RHS London Botanical Art Show 2017 - Medal Winners

This post is about who won which medal at the RHS London Botanical Art Show 2017. I've previously covered the Best Exhibit and Best Painting in RHS Botanical Art 2017 in my last post. 

View over the RHS Botanical Art Show in the Lindley Hall in Westminster

I'll also be writing posts in the coming days for:

• TIPS from the RHS Gold Medal Winners - a very popular perennial!
• Interview with the RHS Gold Medal Winners - one for the winners from Asia and another for the winners from Australia and the UK.
• The challenge of an RHS Botanical Art Group Exhibit (based on my interview with Denver Botanical Garden School of Botanical Art and Illustration)

How medals are assessed

The RHS included a useful exhibit of how the artwork for the exhibition is assessed. You can find a more detailed explanation in the Guidelines for the exhibition.

Candidates who have been approved to exhibit must submit at least six works - preferably on a theme. You get extra marks if you illustrate a plant family.
 
Key points are:

• very high standards are essential
• emphasis on botanical accuracy
• assessed as botanical illustration
• marks are awarded for presentation as well as accuracy and quality of the artwork

Judges want to see

• botanical accuracy (measure your plant);
  
• exact colour reproduction (don't paint from photos and make sure you do lots of colour swatches before you start); and 
• artists who have paid attention to detail - particularly that which differentiates one plant from another

RHS Gold Medal

​This is probably the biggest challenge and the most difficult award to win for any botanical painter.

There were nine Gold Medals in total. There may well have been more but unfortunately two previous Gold Medal winners had to pull out very late due to the serious ill-health of close family members.  I'm sure that both Sansanee and Sue will be back next year and I send my very best wishes to both them and their families.

Below are the botanical artists who won Gold Medals for their botanical art exhibits. It's worth remembering that assessment is based on the weakest painting on show so the entire exhibit of a minimum of six drawings or paintings has to be top-notch to get a Gold Medal.

Some however have a talent for winning Gold Medals - and watch out for my comments below.

A fourth Gold Medal for Annie Hughes for 'Eucalyptus of Western Australia'

• ​Denver School of Botanical Art & Illustration ​(USA - Colorado) - an exhibition by the instructors of Rocky Mountains: Plants and Funghi with Altitude
• Keiko Fujita (Japan - Tokyo) - Growth of Bamboo in Japan
• Bridget Gillespie GM (UK - North Yorkshire) Root Vegetables Life Cycle - Bridget has been a botanical artist since 1992, She won the Best Painting in Show this year and has won two previous Gold Medals for plums and pears.
• Annie Hughes GM (2011, 2012, 2013, 2017 + BISCOT) (Australia - Sydney) Eucalyptus of Western Australia - Annie is a phenomenon. She's exhibited four times and won a Gold Medal each time
• Suyeon Kim (South Korea - Seoul) - An exhibit of Endemic Plants of Korea
• Mariko Ikeda  (Japan - Tochigi) - Her exhibit of Pandanus won Best in Show
• Mayumi Ishii (Japan - Tokyo) - An exhibit of ten different Roses
• Kathy Pickles GM (UK - Orkney) - This is Kathy's 7th Gold Medal and this one is for Clematis. Rachel de Thame purchased one of her paintings!
• Shirley Slocock (UK - Surrey) - drawings in graphite of plants found in Wayside Tracks and Verges

Clematis by Kathy Pickles - her 7th gold medal

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RHS Silver Gilt Medal

​These are people who have missed out on a Gold Medal for a particular reason.

This can be to do with presentation - including labelling (eg one year it was getting the latin name wrong), botany, accuracy, content of exhibit, colours and the general avoidance of any areas of confusion.

The artists - and exhibits - are:

• Sumiko Davies (UK - East Sussex) - Wild Orchids of Crete
  
• Sarah Jane Humphrey  (UK - Cornwall) - The Genus Lavandula
  
• Mark Isaac-Williams (Hong Kong) - A Variety of Asian Bamboos
• Bridgette James (UK - Norfolk)  Allium
• Hideko Kamoshita (Japan - Tokyo) - Cirsium (Asteraceae) in Japan
• Asako Kuwajima (Japan - Yokoham) - Chrysanthemum
• Claudine Pasquin (Italy - Como) - Plants of 'Magredi', dry grasslands of Friuli
• Silvana Rava GM (Italy - Como) - Excellent Harvests of Italy
• Vivienne Rew ​- (UK - Stoke-on-Trent) Metamorphosis - Lifecycle of Papaver orientale
• Kazumi Yoshikawa - (Japan - Tokuyo) White Flowers

Two silver gilt exhibits seen from above - 'Metamorphosis - Lifecycle of Papaver orientale' by Vivienne Rew and 'White Flowers' by Kazumi Yoshikawa

RHS Silver Medal

• Kate Barling - Climbers growing in a Devon Garden
  
• Nigel Bowley (UK - Kent) - Orchid Flower Portraits
• Martha G Kemp GM ​(USA - California) Autumn Textures, Prickly to Smooth: Nuts, Cones & Fruit
• Patricia Newman - (France) - In an Irish garden
• Harue Takumi (Japan - Tokyo) - Camellias of Japan
  

RHS Bronze Medal

• ​Catherine Kellie - Species of flowering perennials in the Ranunculaceae family
• Olivia Chalmers - Datura - This is Olivia's 5th Bronze medal

All exhibits were awarded a medal.

Previous Posts

Posts about the RHS Botanical Art Show 2017 to date are as follows:

• RHS Botanical Art Shows in 2017 - the FAQS 
• Who's exhibiting at RHS Botanical Art (London) 2017? 
• RHS Botanical Art 2017 - Selected Artists
• Artists' Exhibits in the RHS Botanical Art Show 2017 

• Best Exhibit and Best Painting in RHS Botanical Art Show 2017