SBA Plantae 2022: Award Winners

This post is the first of FOUR about the annual exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists. which took place last week at the Mall Galleries in London

These are 

• today's post - which is about the botanical artists receiving awards at Plantae 2022 the 2017 Annual Exhibition of  It includes images of the artwork receiving awards and more information about the artists (links to their websites are embedded in their names).
• tomorrow's post is about those awarded a Certificate of Botanical Merit
• Friday's post is about those awarded a Certificate of Exhibiting Excellence
• finally, Sunday's post will be a review of the exhibition as a whole and a commentary on its most recent development (I've been reviewing this exhibition since 2006!)
• ​subject to caveat - see below.
  

For every award I'll be linking to the botanical artist who received the award and including some brief bio details and an image of the artwork which merited the award.

BELOW the various awards are divided into three categories

• Society of Botanical Artists Awards
• Monetary Awards
• ​Awards sponsored by art materials companies

NOTE: Apologies for the delay in posting about the exhibition but a very close relative has been seriously ill and I've been very much preoccupied with other matters.

Society of Botanical Artists Awards

These are awards which originate within the Society of Botanical Artists and members past and present. Often as a memorial to a particular member.

Five watercolour paintings by Billy Showell in Plantae 2022 (except for the middle on right)

Suzanne Lucas Memorial Award in Recognition of Services to SBA
Billy Showell and Gael Sellwood
Recognition for the person who has given outstanding service to the Society, their name(s) is inscribed in the Memorial Book named after the first President of the SBA.

Billy Showell and Gael Sellwood are the immediate past Co-Presidents of the SBA and have been stalwarts of the team of members who make things happen behind the scenes for a number of years.   They were certainly a permanent feature of the exhibition team for as long as I can remember.

For six years they served on SBA Council together and for 3½ of those they were the Co-Presidents. In doing so they both made a serious commitment to supporting both botanical art and artists via the SBA while having active careers as artists and art teachers.

They are both, of course, also well known and prizewinning botanical artists and teacher of botanical art. Both have moved further away from the home counties near to London to more rural areas in recent times. Billy has moved into the deeper depths of Kent and Gael has relocated both home and studio to Somerset.

Hornbeam by Agita Keiri

Joyce Cumming Presentation Award 
Hornbeam by Agita Keiri
Silver Plate for botanical work; Certificate for the winner | Chosen by the SBA Council

Agita Keiri was born in Latvia and now lives and works in Edinburgh. Her background is not typical of botanical artists.

• She's followed a traditional art school education and subsequently focused on portraiture. 
• Her art education included the Latvian State Academy of Art, Painting department (enrolled 1997, Bachelor's degree 2001, Master's degree in 2003). 
• In 2011 she completed Caravaggio master class at Angel Art Academy in Florence, Italy.
• In 2018, she completed the Society of Botanical Artists distance-learning course diploma with distinction.
• Since 1997 her work has been seen in numerous group exhibitions in Latvia and internationally including Artexpo New York (2010), the Florence Biennale (2011), BP Portrait Award 2011 at the National Portrait Gallery, London. In 2013, she received the second prize in ARC Salon International competition. (See also my blog post Review: BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2011 where Agita gets a mention

As a botanical illustrator, she's now been exhibited by the SSBA - where she won the Sponsor (Cass Arts) Prize in 2019 and the SBA. You can see more of her botanical illustrations on her website 

Clearly Agita Keiri is one to watch for the future! 
You can follow her on https://www.instagram.com/akeiri_art/​ and http://www.keiriart.uk

Banksia grandis by Lynne Uptin

Margaret Granger Memorial Silver Bowl 
​Banksia grandis by Lynne Uptin
Silver Bowl for the best work or body of work by member elected in the last two ​years; Certificate for the winner  | Chosen by Council


Linda Uptin is a resident of Tasmania in Australia. She trained at the National Art School Sydney and had a career as a leading illustrator in Sydney (13 years) then owned art galleries and art studios. She was also Director of Arts Tasmania, the State’s arts funding body, for 20 years and was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2010 for services to arts administration.

Linda was awarded a Distinction for her SBA Diploma and also won the Award of Excellence for the highest overall marks on the Course.

She is particularly interested in the distinctive Gondwanan plants that were isolated as Tasmania broke away from Antarctica 40 million years ago and uses her Gondwana mobile studio to travel to research and paint plants in Tasmania.

Presidents Award
Phoenix dactylifera #1 by ​Suha Kim.
Certificate for the winner | Chosen by the current President(s)
​
Suha Kim is a botanical artist from Korea who is currently based in the UAE. She is an SBA Fellow. She works in watercolour who is from Korea and has previously participated in the International Botanical art Korea Competition and was also selected for the online SBA Exhibition in 2020.

Joanne Craig-McFeeley Rose Bowl 
Carroway (73) by Guy  William Eves
Silver Rose Bowl for a true botanical piece of work; ; Certificate for the winner  | Judged by an external Judge

Guy has been an exhibiting member of the Society of Botanical Artists since 2011 and has received numerous awards and recognition for his meticulous botanical illustrations in graphite. He also exhibits with Florilegium Groups, notably the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society and the group which illustrated the garden at the Royal College of Physicians. Royal College of Physicians

Monetary Awards (sponsored)

Making A Mark Award
Body of work by Inês- Hermione Mulford 
Prize: £100 | Judged by Katherine Tyrrell (author of Botanical Art & Artists and Making A Mark)

My aim with this new award was to find a new perspective on botanical art. I outlined my criteria for my award in the previous blog post. These were:

• a first time exhibitor at the exhibition who impresses
• people who bring a fresh and different approach to botanical art and illustration 
• artwork demonstrating a genuine new perspective on how to portray habitat
• artwork about plants which don't often get illustrated
• drawing excellence - maybe in less used media

Inês- Hermione Mulford's status as a first time exhibitor and the nature of her graphite macro drawings of mosses and lichens ticked the box for every criteria! Hence why she won the award.

I'll be writing about her artwork and background in a future post - which will also include images of the macro drawings which are very small.

Going forward, my sponsorship of this award will always and additionally include an interview with the artist and a blog post on this website.

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Sponsors' Awards - art materials companies
​

​Faber Castell Award 
Fading Away, Veteran Beech in Epping Forest by Sandra Doyle
Prize: 120 polychromos

I've been an admirer of work my Sandra Doyle for some time. She's one of a very few botanical artists who makes a serious study of trees.

Sandra Doyle is a professional natural history illustrator and has been illustrating the natural world for over 30 years. Using watercolour, ink & coloured pencils she has provided artwork for many natural history publications, including those from Princeton University Press, Oxford University Press, Dorling Kindersley, Bloomsbury & New Holland. Her paintings have also been selected for numerous and diverse art exhibitions and won a number of awards.

I understand that this magnificent drawing has been acquired for the RHS Lindley Art Collection of Botanical Art.

'Fading Away' an illustration of a 500 yr old lapsed pollard beech in Epping Forest  (Acrylic Ink and Coloured Pencil on Paper, 36cm x 58cm).

William Cowley Parchment and Vellum Makers for best use of vellum
Cerinthe major ‘Purpurascens’ by Youngran Choi
Prize: Vellum | Judged by Cowleys
​
Prior to this award, she won an award in a Botanical and Zoological Art competition held by the Ministry of Environment of Korea 2018.

Iris in the Sunlight by Sheryl Pape

St. Cuthberts Mill for the best use of paper in watercolour
Iris in the Sunlight by Sheryl Pape
Prize: 20 sheets Saunders Waterford HP 300gsm paper in High White (Value: over £120)

​Sheryl Pape grew up on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales and now lives in Hampshire. She is a Fellow of SBA having gained a Distinction in her SBA Diploma.

Vintage Paper Company
Phoenix dactylifera #1 by ​Suha Kim
Prize: a super-sized agate burnisher
​​
See Presidents Award above