derry. Also a member of the Arts’ Society of Ulster, the Pastel Society of Ireland, the Water Colour Society of Ireland, the Dublin Painting and Sketching Club. Exhibited extensively and internationally and won many awards for her art.

Janet Colgan *

Creeping Jenny Lysimachia nummularia Lus an dá phingin
Navelwort Umbilicus rupestris Cornán caisil

Jo Cummins (Facebook)

Shepherd's Purse Capsella bursa-pastoris Lus an sparáin

Diane Davison

Ash Fraxinus excelsior Fuinseog

Sally de Bromhead

Red Clover Trifolium pratense Seamair dhearg

Marie de Lacy Clancy

Crab Apple Malus sylvestris Crann fia-úll

Mary Dillon *

Honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum Féithleann

Diploma with Distinction, Society of Botanical Artists, 2014. Founding Chairperson of the Irish Society of Botanical Artists 2014. Elected member of the Watercolour Society of Ireland. Elected Associate Member of the Society of Botanical Artists, UK. Has exhibited her botanical art internationally, most recently in San Francisco, Madrid, Frankfurt and London. Teaches botanical art. Awarded Gold Medal and Best in Show in Botanical and Floral Art at Bloom, Dublin, 2016, and a Gold at Bloom, 2017.

Shevaun Doherty * (Facebook)

Common Knapweed Centaurea nigra Mínscoth

Diploma with Distinction, Society of Botanical Artists 2012. Works as a Botanical Artist, Natural History Illustrator and Art Tutor. Founder member of ‘The Irish Society of Botanical Artists. Also a full member of the Society of Botanical Artists and the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators. Has exhibited her botanical art in Ireland UK, Egypt and at the Botanic Gardens in Frankfurt and Madrid. Taught internationally including a workshop at the American Society of Botanical Artists National Conference. Designed the cover image and logo for The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. Won Gold Medals for her botanical artwork on vellum in the Botanical category at Bloom Botanical Art in Dublin (2014, 2015, 2016). Won Gold Medal and Best Painting in Show (Botanical category) at Bloom 2017.

Noeleen Frain *

Ragged Robin Silene flos-cuculi Lus síoda
Pyramidal Orchid Anacamptis pyramidalis Magairlín na stuaice

An Irish artist and Calligrapher based in Dublin covering a wide variety of subject matter.

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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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NEW Website for Botanical Art Worldwide Exhibition

21/3/2017

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The Botanical Art Worldwide Exhibition has a brand new and fabulous website at https://www.botanicalartworldwide.info.

One of the great things about it are the wonderful images used on some of the pages which highlight the diversity of plant life on earth and in the different participating countries.

The website includes an ABOUT page highlighting the goals of the project, the participating countries and how the project is organised. I see somebody agreed with me that 'a global view' was the appropriate image for the top of the page! (see my page on the Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art 2018 in the Exhibition section - which has a summary on one page). I like the little leaf icons to indicate which countries are participating.

It also has sections devoted to Events and News. (The latter needs a method for subscribing to news - but I'm sure that will arrive as news begins to get posted)

The Countries section highlights all the participating countries, plus links to where more information can be found about that country's exhibition (calls for entries; dates and venue of the exhibition etc.). Some countries have created independent websites for the exhibition which are seperate from the relevant organisation for that country.

The names of their exhibitions which, to date, are as follows (link to the page embedded below in the name of the exhibition).

This is not the order on the website - but 'Botanical Art and Artists' does everything by continent so I'm reordering the list in this blog post into continents!

Africa

Southern Africa (for artists living in any southern African nation) - Native Plants of Southern Africa

Australasia

Australia - Flora of Australia
New Zealand - Ngāi Tipu Taketake – Indigenous Flora

Asia

Japan - Native Plants of Japan
South Korea - Native Plants of South Korea
Thailand - Thailand Edition - Linking People with Plants through Botanical Art

Americas - North and Central

Bermuda - Native Plants of Bermuda
Canada - Art of the Plant, Native Plants of Canada website: http://artoftheplant.com
Costa Rica - Native Plants of Costa Rica
United States - America's Flora

Europe

France - Native Plants of France
Germany and Austria - Flora's New Masters
Ireland - Native Plants of Ireland
Italy - A Blossoming Heritage - Portraits of Italian Flora
Netherlands - Native Plants of the Netherlands
Russia - no information to date
Scotland - Flora Scotia - organised by (new) The Scottish Botanical Art Collective
United Kingdom - In Ruskin's Footsteps - organised by (new) Association of British Artists

I'm just hoping that South America gets involved at some point soon.

Note: For those wondering..... The website is using SquareSpace (I know one when I see one!). This has been a top web-ware solution for some years for those needing well designed and high performing websites with templates well suited to art websites. I've been wondering what would be chosen for this global initiative and I'm really pleased with the choice - it's one of my favourites. I have every confidence it will cope well as the exhibition expands and the associated website needs to expand and needs galleries / videos etc. The virtual exhibition will look brilliant!

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Call for UK Entries for the Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art 2018

15/2/2017

The NEW Association of `British Botanical Artists (ABBA) today announced its Call for Entries for the UK contribution to the Worldwide Botanical Art Exhibition in 2018.

details can be found on their website (http://abba2018.wordpress.com)
a summary of the key facts can be found below.

ABBA also has a NEW Association of British Botanical Artists - ABBA Facebook Page

In brief:

the organisation is independent of all other botanical art societies, florilegium societies, botanical art groups - of which there are many - in the UK. Like Scotland, the organisational model is one which stands seperate from existing organisations for the purposes of the exhibition - but invites all botanical artists in the UK to participate. (Except those in Scotland - as they have created their own arrangements - see Flora Scotia (May 2018) - Call for Entries)
The scope of the UK exhibition is botanical artwork of plants native to the UK ONLY. The new website has an excellent page of information about native plants. See also the Online Atlas of British and Irish Flora
a juried exhibition of botanical drawings and paintings of native plants will be held at the Ruskin Library, Lancaster University for two weeks in May 2018. This venue commemorates the contribution of John Ruskin who was himself a great draughtsman when it came to drawing plants

In Ruskin's footsteps - "Linking people to plants through botanical art"

The exhibition is OPEN to:

everyone resident for the majority of the year (more than 6 months) in the UK,
those who live in a country that is not participating.

(Note: Those countries that have published Call for Entries OR otherwise notified their intention to participate can be found on my new Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art Page)

Eligibility: Artists can enter one country’s exhibition, and that is the country of the artist’s primary residence. If an artist’s country of residence is not holding a worldwide exhibition, and the artist has some connection with the UK, the UK can invite the artist to submit an entry to the British exhibition.

The Call for Entries provides all the details that artists need to know at this stage.
Here's the basics of what's required

Two-dimensional botanical art only. No photography or digitally generated work
Professional digital images 300dpi x 8” high, Tiff or jpg, taken without mount, frame and glass required for the digital sunmission
Fee of £20 per entry - allowing up to a maximum of three entries.

All entries will be juried by a prestigious team of professional artists, scientists and curators (to be announced at a later date). The paintings will be assessed according to:

scientific accuracy,
aesthetic quality and
artistic proficiency.

In terms of dates there is no time to lose! If interested please note the following dates for the two stage application/submission process

Intention to submit: deadline 4th August 2017.
Submit artwork: deadline for receipt (digital) - Electronically by 27 November 2017 (Submission opens on 1 October)

For further information you can meet with representatives of ABBA at the RHS London Botanical Art Show on the 24th and 25th February.

I'm just really pleased to see this exhibition get off the ground. I was involved in getting it started in the Autumn and wrote a very long brief for what needed to be done - which was an awful lot!

Many congratulations are due to all those involved in making the exhibition real and finding a venue (which is really not easy in May!) I know for a fact that there must have been an awful lot of work involved to get this far.

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