NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

Finnis Scott Foundation: £10,000 Botanical Art Prize 2024

18/9/2023

Applications are invited for the £10,000 Botanical Art Prize 2024 awarded by the Finnis Scott Foundation. This is about the Call for Entries, who can apply and how to apply.

In summary, the Botanical Art Prize is dedicated to the practice and promotion of botanical art. It aims

to support and promote collaborative botanical art projects in the UK and Ireland; and
through established botanical art groups which go beyond their day-to-day activities and recognises those which have already helped to raise the profile of botanical art.

Specifically the £10K Award is:

intended to fund discrete and collaborative projects that promote and encourage the practice and appreciation of botanical painting in the UK and/or Ireland
awarded biennially i.e. every two years.
sponsored by The Finnis Scott Foundation - a charity that was established by the will of the late Valerie Finnis to support Horticulture and Art.

Projects might include:

a new education programme,
the development of an existing course,
an exhibition, publication, event or collaborative project.

Previous Winners of this Botanical Art Prize have been:

2018 – Sir Cedric Morris Florilegium
2020 – Gloucestershire Society for Botanical Illustration
2022 – Scottish Society of Botanical Artists.

Links are to information about the projects which won the award.

Call for Entries: Botanical Art Prize 2024

What follows is about:

which organisations are eligible to apply
how to apply
how applications are assessed
the timeline
monitoring processes

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SBA Plantae 2023: Award Winners

22/5/2023

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Today's post is about the botanical artists receiving awards from the Society of Botanical Artists and Sponsors at Plantae 2023. The annual exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists took place last week at the Mall Galleries in London.

It includes images of the artwork receiving awards and more information about the artists (links to their websites are embedded in their names).

It follows on from

For every award I'll be linking to the botanical artist who received the award and including some brief bio details and an image of the artwork which merited the award.

BELOW the various awards are divided into three categories

Society of Botanical Artists Awards
Sponsor Awards (Monetary)
Sponsor Awards: sponsored by art materials companies

NOTE: The Plantae 2023 Catalogue sold out and is being reprinted. It should be available from the shop on the SBA website in about two weeks.

Society of Botanical Artists Awards

These are awards which originate within the Society of Botanical Artists and members past and present. Often as a memorial to a particular member

Joyce Cumming Presentation Award
Legacy from Joyce Cuming (a sterling silver Almoner’s plate) - for a beautiful botanical piece; Certificate for the winner | Chosen by the SBA Council
(7) Prunus by Hee-Soon Baik SBAF

Hee-Soon Baik SBAF lives in Korea. Hee-Soon previously exhibited in Plantae 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. She also won the Koran National Arboretum Director General's Award at the Botanical Art Worldwide Exhibition in Korea (at the Korea National Arboretum) in 2018.

She has also told her story of her studies and how her career as a botanical artist has developed when elected to as a Fellow of SBA.

"I am not an art major, but I have always been interested in plants. I observe plants, compare how they differ from other plants, look for data, and start drawing when I have some confirmation.

It was 13 years ago when I started to care about Botanic art. It was a time when interest in the importance and preservation of nature spread in Korea.
My interest in plants led to drawing plants, I had to study plants, and I had to learn drawing techniques and skills. I was always worried about how to zoom in and about accurate observation and sketches. There was no place to teach professional Botanic art, so I took a few lectures on drawing plants, painting and exhibiting.

Then I got to know the Learning Course of SBA in the UK, applied for DLDC Course 15, and took a 30-month course.

Luckily, I received the Society of Botanical Artists "PLANTAE 2020" Certificate of Botanic Merit among my Portfolio paints.

After that, I found out that my painting skills had improved a lot without realizing it, and I won several awards in Korea and gained self-esteem.

I have been commissioned by the National Arboretum of Korea to draw native plants, and the paintings are circulating at arboretums and botanical gardens nationwide in Korea Also, my personal paintings are sold as goods at shops in the Natural History Museum in Korea."
SBA Facebook Page

Leaves by Izabela Wolska-Kuśmider SBAF

Margaret Granger Memorial Silver Bowl
Certificate for the winner + Name engraved on the Silver Bowl
For the best work or body of work by a member elected in the last two years | Chosen by Council
Four Wet Autumn Leaves by Izabela Wolska-Kuśmider SBAF
(top row Alnus glutinosa; Bottom row: Quercus robur - image is take from the catalogue as the leaves were separated in the exhibition.) You can see how they were exhibited below.

Izabela Wolska-Kuśmider is Polish and lives in Warsaw. She studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology. She graduated from the SBA's Distance Learning Diploma Course with Distinction. Iza is a Fellow of The Society of Botanical Artists (SBA) and a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA)

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The Making A Mark Award: Interview with Inês-Hermione Mulford

10/5/2023

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This is an interview with Ines-Hermione Mulford who last summer won the first Making A Mark Award for Botanical Art at Plantae 2022 - the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists (see Plantae 2022 - and a new Award and The Making A Mark Award for Botanical Art)

Part of the award is an interview as a blog post about her artwork. Next week Plantae 2023 opens at the Mall Galleries in London and I'll be on the lookout for the next winner!

The interview with Ines-Hermione covers:

how she became an artist
her approach to drawing and painting plantsâ€‹
about entering the exhibition and lessons learned

Plus a note about what happened next!

"Holdfast" by Ines-Hermione Mulford - 30x31cm pencil drawing on recycled paper - selected for Plantae 2023

I determined that the criteria for the award is that the winner needed to be somebody who fulfilled one or more of the following

a first time exhibitor at the exhibition who impresses
people who bring a fresh and different approach to botanical art and illustration
artwork demonstrating a genuine new perspective on how to portray habitat
artwork about plants which don't often get illustrated
drawing excellence - maybe in less used media

I knew I'd picked somebody with an unusual perspective on how to represent plants - which is why she won the award. What I didn't appreciate at the time was quite how unusual that perspective is!

Last time I saw the painting below it was hanging on the wall in Plantae 2022 in the Mall Galleries. In the Autumn of 2023 it's going to form part of a Bryophyte and Lichen Trail in the Dundee Botanic Garden!

Dwindling by Ines-Hermione Mulford - in a forest

About the artist: Ines-Hermione Mulford

â€‹Tell me about yourself. How did you get into art and why are you an artist?

â€‹I have always been creative, something nurtured by my granny with many summer holidays painting flowers in her garden in Devon from a young age, but I was also very interested in science.

When I discovered the work of Leonardo Da Vinci, I think I must have been about 9, It felt like a lightbulb moment. I wanted to be him! I wanted to paint in a way that mimicked reality, I wanted to design, engineer, study science. But growing up it became obvious that past 16 this wasnâ€™t really an option. Choosing my A-levels, and on from that university, meant I had to choose either the arts or the sciences. Something that didnâ€™t make sense to me, and to be very honest, I still donâ€™t get it, in fact I vehemently oppose strict boundaries of learning and wish we were far more interdisciplinary.

Ultimately, I chose art as it was what excited me the most and is largely due to my secondary school art teacher who was an absolute hero. Unsurprisingly I found my practice routed again, and again, in the sciences and I think my career has been very linear, albeit unconventional, since.

At Art school, Edinburgh College of Art, I found my love of classical realism, and chose the anatomy elective which was linked with the medical school there and through that found a love of medicine, that led me to surgical and medical art which is a huge part of my practice now.

I started shadowing surgeons in 2015 where I felt an affinity with their desire, and need, for highly skilled, craft-based work. I am still doing this work today, and actually went back to university to do a Masters in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh to ensure that my research was ethical, something that was invaluable as I have just completed a residency with the Surgeonâ€™s Hall Museum in Edinburgh, producing paintings on the human relationship between surgeon, robot and patient in robotic surgery.
â€‹
Social Anthropology has been instrumental to developing my career as an artist as both are a looking at and a living with the world around us. They are explorations of the lived experience and the expression of humanity, the natural world and life as we know it. They are both disciplines where subjectivity and personal experience are celebrated.

A lot of my practice as an artist is project based, which feeds that desire in me to learn, and Iâ€™m currently working on two projects, one with Breast Cancer Now, a charity based in London where I am exploring the organisation as a holistic support system; the other is with the University College Dublin teaching hospital Mater Mericordial, visualising their pioneering research in digital biopsies of cancer diagnosis. But it was the robotic surgery which led my personal practice back to the wonderful world of flora.

Seeing the human body through the eyes/lens of the da vinci robot, on a macro level, made me completely rethink how I situate myself in the world. The almost abstract landscape, this alien world that was so foreign and yet part of us, was bizarre yet stunning. I began to notice similarities texture and, after further research, function, to the mosses and lichens that have fascinated me all my life.
â€‹
For me it has felt very linear, figurative art and realism drove me to study anatomy, which developed my understanding of the human body, leading me to surgery and medicine, the human body, our flesh, functions etc. which led me onto the natural world, its fascinating structures, functions, beauty and our undeniable dependence on it. My practice is interdisciplinary as I feel that art has the ability to be boundary-less, and is all the more successful for it.

About drawing and painting plants

Dwindling by InÃªs-Hermione Mulford (Wooly fringe moss with highland granite and lichen Oil on 120x120cm Backed Board

How has your experience in drawing and painting people helped you in drawing and painting plants?

Ooft difficult question! I learnt a lot through painting and drawing people, the skill-based side, so the honed skills of observation and retention, while my background in anatomy helped me to really understand what I was looking at, and not just make things up!
In an â€œartierâ€ sense I suppose, I see drawing as an encounter with something. I actually ended up writing my dissertation for my masters on how drawing in the field aids social research.

Drawing is a form of active looking that, each line leads you to see, it is the product of an encounter, while also being an encounter itself. You are in conversation with what is being observed. Whether that is a literal conversation with an individual, or metaphorical!

It is the combination of learning about the anatomy of something, in this instance taking time to really research the structure of the mosses, and then also be led by what you are actually seeing; that engagement is so important and the process of drawing itself.

What do you find appealing about drawing plants generally?

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Scottish Society of Botanical Artists wins £10,000 Finnis Scott Foundation's Botanical Art Prize 2022

4/5/2022

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The winner of the £10,000 Botanical Art Prize 2022 - awarded by the Finnis Scott Foundation - is the Scottish Society of Botanical Artists, for their project ‘Botanical Art Training Scotland’.

The presentation of the £10,000 prize will take place in late May in Edinburgh.

Members of the Scottish Society of Botanical Artists during one of their painting days

“We are delighted to have been awarded this year's botanical art prize. It will enable the SSBA to grow by introducing beginners and other artists in the north and south of Scotland to the joy in capturing the beauty of plants in the fine detail of botanical art, and hopefully inspire them to continue learning."
Anne Carlaw, Chair of the SSBA

SSBA Saughton Park Sketching Day

The Finnis Scott Botanical Art Prize 2022

I wrote about the Botanical Art Prize for 2022 back in November last year in Finnis Scott Foundation Botanical Art Award (£10,000). This explains the background of and purpose of the prize.

In summary, the Botanical Art Prize is

dedicated to the practice and promotion of botanical art; and
aimed at established botanical art groups.

Specifically the Award is:

intended to fund discrete and collaborative projects that promote and encourage the practice and appreciation of botanical painting in the UK and/or Ireland
awarded biennially i.e. every two years.
sponsored by The Finnis Scott Foundation - a charity that was established by the will of the late Valerie Finnis to support Horticulture and Art.

WHAT THE JUDGES THOUGHT!

The judges thought that the entries were of a very high standard. However, they particularly liked the SSBA’s plan to

give groups or individuals the opportunity to learn, or develop their botanical art skills,
by running a number of free of charge, face-to-face courses in Inverness (the Highlands to the north) and Dumfries (the Southern Uplands)
which will be open to artists with some botanical painting experience as well as individuals are who are interested in learning.

In other words, a project which tackles the deficit in tuition outside the Central Lowlands 'Belt' where all the major cities lie and most of the population live.

“We are delighted to award the biennial Finnis Scott Botanical Art Prize to the Society of Scottish Botanical Artists, to help in their work enabling Scots outside the central belt to participate in the creation of botanical artworks, with all the benefits that come with that.

The Society won the prize against very stiff competition from other groups in the United Kingdom. We wish the SSBA good fortune in their endeavours."
Ursula Buchan, Chair of the Finnis Scott Foundation

The project proposes to

run 8 weekend courses over 2 years free of charge to participants. The only costs participants will need to pay are their own travel, accommodation and meals and recommended art materials.
Year 1 there will be 2 beginner courses in autumn and 2 in spring.
Year 2 there will be 2 intermediate courses in autumn and 2 in spring.
There will be 12 places per course.

I think this is an admirable project - and one which highlights the attention all botanical art societies should endeavour to outreach activities which embrace those living in less populated areas. Their costs are very much more significant when they have to travel long distances to more expensive places.

READ MORE NEWS ABOUT BOTANICAL ART AND ARTISTS

About the Finnis Scott Foundation

The charitable trust, the Finnis Scott Foundation, was founded in 2006, to provide money for charitable projects in the fields of gardening, plant sciences and art.

The Foundation was set up in memory of Sir David Scott, diplomat, art collector and passionate gardener (1887-1986), and his wife, Valerie Finnis (1924 -2006), the famous alpine gardener and photographer, with the proceeds of the sale of their extensive collection of Victorian and twentieth century British pictures.

The FSF Botanical Art Prize, worth £10,000, is awarded every two years, and is separate from the awards granted for applications to the general fund.

The FSF Botanical Art Prize was first awarded in 2018 and is the most valuable prize of its kind in the UK.

“The Prize is unique in that it offers the opportunity for dedicated botanical art societies and similar groups to apply for funding to develop projects they wouldn’t otherwise be able to carry out. The botanical artist often works alone, so the opportunity to work in collaboration as part of a group can be incredibly inspiring.”
Sandra Wall-Armitage (one of the Judges)

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Remembering Janet Pope

20/11/2020

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Janet Pope with her medal winning exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2019.

I learned last night that Janet Pope MA (RCA), DipAD, FLS, FSBA, CPFGS, IAPI has passed away.

Janet has been very seriously ill in recent years. When I met her with her Potatoes exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2019 we had a very long chat. She knew full well that her condition was terminal and that she had limited time left - and she was VERY determined to make the most of it!

I remember being so very pleased for her that she could get to exhibit one of her favourite subjects at the prestigious RHS Botanical Art Show show - and win a medal. I took a photo of her to record the event - and I think both she and I knew I was very likely to use it in this sort of post.

Her extremely unusual and refreshing exhibit of Potatoes - shoots, roots, skin, flesh - Solanum tuberosum ( ‘Red Emmalie’, ‘Highland Burgundy Red’, ‘Pink Fir Apple’, ‘Violetta’, ‘Shetland Black’ and Salad Blue’. ) can be seen below - and on her website. She won an RHS Silver Medal for her exhibit

Potatoes - shoots, roots, skin, flesh - Solanum tuberosum - by Janet Pope (RHS Silver Medal 2019)

About Janet Pope

I know relatively little about Janet beyond her SBA biography, her website and what I've written about her in the past. She always seemed a very private person to me - but she was also a lovely person to get to know and talk to in the last few years.

Education and Work

Janet graduated from the Royal College of Art London in 1973, followed by a British Council Scholarship for 18 months to study traditional textile arts and crafts in Romania. Returning to England, she started a knitwear company, then a special-interest tour company, followed by a womens’ tailoring business. In 2009 Janet joined a local botanical painting class, which led to the SBA Distance Learning Diploma Course graduating in 2012, and her current interest in botanical painting.

Botanical Art and Illustration

Janet was an extremely skilled botanical artist. She had studied initially for a Diploma in Art and Design and then graduated from the Royal College of Art, London with an MA in 29173. She had also been awarded a British Council arts scholarship to to study traditional textile arts and crafts in Romania. On her return she demonstrated her entrepreneurial flair by establishing first a knitwear company, then a special-interest tour company, followed by a womens’ tailoring business.

Her interest in botanical art was stimulated by a local botanical painting class followed by the SBA's Distance Learning Diploma Course. She graduated from that in 2012

She lived and worked in rural Herefordshire where gardens, orchards and hedgerows provided her with an endless supply of plant material. Her botanical art was painted - with great attention to detail and growth habit - in watercolour.

She was also a

Fellow of the Society of Botanical Artists;
an Artist Member of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society - which is where I saw her last
a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London (elected 2015) and
a member of the Institute for Analytical Plant Illustration.

Below I'm going to record Janet's achievements in the world of botanical art beyond her RHS Medal - and my photos of her exhibits. Janet was never ever one to boast - but I think she was secretly delighted when others recognised and publicly acknowledged her artwork and achievements - and it's in that spirit that I write this post.

Society of Botanical Art Awards and Certificates

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Marianne Hazlewood wins award at Visual Arts Scotland - Alight 2019

4/2/2019

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Marianne Hazlewood has two botanical artworks in the current Visual Arts Scotland open exhibition ALIGHT 2019 at the Royal Scottish Academy Edinburgh - and has won herself a solo exhibition.

Arisaema tortuosum (crop) by Marianne Hazlewood | Japanese ink paste on Lambeth Cartridge | 75 x 55 cm

The two pieces are part of her new ink Arisaema series, continuing her series of ink shoots which were inspired by Sarah Simblet teaching for a day during her RBGE Diploma Course. (See my Book review:Botany for the Artist: An Inspirational Guide to Drawing Plants by Sarah Simblet)

Marianne has been awarded the Open Eye Gallery Exhibition Award at the show. Her prize is a Solo Exhibition in their contemporary private gallery in a former Georgian townhouse in Edinburgh’s New Town.

Visual Arts Scotland

provides an opportunity to showcase national and international contemporary fine and applied artists from graduates to those with a long established practice.
has an annual open exhibition in the RSA Edinburgh building where members and non members can show alongside invited artists and new graduates.
features a variety of paintings, drawings and print work alongside artists working in wood in association with Craft Scotland and jewellery makers and silversmiths working in innovative, ethical and sustainable practise

VAS ALIGHT 2019

Venue: Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Dates: 26 Jan – 22 Feb 2019
Time: Mon-Sat: 10am – 5pm, Sun: 12pm – 5pm

Arisaema griffithii 1:1.3 and Arisaema tortuosum 1:1.3 by Marianne Hazlewood | Japanese ink paste on Lambeth Cartridge | 75 x 55 cm | float mounted (by Detail Framing Studio, Edinburgh)

Marianne Hazlewood also recently had two of her fern paintings in the Society of Scottish Artists Annual Open Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy Edinburgh.

It's very rewarding to see yet another contemporary botanical artist who

feels her artwork should NOT be limited to exhibitions of botanical art.
produces contemporary botanical art which meets the standards of and is selected for major open exhibitions by prominent arts organisations.

Having grown the number of botanical artists, we now need to grow the number of botanical art collectors! Having work selected for mainstream and prestigious / reputable open art exhibitions is an excellent way of exposing art collectors to botanical art - and increasing the number of botanical art collectors beyond those who are already committed to visiting existing botanical art exhibitions.

I'm always very happy to highlight the success of botanical artists who get their botanical artwork selected for mainstream art exhibitions - especially those held in prestigious open exhibitions in impressive art galleries! If this is you, you just need to contact me with the details.

Botanical art exhibitions in Scotland

You can view more details about botanical art exhibitions in Scotland on my dedicated page Botanical Art Exhibitions in Scotland which I updated this morning.

Current exhibitions include the following

Scottish Society of Botanical Artists Spring Exhibition 2019

Venue: Scottish Ornithological Centre, Donald Watson Art Gallery, Waterston House, Aberlady, East Lothian EH32 0PY
Dates: January 19th – Wednesday February 27th 2019
Hours: open daily from 10am to 4pm
Admission: FREE

The exhibition will include between 40 and 50 original paintings from our growing membership, almost all of which will be for sale.

Plants from the Woods and Forests of Chile

Venue: Dawyck Studio @ Dawyck Botanic Garden
Dates: Monday 4th February 2019 - Monday 29th July 2019

The page also includes of exhibitions being held later in 2019.

At the bottom of the page is a form which can be used to provide updates about current and future exhibitions.

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Images of SSBA's "Enchanted Forrest" botanical art exhibition in Falkirk

10/10/2016

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You can see images of the paintings in "Enchanted Forrest", the first major exhibition of the Scottish Society of Botanical Artists (SSBA) below - plus photos which include some of the artists.

The exhibition closes on Sunday so there's no time to lose if you want to see it.

Kathy Munro was awarded "Best picture" in the exhibition (Forrest category)

Kathy Munro won the award for the "Best Painting in the George Forrest category for her painting of Paeonia lutea.

She's pictured (above) with her painting and (below) receiving her award from George Anderson, who presents The Beechgrove Garden on television.

Kathy Munro receives her Best Painting Award from George Anderson

Venue: Park Gallery, Callendar House, Falkirk FK1 1 YR.
Dates: Monday 12th September - Sunday 16th October 2016
Opening hours: 10am - 5pm daily apart from Tuesdays

Read more about the exhibition in last month's blog post "Enchanted Forrest" Exhibition by the Scottish Society of Botanical Artists.

The preview has a very good attendance (see below) and some very complimentary remarks were made about the quality of the artwork.

SSBA "Enchanted Forrest" Preview

The vote for the People's Choice Award gave this important award to Sharon Fox for her delphinium.

People's choice award winner Sharon Fox pic.twitter.com/lzEJsukgmW
— TheSSBAorg (@thessbaorg) 10 October 2016

Below are two artists who were Highly Commended for their paintings:

Aileen Friis-Jorgensen
Ann Carlaw

Aileen Friis-Jorgensen with her Highly Commended painting

Ann Carlaw with her Highly Commended painting

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