Posted in botanical art, Learning Opportunities, Special Events on October 5, 2009|
Mindy Lighthipe will be blogging about leaves in October. If leaves cause you grief, you’ll be in a much better place by October 31st if you drop-in on Mindy’s blog this month. In celebration of leaves and all their features, Mindy is drawing one leaf per day. Each leaf will be available for purchase. Act quickly, however. Each leaf will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
Get ready for this event by reading all about it at the Studio 16 website.
Posted in botanical art, Special Events on September 21, 2009|
Members of the Northern California Society of Botanical Artists, a chapter of the American Society of Botanical Artists, will exhibit their work at the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, January 16-29, 2010. An artist’s reception will be held on January 16 from 5 PM-7 PM. Visit the chapter’s new Members’ Gallery to learn more about the artists in this enthusiastic and dedicated group.
Related Links
Posted in botanical art, botanical art books, Education, Learning Opportunities on September 14, 2009|
Note: The following was first published in the June 2007 issue of Artists’ Botany. This publication was ArtPlantae’s original newsletter and the predecessor of this educational site. It was published from February 2005 – October 2007. Selected articles from Artists’ Botany will be reprinted here and added to our searchable resource.
Draughtsmen, Botanists and Nature: The Construction of Eighteenth-Century Botanical Illustrations is a dissertation-turned-book written by Kärin Nickelsen of the University of Bern, Switzerland. It is a fascinating look into the time, effort, patience and planning that went into the creation of botanical illustrations between 1700 and 1830. Nickelsen discusses observable links between illustrations of this time period and provides information about Georg Dionysius Ehret, Carl Linneaus and other influential individuals of the 18th century.
Nickelsen studied 137 scientific plant drawings representing ten species of plants in order to decipher the actual process of how plant images were produced and who produced them. She offers insight into how botanists communicated with their draughtsmen and how botanists critiqued the plant drawings that were created for them. Nickelsen describes the painstakingly detailed and tedious work completed by the engravers and the colorists who added color to printed drawings. She also offers insight into the stressful lives of 18th-century publishers and project managers and their handling of botanists, authors, draughtsmen, engravers and the private individuals who funded botanical works such as Christoph Jacob Trew’s Plantae Selectae (1750-73).
During the course of her research, Nickelsen determined that 18th century illustrations were not created as exact copies of nature. Instead, they were often derived works originating from the existing illustrations of botanists and draughtsmen whose work had already been accepted by the scientific community. It appears that draughtsmen copied elements from existing illustrations and incorporated them into their own work. Nickelsen goes to great detail to describe this practice by pointing out “copying links” in the plant drawings that were the focus of her research.
Draughtsmen is truly an academic read complete with detailed footnotes, a Materials & Methods section, and a Reference section brimming with 231 references spanning three centuries. Get out your pencil. You will be jotting down notes in the margin of almost every page of this book.
Citation
Nickelsen, Kärin. 2006. Draughtsmen, Botanists and Nature: The Construction of Eighteenth-Century Botanical Illustrations. Archimedes – New Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. Volume 15. Springer.
View Illustrations Online
The images that were the focus of Nickelsen’s research can be viewed online. Click here to learn more about a special online presentation of this project. This online presentation is titled The Dynamics of Botanical Illustrations of the 18th-Century by Kärin Nickelsen and GerdGraßhoff. Also available on this site is Nickelsen’s Ph.D. dissertation (in German), as well as selected references that were consulted for this project.
(Update 12/6/13: These links are no longer valid)
Draughtsmen Contents in Review
Draughtsmen, Botanists and Nature can be purchased at Springer Link in its entirety or as individual chapters.
Update 10/24/16
Also view this article online at ResearchGate:
Nickelsen, Karin. 2006. Draughtsmen, botanists and nature: Constructing eighteenth-century botanical illustrations. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. 37(1):1-25.
Posted in ArtPlantae Books, botanical art, botanical art books, Education, Special Events on September 14, 2009|
ArtPlantae will bring botany and botanical art education to the Education Village at the largest women’s conference in the country. Hosted by the California Governor’s Office and First Lady Maria Shriver, The Women’s Conference will be held October 26 – 27, 2009 at the Long Beach Convention Center.
The exciting two day event will feature a spectacular lineup of speakers, educational opportunities, book signings with best-selling authors, live music, food and shopping.
ArtPlantae will bring its Curriculum Development Survey to The Village, as well as a selection of resources introducing this new audience to the relationship between plants and art. We are especially excited to bring with us the baby-elephant folio of Botanica Magnifica to bring attention to the fascinating world of plants.
Conference updates will be posted here, on Twitter and on our Facebook page. Follow us and become a Fan to make sure you don’t miss out on even the briefest of updates.
Posted in botanical art, Sketching & Journaling on September 7, 2009|
Studio 16 Launches New Blog
Artist Mindy Lighthipe launched a new blog dedicated to drawing, painting and photographing the natural world. The name of the blog is Bugs, Beasts, & Botanicals: The Art of Mindy Lighthipe. During the month of September, her blog features 10 Great Drawing Tips, Graphite 101. Take a look!
Botanical Artists Contribute to Blog About Sketching in Nature
Cathy Johnson has created a blog that is shaped by contributions made by 40 correspondents. Cathy states, “We have artists from all over the world, observing nature and sketching or painting their findings; some are botanical artists, some are naturalists, some are teachers or writers, but all are fascinating. Seeing nature in other parts of the world through the intimate eyes of the artist is a true learning experience.”
Cathy is the author of several books about sketching and journaling.
Go to Sketching in Nature.
Posted in botanical art on September 4, 2009|
Many of you belong to a botanical art group and many of these groups have established blogs to share their activities with a global audience. Do you belong to a botanical art group or nature journaling group that has an online presence? Tell us and we will feature your group here at ArtPlantae Today.
Please submit the following information:
Click on Leave a Comment below to submit your information. We look forward to hearing from you!
Posted in botanical art on August 17, 2009|
There is nothing more fun than a botanical art exhibit you can view online without having to tackle freeways and airports. Now, while you may miss out on the thrill of looking at delicate artwork under a handheld magnifier, the opportunity to view an entire exhibit at a location you know you’ll never get to this summer, makes up for this missed indulgence. The Groveland Gallery provides such an opportunity to its patrons, as well as to those of us in the global audience.
Located in Minneapolis, MN, the Groveland Gallery has been host to Contemporary Botanicals, a botanical art exhibition featuring the artwork of Yara Anderson, Jane Fisher, and Norma Nelson. On view are forty-three paintings and drawings created in graphite and watercolor. Mixed media pieces were created in watercolor & colored pencil or graphite & watercolor. Almost half of the pieces are graphite drawings and this is a refreshing change for a botanical art exhibit because graphite drawings are usually out-numbered by watercolor paintings (watercolor being the traditional medium for botanical art).
Go to the museum’s website to view the exhibit or go directly to each artist’s page. Contemporary Botanicals closes on August 29, 2009.
Botanists and illustrators strive to document conifers around the world.
ArtPlantae Today 
