Exhibiting artists at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2019

14/7/2019

Below you an find a list of the 30 artists exhibiting at least 180 botanical paintings and/or botanical illustrations at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2019 at the RHS London Art & Photography Show at the Lindley Hall in London later this month.

There has been an ever-increasing number of artists applying to exhibit. This year the artists are sharing the Lindley Hall with the Portfolio Photographers also competing for medals. It appears to me that an informed but arbitrary limit has been determined with 30 stands going to the artists and 10 to the photographers.

In reviewing the list of exhibitors I noted in particular that apart from those artists who have never exhibited before, the remainder of the artists exhibiting are those who have previously won either a Gold or a Silver Gilt Medal.

I wonder if this is the new standard for returning artists? If it is I'm not surprised - I've been expecting it for some time given that the walls of the Hall are not going to expand to fit all those who want to exhibit! (I found the relevant text in the Fact Sheet)

It may not be possible to accommodate all of the artists who apply for space. If this is the case a selection criteria will be employed taking into consideration previous exhibition and medal history.
Botanical Illustration 2019: Exhibitor Fact Sheet

View of the RHS Botanical Art Show in July 2018

All exhibitors have applied to exhibit after

either a selection process to get approval to exhibit
or previously winning a medal in an exhibition.

Both then have a period of five years to submit their artwork after gaining approval or a medal. Interestingly we have two Gold Medal Winners from the 2014 exhibiting this year.

The list of selected/invited artists is organised by the continent/country where they live.
In total there are

30 artists (35 in 2016, 29 in 217 and 37 in 2018) )
from 10+ different countries (10 in 2016 and 12 in 2018).

The number per country is as follows:

14 x UK (England)
3 x Japan
2 x South Korea
1 x Australia
1 x Italy
1 x Hong Kong (China)
1 x New Zealand
1 x Switzerland
1 x UK (Scotland)
1 x USA
4 x Other

The link in the name of the artist is to their own website or a website which is representative of their work.

I've highlighted previous Gold Medal Winners by 'GM' after their names. The number relates to the year they won it. I've also commented on those I know and those where I was able to find some information about them. Help would be appreciated with respect to anybody who knows those listed at the end under "other".

DETAILS OF THE RHS LONDON ART & PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW

The RHS London Art and Photography Show includes 30 artists and 10 photographers.
Venue: RHS Lindley Hall Elverton St, London SW1P 2PB
Dates:

opens with a Preview Evening on Tuesday 23rd July 6-9pm. All tickets £5. Note medal certificates may not be published until the Wednesday morning - as happened last year.
Two full days on Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th (10am-5pm).

Tickets: This is the link to buy tickets in advance: £5 to the public for each day if purchased in advance and £8 on the day. FREE ENTRY to all RHS Members producing their membership cards and ID (No ticket required)

MY RECOMMENDATIONS:

VISIT THIS EXHIBITION if you are at all serious about botanical art as a botanical artist or botanical art collector. It will include some of the best botanical art exhibited anywhere in the world this year.

My strong recommendation to Artists planning to apply to the RHS to exhibit in the future has always been to

Ideally visit the exhibition to get a proper sense of the standard and what's involved in putting together an exhibit
If you can't visit (because you live outside the UK) review my archive of blog posts and videos about previous shows to get a sense of the standard and presentation
Study the exhibits and think about why some work better than others as exhibits. Think long and hard about your exhibit theme. Avoid popular / much repeated themes and remember this is a Horticultural Society which values botanical accuracy!
study the background and paintings of those selected for this exhibition - in particular those who have previously been awarded a Gold Medal by the RHS. Note the length of time it takes to prepare before starting to paint.
Make the most of the tips offered by previous Gold Medal Winners
Delay exhibiting until you have the very best exhibit you can possibly produce. I've known people very much regret they rushed an exhibit.
ALWAYS bear in mind that the weakest element/painting is very influential in determining the medal awarded. Eliminate all weaknesses!
Aim for Silver Gilt or better - to stand a better chance of being able to exhibit more than once.

EUROPE (17 exhibitors)

United Kingdom - England (14)

This year's exhibitors include 5 Gold Medallists, 2 Silver Gilt Medallists and 7 artists who are NEW to exhibiting at the RHS (as an individual).

Karen Bailey - Gentiana (Watercolour) - Fellow of the Society of Botanical Artists. In 2013 Karen was awarded a Certificate of Botanical Merit. She enjoys painting alpine plants on vellum.
Bernard Carter GM (Malvern 2012, 2017) - Beneath the Leaf | Showing the intricate structural veining of very large leaves in late autumn (Watercolour) - Lives in Derbyshire. Bernard has previous won two RHS Gold medals in 2012 (a series of fruit and vegetable montages) and 2017 (Seed Heads ) at Malvern and a Best in Show award 2017. He has work in the Lindley Collection. Bernard is a former professional photographer who took up botanical art in his retirement. He is a founder member of the Eden Project Florilegium Society and has had work published world-wide.
Caroline Frances-King - Hedgerows & Woodland - fragments (Watercolour) - previously exhibited in 2014 and won a Silver Gilt medal - and sold three paintings!
Caroline Jackson-Houlston GM (2018 Malvern) - Mycorrhizal fungi of the Thames Valley area: Cortinarius and Boletes. (Watercolour) - won a Gold Medal for Passion Flowers at the RHS Botanical Art Show at Malvern. Features in the new book about Gold Medal Winners (see double page spread on pages 126-127) and associated exhibit in the RHS Lindley Library.
Maryna Kyselyova - Parrot Tulips (Watercolour on paper) - Based in London. Graduated from Odessa University with a Master’s degree in computer science and now pursues a career as a graphic designer in a software company. She is passionate about plants and began to pursue botanical art while in London.
Louise Lane GM (2012, 2014) - The Life of a Leaf | Aesculus hippocastanum (Watercolour and pencil). - Louise is one of a very few artists to have won an RHS Gold Medal working in different media. In 2012 she won her first for Native Ferns of the Peak District (in Graphite) and the Best Exhibit in the RHS Botanical Art Show 2012. Her second was for watercolour paintings of Ophrys (Bee Orchids) of Menorca. Featured in my blog post Interviews with six RHS Botanical Art Gold Medal Winners (2014).

Louise Lane and her RHS Gold Medal Winning watercolour paintings and sketches of Menorcan Orphrys in 2014

Nikki Marks GM (2014) - Gin botanicals (Watercolour on paper) - Nikki took up botanical painting on retirement and became a student of Pandora Sellars in 2009. Won a Gold Medal in 2014 for The Genus Arisaema. Featured in my blog post Interviews with six RHS Botanical Art Gold Medal Winners (2014). She paints using uses M. Graham Watercolor Paints.
Yolande Muschamp - Cultivated beets: sugar beet, beetroot, chard, mangelwurzel (Watercolour) - Lives in the West Country. Member of Bristol and North Somerset Botanical Painting Society (whose website seems to have gone AWOL). No website.
Nigel Pickering - Treasures of the Richtersveld (Watercolour and graphite) - a retired GP (4y) who took up botanical illustration as a retirement project. He's interested in botany, plants and conservation particularly in rare and unusual plants 'living on the edge'. (plants of mountains and desert regions). He's a student of Julia Trickey and also works with the group of Cirencester Botanical Artists. No website.
Linda Pitkin - British Native Aquatic and Waterside Plants (Watercolour) - Linda has CBiol (Chartered Biologist) and MRSB (Member of the Royal Society of Biology) after her name. Taking up botanical illustration draws on her career in Entomological research (insect taxonomy), Natural History Museum, London, (1967-2006) and Freelance underwater photography, (1983 - date). She's a Fellow of the Hampton Court Palace Florilegium Society (since 2011).
Sarah Poat - River Dart Habitats: Moor to Sea (Watercolour) - Lives in Devon. A member of the the Eden Project Florilegium Society and the South West Society of Botanical Artists (SWSBA). In 2018 she exhibited at the RHS as part of a SWSBA group - and this year has come back as an individual.
Janet Pope - Potatoes - shoots, roots, skin, flesh - Solanum tuberosum (Watercolour on paper) - her exhibit will include the following potatoes: ‘Red Emmalie’, ‘Highland Burgundy Red’, ‘Pink Fir Apple’, ‘Violetta’, ‘Shetland Black’, ‘Salad Blue’. Janet studied at the Royal College of Art and is a member of a member of the Society of Botanical Artists; the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society; the Institute for Analytical Plant Illustration and a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London.
Surjeet Riyait - Equatorial Plants (Watercolour) - born and raised in Kenya and where she graduated in graphic design. Member of Leicestershire Society of Botanical Artists. She started botanical illustration as a hobby a few years ago. No website.
Shirley Slocock (GM 2016) - British seaweeds - Watercolour and pencil - Won an RHS Gold Medal in 2017 for plants associated with 'Wayside tracks and verges' in different localities. - all drawn in graphite. Studied for her Diploma at the English Gardening School. She is a Fellow of the Hampton Court Palace Florilegium Society and a member of Amicus Botanicus. Exhibited at the Hunt and has two paintings in the collection. No website.

Shirley Slocock GM - with her Gold Medal winning exhibit of plants associated with Wayside Tracks and Verges in the Lindley Hall (2017)

Jenny Webster - A Year of Irises (Watercolour on HP paper) - Based in Leicestershire. - Jenny was awarded a Diploma with distinction from the Society of Botanical Artists in 2009 and won an RHS Silver Gilt medal in 2012 and 2015. She's a member of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society and Member of the Leicestershire Society of Botanical Artists No website.
Wendy Smith - A Long Season Of Clematis (Ink) - First time exhibitor. Works as a self-employed gardener. Got hooked on botanical art in 2011 while taking a four week adult education class. Awarded a CBM at the SBA in 2015. I've seen Wendy's botanical illustrations in pen and ink and they are impressive.

Below is one of the reasons why I love getting feedback!

I am Wendy Smith, exhibiting at the RHS for the first time and you were one of the reasons I decided to give it a go! ....you commented once that people who got CBM at the SBA often went on to the RHS and that spurred me on.
Wendy Smith

United Kingdom - Scotland (1)

Marianne is a NEW exhibitor.

Marianne Hazlewood - Arisaema - featuring inflorescence and fruit (Watercolour) - Based in Edinburgh. Marianne achieved her RBGE Diploma in Botanical Illustration, with distinction in 2017 and also won the Eve Reid Bennett Award for Botanical Illustration 2017. In 2019 she won a Gold award, for her exhibit if Arisaema inflorescence & fruit at BISCOT 2019 and I'm guessing this exhibit is now coming south of the Border. Marianne has also a prize-winning artist in non-botanical art exhibitions held by national art societies.

Marianne Hazlewood and her Gold exhibit at Biscot 2019 - at RBG Edinburgh

Italy (1)

Sabrina is a NEW exhibitor.

Sabrina Luoni - Anemochory, dispersal by wind | Some examples of different pappus and plumed seeds (Watercolour) - born in 1973 near Varese, in Northern Italy, where she currently lives. Diploma in Painting, Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, Milan (1995). Graduated from the SBA Distance Learning Diploma Course 10, SBA in 2010. Has previously exhibited in Italy and the UK.

Switzerland (1)

Verene's second visit to RHS

Verene Kutter - The history of Anemone coronaria and its hybrids from the early historic times up to the present (Watercolour) - Verene won an RHS Silver Gilt Medal with her paintings of The Genus Anemone in Flora Europeae at the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition in 2014. You can see some of her paintings of Anemones here

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AMERICAS (1 exhibitor)

USA

Only one exhibitor from the USA. There are lots of people in the UK who would absolutely love to see more exhibiting artists from the USA or Canada or any of the countries in Central and South America.

Betsy Rogers-Knox - Exploring the Seasons at Beckley Bog - The Botany and Beauty of Vascular Plants and Bog Benefits (Watercolour) - Betsy completed the NYBG Botanical Illustration Program in 2006. She won an RHS Silver Gilt Medal for her exhibit of Milkweed Through the Seasons in 2016. She recently won the Eleanor Wunderlich Award at the ASBA 21st International Exhibition.

ASIA - (6 exhibitors + ?)

Hong Kong (1)

Mark's third visit to RHS.

Mark Isaac-Williams - Illustrations of Asian Species Orchids (Watercolour, graphite and ink) - Mark paints orchids. He was born in Hong Kong and following a career in horticulture in both England and Australia, he returned to Hong Kong, retired in 2000, and began painting full-time. He was awarded Silver Gilt Medals when he exhibited in 2016 and 2017.

Japan (3)

Four exhibitors from Japan this year - but three have previously won Gold Medals and two have previously won Best Exhibit!

Naomi Gumma - A Gift from the Gods: The Life Cycle of the Shimonita Welsh Onion (Tempera on paper) - Naomi does not have a website. First time exhibitor

Mariko Ikeda (GM 2017 and Best Exhibit 2017) - Pandanus tectorius of Micronesian Atoll (Watercolour on vellum) Lives in Tokyo. Has a Ph.D. in the Sciences of Art (2009). She has been a Botanical Art Instructor in Tokyo since 2006. Has won 1st Prize (twice) at the Botanical Art Competition run by the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo. In 2017 she won a Gold Medal for her exhibit of Pandanus and was also awarded Best Exhibit in show.
Masako Mori (GM) - Edible Leguminous Plants (Watercolour) - Lives in Tokyo and won an RHS Gold Medal for her Persimmons in 2015. she has also exhibited at the 14th International Exhibition, The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
Kumiko Takano (GM 2015 and Best Exhibit 2015) - Fruit trees of Ibaraki prefecture (Watercolour on paper) - Won an RHS Gold Medal and the Best Exhibit Award with her display of climbing plants at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2015

Kumiko Takana with two of her paintings in the 2015 Best Exhibit.

Korea (3)

I think I'm right in saying all three are new exhibitors to RHS.

Joyce Byungsook Ko - Namul (edible grass/leaves) in Korea - Compositae (Watercolour)
Mi Yeon Lee - Hibiscus syriacus L. (Watercolor pencils)
Nan Joo Lim - Native Korean vine plants used in Oriental medicine (Watercolour on paper)

AUSTRALASIA (2 exhibitors)

Australia (1)

A NEW exhibitor.

Elaine Allison - Host foodplants of Australian butterflies (Watercolour and graphite pencil on paper) - Elaine has a degree in Botany with Zoology and a PhD in microbial physiology. Began botanical illustration in 1984. She has worked as a natural history illustrator, botanical art tutor and science teacher before becoming a deputy head in secondary education. She moved to Australia in 2013. Her passion is the depiction of the relationships between plants and insects. She's a member of BASQ, The Florilegium Society at the RBG Sydney and a founder member of ABBA.

New Zealand (1)

This is Sue's fourth visit to an RHS Show and I think she might one of very few who are continuing the theme of the previous year.

Sue Wickison (GM 2008) - Plants of the Qur'an (Part II) (Watercolour) - Sue was born in Sierra Leone but did her degree in Scientific Illustration in London. She then worked at Kew Gardens as a botanical illustrator for nine years. She now lives in New Zealand but has solo exhibitions around the world. She won her Gold Medal in 2008 for Arisaema. This year's exhibit is Part II of the same topic as last year - Plants of the Qur'an - when she won a Silver Gilt.

OTHER

These are all botanical artists / illustrators whose country is unclear due to a lack of a website. Any help in identifying which country is home or more about their botanical illustration profile is welcomed.

Now allocated to correct country and listing updated since original publication

More about artists selected in previous years

These are my blog posts about the artists from all over the world who were selected for the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition prior to 2019.

Medal winners

More about the RHS Botanical Art Show

The RHS Picture Panel Botanical Art in May 2019 - plus botanical art submissions on the table (left to right Andrew Brown, Charlotte Brooks, Helen Allen and Dr Shirley Sherwood)

For those of you not familiar with the exhibition it requires each artist to be:

vetted at least a year in advance as to whether their artwork has reached the level required to be able to apply for a space at the exhibition. "Approved to exhibit" artists then have five years to produce their exhibit. This is to allow for botanical life cycles and the fact that it may take some time to collect all the material to create the paintings
produce a minimum of six drawings or paintings - on a theme - which meet standards prescribed by the RHS
apply for a place at the exhibition - and then wait and see if they get allocated a place
hang their own exhibition - and be judged on defined assessment criteria for the standard of the exhibit as well as the standard of the paintings
those attending are generally expected to remain with their paintings for the 2.5 days of the exhibition

You can read more about the RHS Botanical Art Shows on two pages on this website:

RHS Botanical Art Exhibitions - which outlines the process and has links to where you can find more information. Plus it has links to all reviews of the shows where you can see more about the type of exhibits which win Gold Medals and links to all my interviews with the RHS Gold Medal Winners
Tips from RHS Gold Medal Winners - every interview I ask the Gold Medal Winners for their tips for doing well and producing good work - and this page documents those tips

and view the exhibition too.

The Top Botanical Art Show in the World - Video

This is the RHS London Art & Photography Show 2019: Exhibitor Fact Sheet for those exhibiting in 2019 - and those interested in exhibiting in the future.

Related RHS blog posts include:

I highly RECOMMEND that if you want to exhibit with the RHS, that if at all possible that you try and make a point of coming and see a show beforehand. People tell me it makes all the difference to be able to see the different ways people present their work - and the standard of work which brings different colour medals.

Below you can see my video of the show in 2017. (8 minutes) It starts with the entrance to the Lindley Hall and shows you all the exhibits.

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