NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

EXHIBITION: Chelsea Physic Garden - A Year in the Life

26/8/2021

At the start of 2020, Chelsea Physic Garden invited selected artists of the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS) and Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE) to immerse themselves in the garden and then respond to the surroundings by recording a year in the life of this very important garden.

The resulting artworks would then be exhibited at Bankside Gallery - on the South Bank in central London.

Over the course of the last 18 months, the artists have researched, visited (when possible) and recorded the Garden throughout changing seasons and varying restrictions, documenting perhaps one of the most extraordinary years of the Garden’s life. The result is a compelling and vibrant display of creativity and a wonderful example of what can be achieved in the face of adversity. The exhibition is truly refreshing and uplifting; a reminder of the joys and healing powers of both art and nature

I've only just found out about this - and the exhibition is now on and finishes on 30th August - so not long to see it!

You can also see all the artworks online if you're unable to visit the Gallery.

Click an image to see more details and
then click the image again to see a larger version.

These are not botanical artworks (in the conventional sense) - but they are paintings (in various media) and fine art prints which relate to the plants and features of the Chelsea Physic Garden.

Some of those which I think will appeal to botanical artists and fans of the garden include those by:

PLANTS:

Emiko Aida RE - her etchings of white flowers on a very vivid orange background both echo conventional botanic art and provide a counterpoint to ideas of how flowers should be portayed
Mychael Barratt PPRE, RWS - who's produced a wonderful annotated map of the Garden as a hand coloured silkscreen/etching. He's an artist I would collect if I had more wall space!
Meg Dutton RE RBA has drawn several ink and watercolour artworks of the profusion of plants in the glasshouses. Some of you may be familiar with similar drawings she did of the plants in the glasshouses at Kew Gardens.

Part of the Glasshouse (ink and watercolour) by Meg Dutton RE

GARDEN:

Liz Butler RWS - several small paintings in her inimitable style demonstrating an expert watercolourist's grasp of the full tonal range
Claire Denny ARWS - five paintings in watercolour and acrylic ink of various very familiar views of the Chelsea Physic Garden
Wendy Jacob RWS - views of the garden and accurate but stylised portrayals of plants, bushes and trees
Annie Williams RWS - Annie normally paints very carefully constructed and beautiful still lifes so it's fascinating to see how she approaches painting a garden.

Watercolour paintings of Chelsea Physic Garden by Liz Butler

REFERENCE:

Bankside Gallery: 48 Hopton Street, London SE1 9JH (next to Tate Modern)
Exhibition Dates: 12-30th August 2021
Hours: 11am - 6pm
Admission: Free
Enquiries about acquiring an artwork can be made online.

Having now inspected the websites of the RWS, RE and the Chelsea Physic Garden I'm not surprised I didn't see it as it only gets a page on the Bankside Gallery website!

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NEW: The Shirley Sherwood Collection has a website!

27/11/2019

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The NEW Shirley Sherwood Collection website - Home Page

Last night Shirley Sherwood announced that the Shirley Sherwood Collection of Botanical Art now has a website. The URL is http://shirleysherwood.com - which I'm sure all fans of botanical art will want to bookmark

I've known about it for some time but also knew that the natural time for a public announcement would be at last night's Private View for the "Modern Masterpieces of Botanical Art" exhibition at The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens. So today is the right time to share with everybody else!

Below I'll describe what you can find on the website and how to access the different sections and pages within the website.

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'Cannabis - A Visual Perspective' - botanical art exhibition by RMSBA at Boulder Museum

3/10/2017

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The new exhibition "Cannabis - a Visual Perspective" exhibition by the Rocky Mountain Society of Botanical Artists (motto - "botanical art with attitude') is getting some great publicity. I think it might be breaking records!

The exhibition is in the BioLounge of the Colorado University's Boulder Museum of Natural History. It opened last month and continues until 26 January 2018 and the admission is FREE.

The aim of the exhibition is for botanical illustration to help those who see the exhibition to appreciate the diversity of the Cannabis genus. Although there's no virtual version of the exhibition by either the museum or the art society, I did come across a virtual exhibition on OnlineJuriedShows website of all the work entered for the show.

The subject for the exhibition will be the entire Cannabis genus, including all three species and seven subspecies.
Prospectus-Cannabis, a Visual Perspective

What's unique about the exhibition?

“Our vision in highlighting the cannabis plant was for this to be educational. “We just wanted to take it back to [the fact] that this is a plant – just like any of the others out in your garden. It’s nature. Let’s let the dialogue go from there.”
RMSBA president Vanessa Martin

The exhibition deserves mention and promotion for several reasons:

It's the first ever exhibition of images of the cannabis plant in the USA
It's strictly non-political and is not 'making a statement' about the plant
It's happening in a state which has legalised the use of cannabis for recreational use
It's highlighting the variation in the visual image of a cannabis plant
It helps highlight the ground-breaking research being undertaken by Colorado University to expand our knowledge of this group of flowering plants. Last year, the university received more than $830,000 to study the effects of high-potency cannabis on the brain and human behaviour. The grant was one of multiple state-funded grants to study the effects of marijuana on public health — research funded by sales of legal pot in the state.

It's great to see an exhibition which links back to the reason why people started drawing and painting plants in the first place - because of their medicinal and other useful properties (see the Herbals section of my website)

“This is the first exhibit of its kind that we know of in the United States. We really want to focus on the artistic process as well as use this as a launching point to talk about the science that’s happening on campus on this flowering species of plant.”
Suzanne Balog, Event and communications specialist at the Boulder Museum

In terms of the art in the exhibition, images have rendered in rendered in watercolour, coloured pencil, print and mixed media. Below you can see a wonderful public post on Facebook by Dorothy DePaulo. Her artwork is in coloured pencils on drafting film and measures 11 x 14 inches.

Other artwork that stood out for me (on the virtual exhibition) includes:

a solar plate etching (11x14") of Charlotte's Web Cannabis by Susan T Fisher
a watercolour and Coloured Pencil painting (18x24") of 'Cannabis indica ssp. indica Peyote Purple' by Pam Miller
a wonderful Pen and Ink drawing (11x14") of Cannabis sativa / Rio Negro, Colombia / A. Male, B. Female by Shiere Melin who did her Certificate and Diploma, Botanical Illustration at the Denver Botanic Gardens / School of Botanical Art and Illustration
an attractive watercolour painting (9x12") titled Harlequin Seduction by Terri Knok
what appears to be a pencil drawing (9x12") of Cannabis sativa Cherry by Patti Hearn
and findally, a fine watercolour painting on hemp paper (12x16") of Wild Marijuana,Cannabis sativa by Linda Powers

Cannabis isn’t a single species: It’s a genus of flowering plants with up to three species: sativa, ruderalis and indica. (Debates about how to classify the species have raged since the plant was first classified in 1753.)
Washington Post

Illustrating the challenge!

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NEW Page: Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art 2018

8/2/2017

I've created a page on my website for a summary of the Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art in 2018. This includes:

a summary of the scope and purpose of the exhibition
project goals
a comment on the definition of eligible artists
a list of participating countries

It will be updated on a regular basis.

The official Botanical Art Worldwide website contains comprehensive information about the exhibition and can be found at https://www.botanicalartworldwide.info/

The Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa - the venue for the Canadian Exhibition of plant life indigenous to Canada in 2018

Participating countries

Each of the entries for countries that have announced their intention to participate includes:

a note about who is involved with organising the exhibition - although obviously this exhibition goes beyond normal exhibitions held by groups of botanical artists in each country.
a link to the Call for Entries - detailing which artists are eligible to enter the exhibition and the definition being used for the indigenous plants which are the subject of each exhibition
Deadline dates for submitting Expressions of Interest in Exhibiting and the entry for the exhibition
Exhibition - venues and dates (where these have been announced).

I was very impressed to see Margaret Best's recent announcement that the Canadian exhibition will be held in the Canadian Museum of Nature. That's a very impressive venue and seriously upgrades the status of that particular exhibition!

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THE ENTRY FOR YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS UPDATING.

A note of concern

My understanding when the exhibition was announced was this exhibition is open to botanical artists all over the world. I've checked with the outline I received and it states

Original botanical artworks juried from submissions of artists residing in each participating country
Worldwide Botanical Art Exhibition Outline

In other words if you are a botanical artist who lives in a country you can enter work for that country's exhibition.

Consequently I was extremely surprised and concerned to see an additional limiting constrain introduced. Some of the Call for Entries define the eligible artist as "being a member in good standing with (name of botanical art society)".

I have to emphasise that I think this is really sad.

This exhibition goes way beyond the normal exhibitions held on a regular basis by groups of botanical artists around the world.

Indeed one of the themes of the exhibition is the degree of collaboration required to hold the exhibition.

It's extremely sad that exhibitions in some countries will not be reaching out to those excellent botanical artists who choose - for various and excellent personal and professional reasons - not to belong to an art society or group.

I can think of many professional botanical illustrators and other well regarded and world renowned botanical artists who don't belong to a botanical art society. It would be such a pity if they were denied the opportunity to exhibit in this exhibition.

By all means charge non-members a higher fee - as happens in normal open exhibitions. Just don't exclude excellent botanical art of native plants because someone might not be a big fan of 'clubs'.

I do hope there'll be a rethink....

Strongylodon macrobotrys - finding a Jade Vine to paint

18/3/2016

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There are some plants where you have to hunt around to find a specimen. In the UK one such is Strongylodon macrobotrys also known as the Jade Vine

I found three specimens in the glass houses at the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens on Wednesday (see below). However the light was really weird because there was so much growth above and it was very difficult to appreciate the turquoise jade tones of this wonderful plant.

The Jade Vine in the Glass House at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden

However the Jade Vine in the Princess of Wales Conservatory at Kew Gardens presents no such problems.

When it flowers it generally enjoys very good light while not being in sunlight - so excellent for appreciating and capturing the real colours of this wonderful plant. It's also a mature plant so blooms at different times as you can below.

You can find it hanging just next to the door to the side Gallery. This photo was taken in April two years ago.

The Kew Gardens Jade Vine in the Princess of Wales Conservatory

This is the Kew Gardens website on the topic of Strongylodon macrobotrys (jade vine). This provides exceptional scientific and horticultural information about the plant and also how to propagate it.

I gather there is also a specimen in the Palm House but I've not found that one yet!

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