NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

BISCOT Exhibition deadlines

23/1/2018

The equivalent of the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition in Scotland is BISCOT which is shorthand for Botanical Images Scotia.

BISCOT takes place every June at the Gardening Scotland Show held at the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston, beside Edinburgh Airport. It's the largest plant fair in Scotland.

What makes BISCOT different is that it then moves to and is hung again in the John Hope Gateway Building at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE).

This Scottish based exhibition is held at Gardening Scotland under the auspices of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society and in conjunction with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. It is then relocated to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh for three weeks. It aims to promote excellence in botanical painting and illustration. BISCOT is competitive and certificates are awarded in Gold, Silver-gilt, Silver and Bronze categories. The unique silver Mary Mendum Medal may be awarded for an exhibit of exceptional quality.

see file download below for the full details

Who is eligible to show at BISCOT 2018?

BISCOT runs on the same principles as the RHS Shows i.e. BISCOT has a "qualified" open entry.

The only people eligible to show at BISCOT 2018 are:

Anyone awarded a Gold or Silver-gilt award from an RHS Botanical Art Show
Graduates of the RBGE Botanical Illustration Course who hold a Diploma with Distinction
Artists who have passed the BISCOT assessment in 2017 or previously (within the time limit for approval)

The deadline to apply for space to exhibit at this year's Botanical Images Scotia (BISCOT) Exhibition in 2018 is 14th February 2018. i.e. you have three weeks left to get an application submitted.

BISCOT 2018 - the details

BISCOT 2018 will be open to the public from the 1st to the 3rd of June 2018 at Gardening Scotland.
Set up (by the exhibitors), judging and assessment will happen on 31st of May. Various medals will be awarded.
The Show then moves to RBGE and will be on display in the John Hope Gateway Building at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) from the 6th to the 21st of June 2018.

How to qualify to show in 2019 and beyond

There is no limitation on where artists live or work.
(International artists who do not live in the EU who are importing art for exhibitions in the EU will need to reference Customs and Excise requirements re VAT - see the section about VAT for Organisations, Exhibitions & Competitions in VAT for Artists on my Art Business Info site)

However if you are not an RHS medal winner (Gold or Silver Gilt) and have not graduated from RBGE Diploma with distinction, you first need to be qualify i.e. be approved to exhibit - and this happens a long time in advance of an exhibition.

The deadline to submit work or images to be considered for assessment for future exhibitions (2019 and onwards) is Friday 25 May 2018.

The following reproduces the details of the BISCOT assessment process - as both a PDF file and details quoted from the file.

biscot_assessment_may_2018_for_2019.pdf
File Size:	614 kb
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Download File

SUBMISSIONS: UK residents are required to submit 4 original works.

Non UK residents are required to send 4 jpeg images, via CD or USB (minimum 300dpi resolution). All files must be labelled with the title, artist’s name, size of the artwork when mounted and have an arrow pointing to the top right hand corner of the work and a scale indicator if necessary.

The application form and work is to be sent to: BISCOT ASSESSMENT SUBMISSION c/o The Education Department, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 20A Inverleith Row, Edinburgh EH3 5LR, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Artists must send their original works in reusable packaging. Carriage / postage for the return of works is to be arranged and paid by the artist. CDs / USBs are only returned if return postage and a self addressed envelope is supplied with the entry form.

JURORS: These are chosen from suitably experienced artists and botanists.

ELIGIBILITY: Entry is open to all artists whose work has been submitted and approved by the BISCOT assessment panel. These successful artists may apply for space to exhibit in subsequent years. Exceptionally, artists may be invited to exhibit without assessment. The RCHS reserves the right to reject work which it considers unsuitable, e.g. sub-standard to that sent for assessment or presented other than as described in the rules and regulations. The number of artists will be limited to the space available. Acceptable sizes are below. Size really does matter!

SUBJECT: The subject must be a botanical species.

MEDIA: Entries are to be two-dimensional, original botanical artwork. Watercolour is the preferred medium however coloured pencil, gouache, graphite and ink are also accepted.

SIZE: The maximum size is 36” x 30” h x w (91.5cm x 76cm) when mounted. Larger formats will be rejected.

INSURANCE: Notes regarding insurance, packaging and labelling can be downloaded from the BISCOT website.

Please note there is a limitation on "approved to exhibit"

If an artist has not exhibited within seven years following successful assessment, then work must be re-submitted for a new assessment. If the reason for not exhibiting has been lack of space, then the period of eligibility will be extended and the artist will be given priority in the next exhibition.

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ESBA Christmas Exhibition - opens tomorrow

24/11/2017

The Christmas Exhibition of the Edinburgh Society of Botanical Artists will open tomorrow at The John Hope Gateway at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh (entrance via Arboretum Place).

The exhibition runs from 25th November - 2nd December (10am - 4pm) and admission is free - and the art will be excellent!

ESBA acts as an Alumni Association for past graduates of the RBGE Diploma Course in Botanical Illustration.

Below I've got images of some of the pen and ink drawings that Marianne Hazlewoodwill be showing. Marianne was the winner of the Eve Bennett Award for Botanical Illustration at this summer's Diploma graduation.

The drawings below were done by Marianne Hazlewood using Japanese ink paste on Lambeth Cartridge. The images are 'crops'. I think they're wonderful because they lend a distinctively contemporary 'edge' to her botanical art.

Marianne was inspired in her pen and ink drawings by Sarah Simblet (author of Botany for the Artist) who came to the Diploma course and did a day with the students.

While I was painting my Arisaema I wanted to illustrate these growing shoots because they were so fascinating, so I did a drawing for each of my specimens, it was such an amazing experience, one which I will be repeating
Marianne Hazlewood

The botanical artists with drawings, paintings and prints on display include:

Geoffrey Brown
Lyn Campbell
Karyn Dalrymple
Janette Dobson
Janet Dyer
Jenny Haslimeier
Nicola Macartney
Jacqui Pestell
Pamela Richardson
Sarah Roberts
Sharon Tingey
Janet Watson

Four of the six paintings of sunflowers in the 2014 RHS Botanical Art Show exhibit by Sharon Tingey

The image used as artwork for the flyer is by Sharon Tingey - one of the tutors on the RBGE Diploma Course - and is from her RHS Gold Medal winning suite of paintings of sunflowers. Read my blog post Interviews with six RHS Botanical Art Gold Medal Winners (2014) about the exhibition where she won her RHS Gold Medal

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BISCOT 2017 at the RBGE

10/6/2017

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BISCOT 2017 Preview evening at John Hope Gateway, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

The 2017 BISCOT Exhibition has now moved to the John Hope Gateway Building at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinbugh and is on display there until 22nd of June.

Below you can see a photo of Fran Thomas with the Mary Mendum Medal awarded for the Best Exhibit - of her watercolour paintings (behind her) of "Native plants of the coasts and islands of the Firth of Forth" - which also won a Gold Medal.

Fran Thomas with the Mary Mendum Medal for Best Exhibit

Below you can see a slideshow of the exhibits winning Gold and Silver Gilt for Billy Showell, Fran Thomas, Jenny Haslimeier (New Zealand) and Lyn Campbell.

Read more about the artists in my previous post Botanical Images Scotia (BISCOT) 2017 - Medal Winners

Note: all pics copyright the artists - please do not copy. I've got permission from BISCOT to reproduce them in this blog post

PUT YOUR CURSOR TOP LEFT OF THE PIC BELOW TO GET THE START ARROW

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Botanical Images Scotia (BISCOT) 2017 - Medal Winners

4/6/2017

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Billy Showell GM - Best in Show Painting at BISCOT 2017

Billy Showell was awarded the Best in Show Award for her painting of "Tulip Queen of Night" at the BISCOT Exhibition at Gardening Scotland (2nd-4th June 2017). The exhibition is organised by the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society in liaison with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Billy was also awarded a Gold Medal for her exhibit - the rest of which you can see below.

She's been having quite a week, having been announced as the new President Elect for the Society of Botanical Artists at the AGM three days earlier!

Gold Medal Winning Exhibit: Black flowers and cultivars; an exploration into mixing colours to create black - by Billy Showell

Below are details of:

the medals awarded to botanical artists from Austria, New Zealand the USA as well as the UK. There are links in their names to their websites where you can see more of their work.
the venue for the exhibition when it moves from Gardening Scotland to the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh

Gold Medal

Billy Showell (UK) - Black flowers and cultivars; an exploration into mixing colours to create black
Fran Thomas (UK) - Native plants of the coasts and islands of the Firth of Forth. Fran Thomas was also awarded The Mary Mendum Medal for the outstanding exhibit (see below)

Fran Thomas GM - awarded the Mary Mendum Medal for exceptional quality in an exhibit

Billy Showell is a very popular botanical art tutor and author as well as a best selling botanical artist. She's based in Tunbridge Wells in Kent. She graduated from St Martins School of Art with a degree in Fashion design and illustration. However she changed direction when she fell in love with watercolour painting and started painting flowers. She has been pursuing a career in painting, illustration and tuition for some years and is the author of four books. She has been awarded a number of prestigious awards over the years.

I first met Fran Thomas at the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2014 when she was awarded a Silver Gilt Medal for Native Scottish marginal pond plants (Rumex aquaticus, Menyanthes trifoliata, Iris pseudacorus, Caltha palustris, Lythrum salicaria & Petasites hybridus). It seems Fran has a particular affection for plants associated with water!

Silver-Gilt Medal

Lyn Campbell (UK) - Trilliums
Jenny Haslimeier (New Zealand) - Native tree flowers of New Zealand

Trilliums by Lyn Campbell

Lyn used to work as a physiotherapist and took up botanical painting at RBGR. She graduated with a Diploma in Botanical Illustration in 2011 - and was graded Higher Merit.

Jenny is an experienced graphic/book designer and illustrator who comes from New Zealand but now lives in Edinburgh. She started studying botanical art in 2014 and in 2016, she graduated from the RGBE Diploma Course and was awarded a Distinction. Less than a year after graduation she has achieved a Silver Gilt Medal at BISCOT!

Native tree flowers of New Zealand by Jenny Haslimeier

Silver Medal

Karyn Dalrymple (UK) - Colour and pattern within the garden
Dany Denzel (Austria) - Amaryllis (Hippeastrum)
Regina Gardner Milan (USA) - The Fibonacci series

Karyn is a member of the Edinburgh Society of Botanical Artists - which is the Alumni group for those who have completed the RBGE's Diploma Course in Botanical Illustration.

Dany is an architect who lives and works in Vienna in Austria and in Arles in France. She studied with Annie Farrer at Kew and earned her Certificate in Botanical Illustration. More recently she has been completing the RBGE Diploma Course in Botanical Illustration.

Regina is a visiting lecturer in graphic design at the University of Massachusetts. She received the President’s Award for the highest achieving student when she graduated with her Diploma from the Society of Botanical Artists in 2007.

Hippeastrum by Dany Denzel

Bronze Medal

Jeffrey Banks (UK) - Alpine Plants
Jan Miller (UK) - Plants of the genus Geraniaceae

Jan Miller is the Secretary of the Edinburgh Society of Botanical Artists

How to see the BISCOT Exhibition 2017

You can see the exhibition today at the Gardening Scotland Show, at the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston between 10am and 5pm until Sunday 4th June 2016. (The exhibition opened on Friday).

Next week, the exhibition will transfer to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, John Hope Gateway Building, for a period of about three weeks (7th June - 22nd June).

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Botanical exhibitions in Bloomsbury

29/5/2017

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This week there are two botanical art exhibitions in Bloomsbury.

The Fall at Fitzrovia Gallery until 31st May
The Bloomsbury Gallery Flower Lovers’ Event until 4th June

The Fall at The Fitzrovia Gallery

Venue: The Fitzrovia Gallery, 139 Whitfield Street, London, W1T 5EN
(nearest tube: Warren Street)
Dates: 10-31 May 2017, Wednesday-Sunday, 11am-6:00pm

Dispersal project / Anemone vitifolia - photo by Anna Laurent

The Fall exhibition combines botanical photography by award-winning US photographer and author Anna Laurent with prints, painting and drawings by New York artist Ernesto Caivano.

Interest for lovers of botanical images are the photographs of the Boston-born and Californian-based photographer Anna Laurent. See my last post about the Botanical Photography Portfolio Exhibition at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show - at which Anna won a Silver Gilt Medal. Both exhibitions focus on her major project about Seed dispersal - which you can also see on her website.

Anna recently published her first book The Botanical Wallchart: Art from the golden age of scientific discovery (Octopus / University of Chicago Press)

The Bloomsbury Gallery Flower Lovers’ Event

Venue: The Bloomsbury Gallery, 34 Bloomsbury Street, London, WC1B 3QJ
(nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road)
Dates: 28th May - 4th June 2017 (10am - 5pm daily)

A week after the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, flowers continue for a week in Bloomsbury at the Bloomsbury Flower Event. A range of top botanical artists are exhibiting work - and three are delivering workshops (Billy Showell's workshop was today) and talks

The artists are:

Amber Halsall
Angeline De Meester
Billy Showell
Caroline Deane
Gael Sellwood
Janie Pirie
Julia Trickey
Rosie Sanders
Sandra Wall Armitage
Shirley Slocock
Susan Christopher-Coulson
Zhou Qingsu

Events and workshops include:

Wednesday 31 May 18:20 - 20:00 Author Talk - Rosie Sanders £10 - talking about her latest book about oversized flower paintings
Friday 2 JUNE Two Coloured Pencil Workshops by Janie Pirie 11:00 - 13:30 Understanding the techniques required when using the modern coloured pencils. and 14:30 - 17:00 Drawing flowers and leaves. £50 (one session) or £90 for two sessions
FRI 2 JUNE 18:30 - 20:30 Painting The Modern Garden - Film by Exhibitions on Screen -
Based on the sell-out show at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
Saturday 3 JUNE 18:30 - 20:30 Painting the Modern Garden - Film by Exhibitions on Screen

Click the green tickets button on the Eventbrite link to read descriptions of the workshops/talks/film screening and book tickets.

I'm afraid I've found the information for this event to be really rather difficult to communicate - mainly due to the inadequacies and vagaries of the venue's website. Hence the delay. There is however a pdf booklet about the event - but I can't find an online link for this!

The event image is based on Embroidery work by Mrs Zhou Qingsu

MORE Botanical Art Exhibitions in June 2017

Later this week I'll be highlighting exhibitions opening elsewhere in the UK and Ireland in June including:

the 13th BISCOT Exhibition in Edinburgh (at Gardening Scotland (2nd-4th June) at the Royal Highland Showground, Ingliston, near Edinburgh Airport and thereafter at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, John Hope Gateway Building, for a period of about three weeks (Wednesday 7th June to c. Thursday 22nd June) following a Private View on 6th June. I'm just mulling over the train fare!
The Botanical Art Exhibition at Bloom at Phoenix Park in Dublin (1st - 5th June 2017) - with up up to 50 original pieces using watercolour, gouache, ink, drawing or fine art print
Dugald Graham Campbell's exhibition (5th - 9th June 2017 - noon to noon) at The Studio, 73 Glebe Place London SW3 5JB. Dugald is Chair of the Chelsea Physic Florilegium Society
The Midsummer Garden Exhibition in Finchingfield in Essex

Pear by Dugald Graham Campbell

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NEW Page: Botanical Art Exhibitions in Scotland

27/4/2017

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Scotland now has a new page dedicated to botanical art exhibitions in Scotland on my website.

Botanical artwork in the Spring Exhibition of the Scottish Society of Botanical Artists - now on display at the Scottish Arts Club

The page for UK botanical art exhibitions had become HUGE as there are so many! In trying to make better sense of it, it seemed sensible - as with a lot of the rest of my website - to focus on location.

That's why the Botanical Art and Artists website has all the current and upcoming botanical art exhibitions in Scotland on one page so that those living in or visiting Scotland just have one bookmark to keep an eye on!. (This is also by way of payback to the Scottish botanical artists who are brilliant at keeping me informed about what's happening!)

The main botanical art exhibitions relate to:

BISCOT - Botanical Images Scotia which is a collaboration between botanical artists and the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society and the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh
The Scottish Botanical Art Collective and Flora Scotia - the Scottish contribution to the Worldwide Exhibition of Botanical Art at the John Hope Gateway at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh in 2018
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh projects resulting in botanical art exhibitions which can travel and be displayed at various galleries and botanic gardens
Scottish Society of Botanical Artists (SSBA) - which has a Spring and Autumn Exhibition
Edinburgh Society of Botanical Artists - and its annual exhibition

What's on offer in Scotland at present is the Spring Show of the Scottish Society of Botanical Artists at the Scottish Arts Club. Two days left before it closes!

Calls for Entries will remain on the main UK Page which now focuses on all the Calls for Entries for botanical art organisations across the UK.

I'll explain more tomorrow how the massive amount of information relating to botanical art exhibitions in the UK is now organised - to help make it all more accessible.

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BISCOT 2018 - Call for assessment

16/3/2017

Botanical Images Scotia (BISCOT) has recently called for Assessment Entries from artists for its 2018 exhibition - which is the Scottish equivalent of the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition in London.

This post summarises key points about the exhibition and the process. It's a summary and hence not definitive. You need to read all information published by BISCOT on its website for the definitive version.

BISCOT 2016 at the RBGE

Below is an image of the flyer produced for the assessment entries. This can be downloaded at full size from the link below the image.

biscot_2018_assessment.jpg
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BISCOT - The Exhibition

What you need to know about the exhibition:

This is the top competitive Botanical Art Show in Scotland. It aims to promote excellence in botanical painting and illustration. It showcases the botanical drawings and paintings of top contemporary botanical art from home and abroad.
Open and International: This exhibition is open to botanical artists and illustrators who live outside both Scotland and the UK - who qualify as eligible to exhibit (which is what this post is about)
This is a joint endeavour between Botanical Images Scotia (BISCOT) and the the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society (RCHS) and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE). Between them they provide venues for the exhibition and expert artists and botanists for assessment of artists and artwork.
Exhibits can be awarded medals by the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society. The Mary Mendum Medal is awarded to an exhibit of exceptional quality.
The first four days of the exhibition are at the Gardening Scotland Show which is held at the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston, beside Edinburgh Airport.
The exhibition then transfers to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh for c. three weeks. The exhibition is held in the John Hope Gateway Building which is staffed.

The biggest differences for artists, when compared to the RHS are:

This exhibition is NOT run entirely by the premier horticultural society as the RHS Show is.
It is NOT a two day exhibition.
You are NOT expected to man your stand for the entire duration. However you are expected to be present at the exhibit at the Gardening Scotland show and to contribute if you can to the exhibition at RGBE.
It's too long for most international artists to be present for its duration.

Plus, if you don't live in Scotland (or the UK), the length of the exhibition means you must think about how you will retrieve your exhibit and the additional costs associated with two visits or help employed to assist with getting the work there and then dismantling the exhibit and packing it for transport at the end of the exhibition at the RGBE.

The BISCOT webpage provides details of what the organisers will and will not do.

The BISCOT organisers will be responsible ONLY for ensuring that the articles are collected by, or in exceptional circumstances, delivered locally to the courier/carrier.

Attention must also be paid to the notes about VAT (which apply to any international artists importing artwork to any exhibition in the UK).

Call for assessment

All artists have to be approved as eligible to exhibit before they can submit artwork as entries for the exhibition.

Artists who have an automatic eligibility to exhibit include:

Artists who have exhibited work at the RHS and gained gold, silver-gilt and silver awards
Graduates of the RBGE Botanical Illustration Course who gain a diploma with distinction

For all other artists, BISCOT asks artists to submit artwork for assessment. (The process works in a very similar way to that used by the RHS for 'approval to exhibit'.)

This link is to the Regulations and Assessment Form (pdf file) available on the BUSCOT webpage.

Key facts about assessment

The date for assessment is the third Friday in May each year PRIOR to the year of exhibition. (i.e. you must be approved in 2017 to exhibit in 2018)
The deadline for submission is 19 May 2017
Original work: all UK artists must submit original work (although there is a discrepancy between the flyer and the regulations form)
Digital submission is available only to those who have real difficulties getting original artwork to Edinburgh. Artists living outside the UK may send submissions of their artwork as digital images (@300dpi) on a CD or memory stick.
Four pieces of artwork (which do not need to be themed) are assessed as botanical illustration.
Criteria for assessment are: (1) botanical accuracy of plants depicted, (2) level of painting skill demonstrated, (3) composition of individual paintings and (4) presentation.

Call for entries for the BISCOT exhibition

Invitations are normally sent out to eligible artists by email in November/December. I also highlight the Call for Entries on this blog at that time.

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More about BISCOT

You can also find out more from the BISCOT Facebook Page

Below you can see previous blog posts about this exhibition.
2017

Botanical Images Scotia 2017 - Call for Entries

2016

2015

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