Christobel King and the Margaret Mee Artist Scholars

30/3/2016

It was a delight to meet Christobel King and Gustavo Marigo at the recent Private View for the Brazil - a powerhouse of plants exhibition at Kew.

Gustavo is the current Margaret Mee Artist Scholar who started his studies at Kew Gardens in 2015. I was also present as Christobel introduced him to Álvaro Xavier Núñez who is one the best known of the contemporary Brazilian botanical artists

Gustavo Marigo (left) and Christobel King (right) in front of some of her paintings at the current exhibition about Brazilian plants and artists

The Margaret Mee Artist Scholars

You can read about how the Fellowship Programme which was set up in her memory and how it came about:

on this website (see About Margaret Mee) and
on the Kew website - the Margaret Mee Fellowship Programme

Below is the list of names of all the Artist Scholars from Brazil to date who have been sponsored by the Margaret Mee Fellowship Programme.

List of Artist Scholars in the exhibition at Kew

It was fascinating to find out from Christobel that she spent three years learning the Portuguese language so she could be more effective in her teaching of the artist scholars from Brazil.

More recently , personal circumstances and the need for Christobel to have a break to write her book (see below) required a short break in the programme.

However the programme has now recommenced and the 2015 scholar is currently studying at Kew and a new one will be appointed for 2016.

Gustavo Marigo with his botanical paintings of plants of Brazil

You can also read more about what has happened to the various Margaret Mee Scholars from the past in my NEW Page about the botanical artists of South America.

The current exhibition also includes a gallery devoted to their work.

The long gallery of paintings by the Artist Scholars.

Paintings by Fatima Zagonel - the 1999 Artist Scholar who studied at Kew

Christobel King and "The Kew Book of Botanical Illustration"

You can find about the techniques that Christobel King uses to teach students of botanical art who come to Kew in her newly published book. You can find out more details of this book on this page on this website.

1 Comment

Marcos A S Silva Ferraz, Dr. rer. nat. link

5/4/2016 11:59:29 pm

Dear Mrs Tyrrell,
I was very happy to see my name on your publication about the Margaret Mee scholars. I was the 13th scholar.
As you mentioned some details about past scholars I would like to tell you something about myself. I am a biologist, took my PhD in Germany in Molecular Immunology, but ended up being a scientific illustrator :-)
I have always drawn and painted since I can remember.
Well, after my PhD, I returned to Brazil and started reading Immunology at the University of Brasilia. But I felt that the Biology students needed a (at least) basic knowledge in Drawing. So I created an optional course in scientific illustration. It went so well that in 1999 I created the first Scientific Illustration Lab. in a Brazilian university.
In 2001 I was lucky enough to get the Margaret Mee Scholarship. This was a turning point in my career, since after my time at Kew I decided to leave the research in Immunology and dedicate myself to teaching Scientific Illustration. Because I am a professor in a Federal University, I am constantly invited to teach in other universities as well (São Paulo, Manaus, etc..) and also in Portugal where I am at the moment. Here I lead the Zoological Illustration module at the University of Aveiro´s Specialization Course in Scientific Illustration, that is led by the portuguese illustrator Fernando Correa (http://www.ilustracao-cientifica-uaveiro.com/#!professores/c55p) Diana Carneiro, also a past scholar teaches the Botanical Illustration Module. With Alvaro Nunes we organized the III Brazilian Congress on Scientific Illustration that took place in Brasilia in 2010, Christabel was there leading one the the mini courses (hers was on painting cacti) . This year the V Congress will be held in Florianópolis.
I think that one of the main results this scholarship has is its "multiplication factor", and I hope to be able to be keeping up the work that the Margaret Mee Amazon Trust expects from us!
Sorry if this message turned out too big.
Also, I must say I am a regular reader of your fantastic blogs!!
Thank you for your patience!
Marcos Silva-Ferraz

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