NEWS about Botanical Art and for Botanical Artists

RHS London Botanical Art & Photography Show - Pros, Cons and the Future

1/10/2021

This is my final round-up of the RHS London Botanical Art and & Photography Show 2021 and some pondering on the pros and cons of this year's change of venue and staging. Plus
further thoughts on what I'd like see in 2022 and beyond in relation to:

Change of venue
Selection of exhibits
Horticulture & Botany
Presentation
Narrative & labels
Sales
Where to go from here?

Previous blog posts include:

Gallery 1 of the RHS Botanical Art Show 2021 at the Saatchi Gallery

The first really big bonus was that at least we got a show this year, after the very sad cancellation of last year's show.

MANY THANKS and cheers for the effort must go to the Picture Committee, RHS staff and the Show Team for finding a venue and making it happen - in the context of the total unknown of how many more lockdowns we would have! Bear in mind many of these people have been on furlough and/or working from home for much of the time since the start of first lockdown in March 2020! So very done on pulling it off.

It's also good the the exhibition organisers thought about the implications of the exhibitor not being able to travel in person and consequently reorganised how the show worked and was hung to take account of this. On the whole this was probably the best compromise - and some of my 'gritty' comments relate to execution rather what very much seems like the best option in a difficult situation.

It was indeed very evident that a LOT of botanical artists and illustrators had pulled out from exhibiting.

A show all about scale. Firstly, the scale of the problem, two years delayed by the pandemic. This would normally be almost 600 works. The final tally came in at only 205. Now a new question of scale 91 botanical art works in two large rooms and 114 photographs in one room.

Quotations come direct from exhibitors or former exhibitors and/or people who have seen the Show. I'm very grateful for the feedback I've had - whether or not included in this post - as it has helped me write this post.

2021 Show - Pros & Cons

CHANGE OF VENUE - Pros & Cons

The Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea

PROS

The show moved from the RHS Lindley Hall in Victoria (great for connections to all the train stations) to the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea. The venue, while not in central London, was relatively easy to access by public transport.
People commented on how the show looked like a proper art exhibition in a proper art gallery - and I guess this is what the aim was.
For all those who like their viewing art in almost complete silence, it was a VERY quiet environment.

CONS

A Show in its own right?
- Others have suggested, and I agree, that by locating the Show in Chelsea at the same time as the Chelsea Flower Show, this effectively made it subservient to the main event - and a bit of a sideshow.
- I don't think this ought to be the aim for this show. It's not an "add on". Given the numbers it has attracted in the past - without any other show running at the same time - it's already proved that it has become an important event in its own right (at least on the art side).
The light in the Galleries was absolutely awful in my opinion. Everything in the exhibition seemed very subdued.
- Exhibits were hung on light grey walls above a light grey floor and lit by lighting which was masked - but the luminance levels were far too low in every gallery. This then reduced the contrast and subdued all the colours and tones in the artwork and photos. Not quite a "grey show" but definitely heading in that direction.
- When I got my photos home and looked at them in Levels I couldn't quite believe just how much lightness and brightness was missing. I've photographed in art galleries all over London and this was the worst experience I've had for a very long time. (NOTE: None of the photos in my blog posts have been posted as taken - they'd just have looked very, very grey)
- The reality is that no artwork which is watercolour on paper is going to get hurt by two weeks in a decently lit gallery. We ought to be assuming that artists exhibiting at exhibitions like this are aware of archival issues and use lightfast paints.
As I found out, I don't think a lot of thought was given by the Gallery to disabled access - and none to proper signposting for those of us who have problems with changes in levels.

What I'd like to see in 2022 and beyond

I'd very much like to see

a return to a two day Winter Show - in February - in the RHS Lindley Hall when there's minimal competition for people's time and it's "offseason" for transport and accommodation
a two day show permits people to find the time to fly in to be with their exhibit. Which means visitors get to meet the artists who produce the work
the Lindley Hall is a venue which is even better for people who have long journeys.

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Review: RHS London Portfolio Photography Show

25/9/2021

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The Royal Horticultural Society used to have a Botanical Photography Show. What they now have is called a Portfolio Photography Show - and I'll comment more on what this means below.

This year the Show includes 19 exhibits - from submissions in 2020 and 2021 - in Gallery 3 - which is the smallest gallery at what's this year being called the RHS London Botanical Art and Photography Show 2021 at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea.

Exhibits have been awarded medals and you can read who got what in the Portfolio Photography Awards list (155kb pdf)

Those winning Gold Medals and the Best Exhibit in summary are:

Shelley Lawrence Kirkwood - ‘I’ll Follow The Sun’ - who also won Best Exhibit
Jo de Banzie - TENDER. Love letters from the Garden
Francesca Wilkinson - ‘Full Circle – Studies of Cyclamen coum and Cyclamen hederifolium’.

and you can see these three exhibits and some accompanying commentary below.

BEST EXHIBIT AND GOLD MEDAL: ‘I’ll Follow The Sun’ by Shelley Lawrence Kirkwood -

This collection of work looks closely at bits of debris and foraged plants from the Sonoran Desert and the forests and meadows of western Massachusetts — two distinct landscapes I have inhabited for most of my life. ....the objects photographed here are diminutive, their scale has been dramatically enhanced to suggest their echos within a larger system, as well as their monumental significance in my own history.

Shelley Lawrence Kirkwood work and life is divided between Arizona and New England and always been oriented around nature. Foraging has for many years, been central to her art practice. She has a Master of Fine Arts, Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ and a Bachelor of Arts, Photography, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA. It shows.

I liked this exhibit and thought it both very worthy of a Gold Medal but also the Best in Show.

GOLD MEDAL: 'TENDER. Love letters from the Garden' by Jo de Banzie

Jo de Banzie has a MA Photojournalism & Documentary Photography (Distinction) from the London College of Communication (UAL) and she has a Fellowship British Institute of Professional Photographers (BIPP) and a Fellowship The Master Photographers Association (MPA). She seems to have become interested in photographing gardens.

The photographs were shot using a large format camera and the wet colloidal process.

Verges on the too much aesthetic / fine art and too little horticulture for me.

GOLD MEDAL: ‘Full Circle – Studies of Cyclamen coum and Cyclamen hederifolium’ by Francesca Wilkinson

To create her photographs, Francesca uses an improvised technique of camera-less photography using the flatbed scanner attached to her computer as a lens.

Francesca Wilkinson - ‘Full Circle – Studies of Cyclamen coum and Cyclamen hederifolium’.

Francesca graduated from the MA Photography course at the University for the Creative Arts with Distinction in 2013 as describers herself as a botanical photo artist. She's currently studying towards a BA(Hons) in Environmental Studies.

I just found it very difficult to see these plants. They look much better - and much clearer - on her website viewed using a high quality screen than they did in the Gallery the printed out. Mind you the light in the gallery is not great!

I really don't see what is improvised about her technique - it's been much used by others wanting to create images of plants and even I've used the black velvet scanning technique! Others have used a scanner for plants to much better effect.

I simply couldn't understand how you can be awarded a Gold Medal when your labels don't indicate which plant is which. She at least identified the plants in her main text - but not on the labels. However I'm suspicious that she actually doesn't know which is which - since it's not an editing issue as the website does not say either!

RHS Portfolio Photography

You'd think from the title RHS London Botanical Art and Photography Show 2021 that this was a Botanical Photography Show.

But it's NOT.

Neither is it intended to be a fine art exhibition.....

Here's my critique of the concept behind this exhibition followed by a commentary on this year's exhibition.

One wall in the exhibition which includes a bronze medal exhibit by one of last year's Gold Medal Winners - plus an exhibit which I'm not sure should have been selected for show.

Photography has always been exhibited at the RHS London Shows in the Autumn.
I've been viewing RHS Photography exhibits - alongside Botanical Illustration either literally or metaphorically - at RHS Shows for a number of years:

starting with exhibits by the likes of Clay Perry (GM 2012) in the Laurence Horticultural Hall where he won a Gold Medal at the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2012 for his suite of photographs of Heritage Fruit and Vegetables which had both a strong horticultural theme and at the same time paid homage to the still life artwork of Juan Sanchez Cotan (1561 - 1627).
continuing through the extremely innovative and highly botanical exhibits produced by Laurence Hill GM (2014, 2017, 2018) - see this page on my website - and should have had a fourth in 2015 if the Judges had read and understood the text for his extraordinary exhibit.
and others who have demonstrated techniques with different forms of photographic media and rather less with involvement with horticulture or botany.

There have been quite a few changes in organisation and nomenclature in recent years

Prior to 2018 it was referred to as the RHS Botanical Photography exhibit and it was always part of one of the RHS London Shows.
In 2017, it changed
- and became an exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show (which made it completely inaccessible to a lot of people given the competition and expense of tickets for Chelsea)
In 2018, it was combined with the Botanical Illustration Show for a Joint Show (Plant and Art Fair 10-12 July 2018) - with photography held in the Lawrence Hall - with not a lot of visitors! Much the same as in previous years when held as part of the London Shows.)
In 2018, the Portfolio category became part of the RHS Photography Competition and was held alongside the RHS Botanical Illustration Show as part of the RHS London Art and Photography Show 2018 - with Photography in the Lawrence Hall and the art in the Lindley Hall.
In 2019, the art and photography show were held in the same hall - and all the trade / educational exhibit stands disappeared

Somewhere along this path, the emphasis has changed

from being about a horticultural society having a competition telling the story of botany and/or horticulture - through the medium of photography (with skills in the latter being a given)
to some sort of photographic competition with the botany and horticulture vey much taking a secondary role to an emphasis on photographic techniques.

I'm not sure 'Botanical Photography' per se is any sort of priority for the Royal Horticultural Society - at least if you go to its website - where absolutely nothing comes up if you put the term into the search box.

This is what the competition says it is about - in principle.

To my mind, "Portfolio Photography' seems to have morphed into a competition to provide a source of photos to keep visitors to RHS Gardens entertained and a ready supply of images for The Garden Magazine.

That might be a commercial imperative - but it would be nice to think that a Society as well endowed as the RHS doesn't need to sideline the technical botanical / horticultural issues / events / innovation in a photographic competition given these are also part and parcel of the work of people who are serious botanical photographers - rather than simply generalist magazine photographers.

Speaking personally, I don't get this and I think the emphasis is wrong.

There's any number of photographic competitions where the emphasis is on photography and the subject matter can include plants or gardens.
There are extremely few where the emphasis is on the plants or gardens with photography used to tell stories about for example:
- important heritage
- or plants winning awards of garden merit
- or innovation in the display of little known botanical or horticultural facts.

But, in reality, there's precious little of the latter in this exhibition - there's just too many 'pretty pictures' and 'conceptual art' and not enough horticulture.

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RHS Botanical Art Awards 2021

19/9/2021

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This is all about who won which colour RHS Medal at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2021 at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea.

I'm not going to the show until next week. I'm having to limit outings with my very painful ankle and use my rollator so I can always get a seat! Maybe I'll see you there?

If you're thinking of visiting the show see my post from yesterday Botanical Art Exhibitions (Autumn 2021) in London

First, a commentary....

When I looked at the Awards and who had won what, a number of thoughts occurred

Let's not forget that this is the show which was postponed from last year. The exhibitors have had to wait 15 months to see their artwork up for inspection by the Picture Panel who judge the artwork.
the number of artist exhibitors has reduced dramatically - to 15 - and the number of photography exhibits has dramatically increased to 19. I hope this isn't going to be repeated in future years, given the amount of time and effort which goes into artwork exhibits (Not to diss the photographers - but there's few who spend as much time on their exhibits as the artists do!)
the number of countries represented in the show is much reduced - and I think travel restrictions are very likely to be at least partly responsible for this. There are no exhibitors from Australasia, Africa, Asia (outside Honk Kong and Japan - I think), Europe (except one) and South America.
the number of Gold Medals are back to a 'normal' number statistically speaking - as per a normal distribution curve. i.e. I'd commented on the huge numbers of Gold Medals in the past. I thought there were too many and wondered why. I got my answer as to why we were back to normal when I looked at the names of the exhibitors.....
Many of the exhibitors are completely NEW to the RHS Botanical Art Show. So far as I am aware there are only three previous Gold Medal winners exhibiting - and only one of those won their medal in London. There in, I think, lies the answer.
- When you have people who have won a Gold Medal before, they're more likely to win again. When you've got lots of previous Gold Medal winners coming back to exhibit again - as we had in the last show - then the numbers tend to jump. But there must come a point when you need to ensure new artists have the chance to win a Gold Medal....
- That said, two of the Gold Medals were won at Malvern. I have heard people opine in the past that it's easier to win a Gold Medal at Malvern than it is in London. Personally I think it's more likely to be related to the quality of the exhibit - however there is much less competition at Malvern - and an exhibit in London has much more 'context' for deciding the colour of medals. It's entirely possible it makes a difference.
- I'd be interested to see what might happen if those selecting artists for an exhibition introduced a rule that at least 50% in every show must be new exhibitors who meet the 'Silver Medal' standard of those applying to exhibit.
I very much like the fact we can all get to see lots of new botanical art from people who are new to the RHS Botanical Art Show. I'm left wondering how many of them are well known to others - as a number of the names are completely new to me.
Those who are repeat exhibitors are typically those previously winning a Gold or Silver Gilt Medal. It has occurred to me previously that being selected to exhibit again at the RHS Botanical Art Show may come to depend in future on the colour of the medal you win at your first outing. It provides every incentive to people to ensure that their first exhibit is an excellent one!
Finally - and this might seem an odd comment to make, but I'll make it anyway. I'm pleased to see that a normal pattern of medal awards has been reinstated at the other end of the spectrum. I'd commented in the past to Judges that I thought one exhibit didn't deserve any colour of medal - despite the fact it got a bronze. (I think the words I'd used was I doubted if it would pass muster for access to a Diploma Course). To me, the medals MUST always be judged on the actual exhibit as presented - artwork, labelling, narrative etc - and emphatically NOT on the fact that an individual has been deemed worthy of showing at the show. In other words - getting permission to exhibit should never equate to an automatic bronze medal as a minimum. For me, there are ONLY two good reasons for "no award made":
- the exhibit failed to satisfy the technical criteria for the exhibit - through no fault of the artist (this has happened in the past when one artwork was damaged in transit and hence a full set was not exhibited)
- the exhibit failed to satisfy the judges as to merit for a medal of any colour. It happens in the Show Gardens and Plant displays - and it should also happen in the Art and Photography shows.

Number of Medals

You can download the Botanical Art Awards 2021 list (138kb pdf). There are 15 artists/exhibits and 14 medals in total:

5 Gold Medals ( UK x 2; Japan x 2; Portugal x 1)
7 Silver Gilt Medals
2 Silver Medals
0 Bronze Medals
1 No Award

For the record, I'm only covering the names of those who received a medal below.

Below are the names of the medal winners - plus a short profile where I can find a website!
I'll add images in when I get back from the show. (I've got a different strategy this year due to limited time on my feet and walking!)
At present, I'm linking to pics of exhibits where I can find them online

Major Botanical Art Awards

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Dates and venue for the RHS Botanical Art Show 2021

20/7/2021

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Artists participating in the next RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show now have the dates and venue. These are:

VENUE: to be formally announced this week (when I shall do a new blog post)
DATES:
- Judging: Thursday 16 September
- Preview evening Friday 17 September (which I assume means the medals will be posted next to the artwork)
- Exhibition: Saturday 18 September – Sunday 3 October 2021 (just over two weeks)

Watch out for an update on this page laster this week.

I shall miss the intensity of the 2.5 days of the usual show - with all the artists in attendance - because it's only 3 days for them. Hopefully as many a possible will be there for the Preview evening and to pick up there Medal Certificate! I'm perplexed at the moment as to how I'm going to be able to interview all the Gold Medal Winners.

Given the extended period of the show it's very unlikely that all the artists who attend will be there for the duration - and hence the scope to talk to them (which I know aspiring botanical artists much enjoy doing) will be diminished.

On the plus side, as it's going to be hung for much longer there's a much greater chance it will be seen my more people given existing commitments often ruled out attendance for some on previous occasions. (I well remember one year scooting from the show to Euston for a train up north for a big birthday celebration!)

I'm unclear what's happening about the sale of cards and prints which are sold by individual artists at the show in the past and often help to subsidise the costs of artists attending the exhibition. London is after all not a cheap place to stay!

CHANGE IN EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE

Watch out for a blog post this week about a CHANGE in the email subscription service. You may be asked to resubscribe to the new service
(due to the demise of the Feedburner service provided by Google)

SELECTION MEETING FOR 2022 EXHIBITION

The Selection Meeting for the 2022 Exhibition took place on 8th July. I'd love to know who's going to be showing next year.....

It's unclear at the moment whether the exhibition will change dates again in 2022 or whether it will be in:

April - as originally planned for 2020
September - as now planned for 2021

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NEWS for botanical artists wanting to exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2021 and 2022

13/5/2021

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This post is for TWO groups of botanical artists and illustrators and covers THREE topics:

Approved Botanical Artists & Illustrators - What's happening about:
- the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2021
- those botanical artists and illustrators whose approval to exhibit runs out in 2021 - but they have not yet exhibited.
New Botanical Artists & Illustrators - applying for selection to exhibit at the RHS Show in 2022 and beyond.

This is a top down view of the RHS Botanical Art Shown the Lindley Hall three years ago.

RHS London Botanical Art & Photography Show 2021

In 2020, the RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show in London was cancelled.

There is still no definite news or dates about this show and whether it will run in 2021. The very big and very airy Lindley Hall is currently being used for vaccinations.

However, every effort is being made to try and hold a Show and there are some updates from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).

Following my last post on this topic - The next RHS Botanical Art Show (19 April 2021) -here's what's been confirmed by the RHS to date:

The RHS hopes to relocate the Botanical Art Show in 2021 to a well-known gallery in central London.
Any exhibitors that were due to exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show in 2020 will be contacted in due course regarding exhibiting in 2021.
Artists who were eligible to exhibit up until 2021 and have not had the opportunity to do so (due to cancellation of 2020 and uncertainty re 2021), will have a year added to the period they are "approved to Exhibit".
the Show now has a dedicated page on the RHS website - which says "Show Dates - to be confirmed" (see below). Personally I see this page as good news....

Nice to see it in writing!

Show dates to be confirmed

How to get selected for an RHS Botanical Art Show

The RHS Botanical Art Show is unique in that selection for the Show:

relates to the botanical artist - and whether they meet the required standard
does NOT require the submission of proposed artwork for the show.

In effect, it's an "In Principle" application - which provides the impetus for many botanical artists and illustrators to develop a unique project and a stunning exhibit in the hope of winning one of the coveted and extremely prestigious RHS Gold Medals.

This part of my post is therefore directed at all those Botanical Artists who want to exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art Show - but have NOT YET been approved to exhibit.

The Selection Panel, which meets to decide which artists are invited to exhibit (between 2022 - 2027), has its next meeting on Thursday 8 July 2021.

That means now is the time to submit an application!

Artists, either individuals or groups, that have not previously exhibited at an RHS Show, must first submit a sample of four pieces of work the RHS Botanical Art Judging Panel for assessment and approval at the Selection Meeting, to be able eligible to apply for space to display work at an RHS Show.

SUMMARY: what you need to do to be selected to exhibit between 2022 and 2027.

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The next RHS Botanical Art Show

19/4/2021

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I've had various people asking me about what I know about the next RHS Botanical Art Show. As we move gradually out of lockdown I've now contacted Charlotte Brooks who is the Secretary of the Picture Committee which organises the show (with the assistance of the Show Department)

So this is what I know. Some of this is Charlotte and some of this is me. So

(CB) means Charlotte is the source for what's said before this suffix
(RHS) means it's on the RHS website
(KT) means I'm the source - and for the most part my comments are complete speculation - grounded in some knowledge of how things work.

This blog post covers:

What's the date of the next RHS Botanical Art Show?
What's the date of the next Selection Meeting?
What else is happening?
More about the RHS Botanical Art Shows and how to exhibit

What's the date of the next RHS Botanical Art Show?

We are working to secure a venue and date for the 2021 London Botanical Art Show and we will publish information as soon as we can. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Exhibition of Botanical Art | RHS

There is no date set at the moment - for various reasons.

The RHS Lindley Hall is currently in use as a Vaccination Centre for the population of Westminster - and hence not available (CB).
- If this keeps going until all vaccinations are one this means that it's definitely not available before July (target for the vaccination of adults). (KT)
- It may be in use again in the early Autumn if they go for a booster vaccine for older people as has been discussed. (KT)
It's very unlikely that the Show will be held at the same time as any of the other RHS Shows (just because they NEVER seem to parallel run RHS Shows at different locations - and the RHS website tells you about planned dates for any RHS Shows (KT)
- there are gardens opening and RHS Shows planned for May, June, July, August and September (RHS) - and of course, any of these might need to be rescheduled if there were any further outbreaks....
- which suggests to me that October is probably the earliest a Botanical Art / Photography Show could be held in the Lindley Hall - if it is available (KT - pure speculation)
- one option might be to go back to its original timing of February (which was very popular) - in which case the earliest show would be in February 2022 (KT)
- I'm a big fan of the notion it goes back to including a Saturday as one of its days - as that always used to generate a LOT of visitors (see below) (KT)

RHS Botanical Art Show in February 2016

Controls on travel are likely to be very important to the success of the show. The RHS Botanical Art Show has always had a large number of international artists participating. The problem at the moment is there are very strict controls on who can go where - and this varies across the world (KT)

What's the date of the next Selection Meeting?

The Selection Meeting is when representatives of the Picture Committee review the applications to exhibit and decide who should get approval to exhibit at some point in the next five years.

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NEW PAGE: Talks, Lectures and Tours about Botanical Art & Illustration

25/3/2021

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Today, I've published a new page about Talks, Lectures and Tours about Botanical Art and Illustration.

You can find it in the menu of the EDUCATION section of my Botanical Art and Artists website

The New Page has two halves

Online Talks and Lectures
In Person Talks, Lectures and Tours

This is content which does NOT form part of an educational course or workshop.

I've created the new page for two reasons

First, I think not everybody is aware of the free and paid opportunities to access experts talking about botanical art and illustration. Hence I aim for this page to be a place where all alks, lectures and tours can be listed.
Second, we've seen an increase in the number of people and organisations which are now routinely delivering online content as videos by Zoom.

Online Talks and Lectures

Find out more about the online talks, lectures and demos being delivered by:

The Shirley Sherwood Collection (FREE)
Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library Talks (FREE)
Linnean Society Talks and Tours (modest PAID)
Julia Trickey Talks (PAID)
ASBA Annual Conference (PAID)

In Person Talks, Lectures and Tours

I will be including the following in this section and provide indications of what has been provided to date

Kew Gardens "Ask the Expert" (FREE)
Kew Gardens Tours
Lectures in The Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew Gardens
Lectures at the Lindley Library, RHS HQ, London

NOTE: Most of the in person events are suspended at the moment due to the Pandemic (and lockdown in the UK). Some are limited to members of Kew or the RHS or other specific groups.

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