ArtPlantae Today

By Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation

The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation presents
Exquisite Patterns in Nature from March 19 – June 30, 2017. This exhibition includes selections of artwork and books from the Hunt Institute’s permanent collections that are representative of, or inspired by, the fascinating configurations in the architecture of all organisms.

The patterns on display include simple symmetries and more complex tessellations and fractals; growth rings, whorls and logarithmic spirals; explorations of larger patterns observed through groupings of like plants and plant parts; the visual study of plants in complex decorative arrangements and examples of these patterns in practice.

Opening reception
Join us Sunday, March 19, 2017, 2-4 p.m. for the reception. At 2:30 p.m. the curators will give a short introduction to the exhibition in the gallery.

Open House 2017
Our annual Open House on Sunday, June 25 (1:45-4:30 p.m.) will include a talk (2:00-3:00 p.m.) and an exhibition tour (3:15-4:00 p.m.). Librarian Charlotte Tancin will present A celebration of plants, enjoying endless variety of form and kind, a talk and display from the Institute’s rare book collection. Striking historical illustrations of selected kinds of plants or aspects of their forms will be on display. She will talk briefly about each image, discussing what can be seen in the image and how the published image would have supported the work of botanists at the time, such as in floristic studies, reports of explorations, monographs on a family or genus, documenting new introductions or celebrating exotic garden plants. This event is free and open to the public.

[Insect- and wind-borne pollen of Dicotyledoneae and Monocotyledoneae], watercolor on paper by Anne Ophelia Todd Dowden (1907–2007), ca.1990, 25 × 17.5 cm, for her The Clover and the Bee: A Book of Pollination (New York, Thomas Crowell, 1990, p. 12), HI Art accession no. 7408.39, Rights, except gift industry, held by Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation.

About the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, a research division of Carnegie Mellon University, specializes in the history of botany and all aspects of plant science and serves the international scientific community through research and documentation. To this end, the Institute acquires and maintains authoritative collections of books, plant images, manuscripts, portraits and data files, and provides publications and other modes of information service. The Institute meets the reference needs of botanists, biologists, historians, conservationists, librarians, bibliographers and the public at large, especially those concerned with any aspect of the North American flora.