The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art in the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
​was the first gallery in the world to be dedicated to botanical art.

This page is about the CURRENT and FUTURE exhibitions at the Gallery
and provides access to the ARCHIVE
about the development of the collection and gallery and information about past exhibitions since 2008

I would advocate the holding of small exhibitions, changed every six months, of fine illustrated botanical books and original drawings. It ought not to be too difficult to find space in one of the museums in Kew Gardens; and the Natural History Museum has the materials for something even more impressive on similar lines

Wilfrid Blunt writing in The Art of Botanical Illustration (Chapter 22) in 1950

PAST EXHIBITIONS

This is a link to the ARCHIVE PAGE covering:
  • the development of the Shirley Sherwood Collection / key publications about the collection
  • the development of the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art
  • Exhibition Archive (2008-2023) plus links to reviews of the exhibitions by me and others
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Opening Day at the new Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 19th April 2008

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

Exhibitions on display from 20th October 2023 - 7th April 2024 are:
  • Galleries 1 - 4: Mat Collishaw: Petrichor
  • Gallery 6: Young Botanical Artist
More information below.

FUTURE EXHIBITIONS

- As and when announcements are made about future exhibitions, I will include what details are known on this page

2024: no details - as yet - about the exhibitions open in May 2024 

Current Exhibitions in 2023
​

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Images of digital artwork by Mat Collishaw
READ: Two NEW exhibitions at Kew (Oct 2023 - April 24)
Dates: 20th October 2023 - 7th April 2024​
Mat Colishaw is a 57 year old English artist who works in photography and video. His work includes the creation of digital artworks using NFT and AI. He became well known when his work first surfaced as part of the Young British Artists group in the late 80s.

The Petrichor exhibition at Kew will dominate Galleries 1-5 and 
  • showcases new commissions alongside existing works,
  • draws on an array of evocative imagery from the natural world.  
  • includes sculptural installations, using a variety of pioneering techniques to explore the relationship between the natural world, art history, and how representations of nature in art can impact the way in which we see the world around us.
You can also see more about the Petrichor exhibition on his website.
48 shortlisted artworks from the inaugural Young Botanical Artist Competition.

The competition was created by The Shirley Sherwood Collection in collaboration with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew:
  • the competition was open exclusively to entrants aged 16-25
  • entrants were  asked to submit two-dimensional artworks on the theme of ‘Trees’.
  • over 1,000 entrants from 77 countries entered the competition
  • some of the world’s most renowned botanical artists and curators donated their time to judge the entries, choosing works that represented their subject creatively, but with scientific accuracy.​
Picture
Mat Collishaw with Albion
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Organisers and artists at the Presentation of Certificates and Prizes to artists selected for the Young Botanical Artist Exhibition

Future Exhibitions - in 2024 and beyond
​

No announcements to date.

Past Exhibitions
​

The ARCHIVE page:
  • summarises how the Shirley Sherwood Collection and subsequently The Shirley Sherwood Gallery came about
  • highlights key publications about the Shirley Sherwood botanical art collection
  • lists the names of all the exhibitions with dates and short summaries. Exhibitions are added to this archive after they close.
  • provides a link to reviews of the exhibitions by me and others
  • highlights the catalogues and/or books published in association with the exhibition. These are generally excellent - I own copies and I recommend them for their content.
​
​Links in the title of the exhibitions generally go to the dedicated exhibition page (if it still survives) and more often to the related press release issued at the time.
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In April 2018, the Shirley Sherwood Gallery celebrated its 10th Anniversary
In September 2018, the Gallery welcomed its 1,000,000th visitor!
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The Gallery is now 15 years old