Kellie Cox-Brady has merged her knowledge and experiences in horticulture, landscape design and botanical illustration to create a lifestyle many would envy.
Kellie is a natural science illustrator, though she prefers to call herself a “natural scientific artist”. Nature is truly Kellie’s inspiration. In addition to the technical illustrations you see in her online gallery, you will find botanical illustrations in pen and ink, striking silhouettes of Nature’s forms, and plants painted in bold colors.
Kellie also paints vibrant murals and designs curriculum. In fact, she helped create the advanced botanical illustration class for Cornell University’s online certification course offered through the Department of Horticulture and the Office of Continuing Education. This month she will talk about her work and answer your questions too.
Please welcome Kellie Cox-Brady, the featured guest for July!
ArtPlantae Today 
Kellie, your murals are large and full of color. How do you ‘think big’? What triggers that impulse to create a mural?
Kellie: Over the last year I have discovered my love for installing murals. When I am creating a mural it feels very natural and I really enjoy installing them. I find that large murals are a great way to show the fine details of plants and flowers, which some people may overlook. When I am installing botanical murals, I often think of when I was a young child with all the plants surrounding me including trees and large perennials, they seemed so large to me and I love recreating that memory into my murals. It also reminds me of Alice in Wonderland, with the enormous plants!
Readers, follow the progress of Kellie’s current mural project on her Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/KellieCoxBrady?fref=ts
Recently you created three murals for Cornell University’s Plant Science Department. Tell us about this project.
Kellie: Last year when I decided I wanted to create more murals, I emailed my contact at Cornell University who I had worked with to create the Advanced Botanical Illustration course, and asked her if Cornell was in need of any murals. That same week she had been talking with some of her colleagues and mentioned that the bottom floor of the Plant Science building desperately needed some color! We got together and discussed the options and decided on the creation of three large portable murals for the building. The reason they had to be portable is because renovations are currently being done to the Plant Science building, so we wanted to make sure they could be moved if needed. I had a local frame shop stretch three canvases, each sized 5 x 7 ft. long. I submitted three sketches to Cornell, once approved I started creating the murals. I painted the murals with acrylic paint and each one took about three weeks to create. The murals focused on all of the different plant studies at Cornell including produce, ornamental, native plants and more. Creating these murals was one of my favorite projects as I had free range to create with my own style. I’ve been commissioned by Cornell to create another mural for the Plant Science Department; this one will be 5 x 9 ft. long! I will start this mural in a few weeks.
In 2011 you received a certificate in botanical illustration from Cornell University and then helped to develop the advanced class for the program. How did you plan this class? How did you have to change your approach to teaching in order to teach advanced techniques online?
Kellie: Creating the Advanced Botanical Illustration course was a very wonderful and interesting experience. How I created the class was first keeping the same organization as the other two courses such as introductions, journals, homework and more. Once I had the overall layout of how the course would read, I filled in the details of the class including specific assignments, tutorials, techniques and more. I also added other items in the course that I found important to being a professional botanical illustrator including advanced techniques, deep understanding of Latin and scientific names, knowledge of Photoshop, and creation of an online portfolio/website.
One of the interesting parts about creating the course is I had to keep the overall wording and mannerisms the same as the instructor, who is Marcia Eames-Sheavly. Luckily we have a very similar writing style, so all worked out well. Another fun part of creating the course was for each assignment I needed to create an example, so I was able to work on more art and illustrations. Having a botanical illustration course offered online I feel is wonderful and definitely worth taking. It allows people to connect from all over the world and learn so much about botanical illustration from their location. How the course is successful is having several different interactive options in the course including video tutorials, personal messaging with the instructor, a forum for all the students to interact and much more.
One of the things I appreciate about the botanical illustration series at Cornell is that the program allows for self-expression while at the same time teaching participants how to conduct scientific observation. When designing the advanced course, how did you balance these two opposing approaches to botanical illustration?
Kellie: When creating the advanced course, I felt it was important to have those two avenues of self-expression and technical illustration as that is something I am constantly doing in my own work and I’m so glad you asked about it. That is one of the reasons I call myself a natural scientific artist, because some of my work can be very loose and not technical at times. Allowing yourself to create abstract and natural flowing work I feel is very important to furthering your skills in scientific illustration. Having a loose and free hand is significant when creating technical illustrations, which usually can only be learned by self-expressed artwork.
Readers, do you think there is room for self-expression in technical botanical art?
I am by no means a botanical artist, actually just beginning on this road, but I feel that if you pick up a pencil and put to paper a flower, tree or what have you, that you are not only drawing what you observe but also expressing yourself.
Absolutely.
I think there are so many skilled technical illustrators and amazing botanical painters that the genre itself would be at risk of losing popularity it the work was restrained and the artist’s style didn’t come through.
All artworks would look much the same and for me, lose the excitement of discovery in the subject.
It’s good to look at a plant – perhaps a peony for instance – and have many different artists paint their version of that subject. A few years ago in Australia some of the leading botanical artists painted the same plant for an exhibition with stunning results – you could see each artist’s distinctive style and while the subject was the same, the results were quite unique.
You have completed many community projects. When I saw the utility box you painted, I immediately thought of the app Foldify. Fortunately the app immediately shows you how your marks will be placed on the finished 3-D object you are creating. If you don’t like it, you simply delete it. Painting scenes on large three-dimensional objects in real life isn’t this easy. How did you think through the placement of elements on your utility box when you created your design?
Kellie: What a fun app! I’ve never heard of this before, thanks for sharing. For painting on 3-D objects, I try to make the overall composition interesting and having the viewer want to see more, so for example on one side having a flower stem at the base, then that same flower stem with the flower reaching around to the side of the box so the viewer will be forced to look around the entire box. When painting I imagine a real life flower wrapping around an object, as many plants in this world are twisting and reaching for different parts in a garden.
Your professional life is divided between science illustration, freelance illustration and landscape design. How do you manage all this and stay inspired to create?
Kellie: Fun question, as I have been asking myself this for the last few months! Over the last two years I’ve been working full-time as a landscape designer for a company in Ithaca, and on my free time creating my artwork and scientific illustrations. I have found in the last few months that I can no longer juggle everything into one day. As of two weeks ago, I am now working full-time as an artist – creating murals, scientific illustrations and other freelance work. I am also freelancing as a landscape designer for a few small projects, but working on my own. It is a bit scary to make that leap working as a full-time artist, but I seem to keep myself busy with projects. As for inspiration, I constantly need to create art work and illustrations; I usually have three or four projects going on at once. Ithaca is truly a beautiful place, so much inspiration including waterfalls, gorges, beautiful botanical gardens and more. I enjoy working in the garden and going on hikes, which can be also inspiring for my art! Another inspiration is working with local artists on joined projects.
It is clear you are a teacher at heart. You’ve successfully blended horticulture with art. What do you want people to see, learn or experience when they view your work in a gallery, on a street corner or in an academic setting?
Kellie: Thank you! I love creating artwork for other people to view, and I really hope that when someone looks upon my work that it will bring them happiness, also that they will be inspired to either create art and/or take more interest in gardening and plants. Plants are so special and they truly bring happiness to the world. That is why I love creating murals; I hope to share with people all the details that plants have to offer. I also hope with my artwork to spread the awareness of landscaping with native plants, as it is important for our natural landscape and wildlife.
I understand you are creating a coloring book about native plants. When will this book be available? How many species will be featured?
Kellie: Yes! I am very excited about this project. I am working with a friend from college who is also a horticulturist, she is writing really fun descriptions of each plant and I am almost done with the illustrations. The coloring book should be available by November. There will be around 24 different plant species featured in the coloring book. My goal with the book is to educate kids on native plants while also bringing an artistic focus from each plant.
This sounds absolutely wonderful. Please let us know when your book is available for purchase. I will be sure to add a link here and point folks in your direction.
Will do! Very excited about the book, will be available in the next few months :)
In the weekly teaching and learning column I write, I occasionally bring attention to research or articles that call for drawing to be taught as a fundamental skill, much the same way reading, writing and arithmetic are taught as core life skills.
In the 1880’s, T.R. Ablett said that public perception about drawing needed to be raised so the drawing could be accepted as one of the core fundamentals. As someone who was drawing first in a profession not affiliated with the arts (i.e., landscape design), how might we help people see the value of drawing as a learning tool and life skill in professions other than what people consider traditional art?
Kellie: This is a very interesting question, as I feel that drawing and art skills are not valued enough in our society. How I feel would be a great way to help people see the value of drawing is to bring more awareness into our public schooling, from an early age. Many schools do offer art classes, but not as a requirement. In many of the art classes, they do not teach all the different careers options that the skill of drawing can be useful in, including landscape design. I had no idea that landscape design was even an option for a career in high school, and for that matter any horticulture related field. This was something I learned on my own outside of school. Art and creativity are very important for any career as I feel a creative mind brings more diversity and new thinking to any job. I hope drawing becomes more of a standard teaching practice with other life skills such as reading and writing.
Artists, naturalists and teachers…how can we help the public value drawing as a learning tool?
In order to have drawing (or visual communication in general) accepted in schools we need to reinforce the fact that drawing and visual communication are much broader than “art” which is understood by the general public to mean personal self-exploration often challenging cultural norms.
Four forms of visual literacy (including drawing) are:
1. Basic Visual Communication – charts, graphs, maps, scientific illustration, photo journalism, documentary film, etc. to communicate ideas and information to others and increase human understanding.
2. Design (Application) – design of images, objects, places and experiences to solve problems and improve the quality of life for others.
3. Visual Culture – folk arts, crafts, vernacular design, popular culture, mass media, etc. that communicate shared values and beliefs of a culture.
4. Art – personal self-expression and free exploration that often challenge cultural norms and present alternatives to the status quo.
All are very important but the public is only willing to devote money, time and resources to the first two (the visual equivalent of reading, writing and arithmetic) rather than the last two (the visual equivalent of poetry and classic literature).
Calling all visual communication “Art” keeps people from understanding the power of visualization in all areas of life. People mistakenly define “Art” as “anything done well”, but then fail to acknowledge the forms of visual communication for which people win Pulitzer prizes, Caldecott Awards, Oscars, and Pritzker prizes.
Martin – Excellent summary! I hope you don’t mind if I share your thoughts. I am developing an art education program in my hometown through a non-profit. We want to have artists of all varieties teaching these concepts in elementary classrooms.
Martin,
Excellent point. I have never been comfortable with the word “art” and avoid using it intentionally, especially when my objective is to encourage “thinking on paper” instead of art making. I will be even more careful now because of your comments. Thank you.