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Archive for the ‘Learning Opportunities’ Category

‘Losing Paradise?’ in Stock

Posted in botanical art books, Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements on May 22, 2015|

Botanical artists, some of whom had depicted only garden varieties of familiar flowers, set out to increase public awareness about plants threatened with extinction. They learned of the various organizations that assess the conservation status of endangered plant species such as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world’s oldest and largest global environmental network which produces the Red List of Threatened Species, NatureServe which produces conservation status assessments in the U.S. and Canada, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service which administers the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Artists formed collaborations with local scientists, conservation organizations, and botanical gardens that could provide guidance in locating and studying the plants whether they be in public collections or in the wild.

The publication about their project is now available at ArtPlantae’s store.

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World Environment Day Celebration

Posted in Learning Opportunities on May 21, 2015|

ArtPlantae will participate in the 3rd Annual Palm Springs World Environment Day, a free fun-filled event for the entire family. Guest speakers will present information about health, well-being, nutrition and sustainability. There will also be face painting, information about gardening, tips about how to live a “green” lifestyle, and instruction about how to create your own recycled art. Don’t miss animal encounters with WOW of The Living Desert. Music will be provided by the Hot Purple Energy All Stars. World Environment Day is the United Nations’ principal outreach vehicle encouraging environmental awareness.

The CREEC Environmental Art Show & Awards will be held at 7:30 pm. “CREEC” is the acronym for the California Regional Environmental Education Community which is a communication network established by the state to support environmental literacy. This network connects teachers with high-quality environmental education resources. This year the exhibition’s theme is “Water”. Artists in grades K-12 have the opportunity to submit art in three different categories: Environmental Art, Recycled Art, Digital Art/Photo Essay.

Teachers still have time to submit student artwork. The deadline has been extended to Thursday, May 28, 2015. Click on the image below to download the contest flyer for your classroom.

The 3rd Annual Palm Springs World Environment Day celebration will be held on Friday, June 5, 2015 from 6-10 p.m. at the Palm Springs Pavilion. See you there!

Directions to Palm Spring Pavilion

Download flyer for your classroom.

Click to download

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Drawing Courses with Sarah Simblet at Ruskin School of Art

Posted in Education, Learning Opportunities on May 15, 2015|

This summer the Ruskin School of Art will offer short courses in human anatomy, botanical drawing, the foundations of drawing, and a watercolor course about painting landscapes.

Sarah Simblet will teach the courses about human anatomy, botanical drawing and foundation course in drawing. Her courses are based on her books Anatomy for the Artist, Botany for the Artist, and The Drawing Book, respectively.

Here is what’s new at Classes Near You > England:

Botanical Drawing

The course offers a unique opportunity to learn a broad range of essential drawing skills, including the best use of materials and techniques, while immersed in the rich diversity of the plant species that grow in both an historic botanical garden and along the banks and meadows of the nearby river Thames.
Find out more

The Drawing Book 2015
August 10-14, 2015

Based on Sarah simblet’s internationally renowned book of the same title, this is a practical and inspirational studio course in how to draw and use your imagination. Through classes in the magnificent buildings of the Ruskin School of Art, visits to draw in Oxford museums and collections, illustrated lectures on the history, contemporary practice and diverse role of drawing in our lives, the practical explanation of materials and techniques, and also the making of individual drawing books, this course offers a clear foundation in drawing for the absolute beginner and also refreshment to the more experienced artist.
Find out more

In Ruskin Short Courses, teaching is delivered through intensive workshops, lectures, demonstrations and group discussions, with time for personal studio work. Participants are not expected to have any prior academic or artistic qualifications, except enthusiasm!

See Ruskin Short Courses for Summer 2015

Oxford University Alumni receive a 10% discount on the course fees.

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Natural Science Illustration Classes at Southhampton Cultural Center

Posted in Education, Learning Opportunities on May 13, 2015|

Botanical artist Rose Pellicano will teach two classes this summer at the Southampton Cultural Center in New York. Rose is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists. Her work has been exhibited nationally and her paintings of parrot tulips and Pinus strobus are in the permanent collection of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon University.

Botanical Painting for Beginners and Intermediate Students

Learn how to portray flowers and plants realistically using traditional watercolor techniques. In this two-day class, award-winning artist Rose Pellicano will teach students the traditional watercolor techniques used by botanical artists. She will also teach observational skills and color-mixing techniques. Lecture, demonstration and individual attention will be part of the course.

Cost: $235, plus $5 materials fee

A materials list will be provided upon registration. There will be a brief break for lunch.

For more information, please contact Rose Pellicano. To register, contact Southhampton Cultural Center.

Painting Seashells in Watercolor
Mondays, August 3 and 10, 2015
10:00 AM – 3:30 PM

Learn how to draw and paint seashells in this two-day summer workshop with Rose Pellicano. Participants can bring their own shells or use shells provided by the instructor. A materials list will be provided upon registration.

Cost: $235

A materials list will be provided upon registration. There will be a brief break for lunch.

For more information, please contact Rose Pellicano. To register, contact Southhampton Cultural Center.

This information has been added to Classes Near You > New York.

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Multigenerational Learning in the Botanical Arts

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, Teaching & Learning, teaching and learning on May 8, 2015|

Determined to do their part to combat “plant blindness”, the Hortus botanicus Leiden in the Netherlands created a unique program that addresses this pesky issue on a multigenerational level.

The Garden’s multigenerational project began in Summer 2014. Centered around an exhibition of prehistoric plants, Oerplanten Atelier (Prehistoric Plants Workshop) consisted of workshops about drawing, photography, etching and monotype.

Hanneke Jelles, the Garden’s Director of Education, discussed this project at a recent international congress on education in botanic gardens. She explained that while addressing “plant blindness” was one of their motivations, it was not the Garden’s only motivation. The multigenerational format was conceived partly out of the Garden’s need to connect with the 20-somethings in Leiden who were not visiting the botanic garden.

To reach out to this group, the Garden hit the streets running. Hanneke explained the Garden marketed heavily to college students (art students specifically) and encouraged students to bring a grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc. with them to the workshop. She explained the Garden also reached out to members of Leiden’s older population and paired them with young adults.

Their planning and hard work paid off. Soon after the program was launched, the Garden’s classrooms and public spaces filled with conversations between young and old. Leiden’s experienced residents shared their recollections of plants and told stories, while younger residents learned how plants were grown and used. All the while the generations bonded, learned new things about each other, and everyone discovered new things about plants and the arts. Making their success even sweeter, the Garden saw a change in the 20-something crowd. It turns out botanical gardens aren’t such a bad place after all.

The Oerplanten Atelier project generated a lot of interest in plants and botanical illustration. So much so, that Hortus botanics Leiden is launching a course in technical drawing this fall, free for college students. This course will be taught by scientific illustrator and botanical artist, Esmeé Winkel.

Hanneke explains:

In a series of six days, a group of 2/3 students and 1/3 other interested people will learn about different aspects of drawing. For the college students the course is free of charge. The aim is not to make beautiful pictures, but to make clear pictures, that demonstrate what the students have seen in the subject they are drawing. Drawing is used as a method to concentrate on an object, to look at it very intensely, and to report what is discovered. Topics to be covered are: pollinators and plants (line), making field notes (quick and complete), leaves and cups (hair structures), fruits (volume), seeds (pen and ink, dissecting microscope), tropical plants (details). People can choose to attend all the days, or choose the days and subjects that suit them best.

We expect that the mix of university students and other people will give a good atmosphere, as it did during the ‘oerplanten atelier’ (prehistoric plants atelier) last year. We also feel that offering workshops in scientific drawing meets a need of our visitors.

Hortus botanicus Leiden also offers many public programs about plants and botanical art by Anita Walsmit Sachs. While most of these programs are in Dutch, some are in English. Anita’s upcoming classes include a five-day summer workshop (July 27-31, 2015) and a four-day winter workshop (November 3-6, 2015). Visit Anita’s website for more information (or view English version).

Learn more about Hortus botanicus Leiden

Oerplanten Atelier Slideshow

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Photos courtesy Hortus botanicus Leiden.

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Almost filled! Workshop with Anne-Marie Evans

Posted in Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements on May 8, 2015|

The Botanical Artists for Education and the Environment would like to tell you that only 1 spot remains in the upcoming workshop with Anne-Marie Evans!

Botanical Watercolor Class By Anne-Marie Evans

Anne-Marie Evans returns in September 2015 to Falls Church, Virginia, to teach another of her popular classes in botanical art. We have only one slot remaining!

Anne-Marie has chosen the Michaelmas Daisy for us to paint. All depends on their being available, but they should be and BAEE will provide a potted plant for each student.

This two-week class will concentrate first on gaining intimate familiarity with the plant, sketching it from many different aspects while striving for botanical accuracy. Then, students will practice various arrangements using the individual sketches to make an effective composition. Finally, they will proceed to paint application, using Anne-Marie’s six-step method. We regret that we cannot accept registration for a single week.

Dates:
September 21 – 25 and September 28 – October 2

Time:
10 am – 3 pm daily

Location:
Columbia Baptist Church, Room 100
103 West Columbia St
Falls Church, VA 22046

Fee:
$1,100 Not refundable unless the class is cancelled or someone takes your spot. A $100 deposit will hold your place. Balance due by August 1.

For more details see Classes page at www.baeecorp.org.

To register, contact BAEE.

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Learn botanical art online

Posted in Education, EE Week, Learning Opportunities on April 21, 2015|

Technology has enabled botanical art instructors to connect with new students through online classes. So many online classes have been announced that this type of class now has its own page in the Classes Near You section.

Discover natural science illustration and botanical art during EE Week 2015!

Do you teach botanical art, natural science illustration or nature journaling online? If you do, please send your information to ArtPlantae.

Cornell University
View Cornell’s Distance Learning Program

Botanical Illustration I: Basic Drawing Techniques
Botanical Illustration II: Working with Watercolor
Botanical Illustration III: Advanced Techniques

Each class costs $600. The next session for each begins May 4, 2015. The Spring session ends June 20, 2015. Click on the link above to register and to be notified about upcoming sessions.

Learn More

Gretchen Kai Halpert
www.gretchenhalpert.com
Gretchen Kai Halpert is the owner and the instructor of a new online program in scientific illustration. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Gretchen has many years of experience working as a scientific illustrator and teaching programs about natural science illustration.

Scientific Illustration Distance Learning Program

Session I includes basic drawing skills that are the background to any and all illustration. We cover lighting, scientific conventions, proportion, perspective and value, working from life and from We a variety of natural history objects. This class is appropriate for both beginners and intermediate students. Advanced students should talk with me before enrolling. Students work with graphite, with an introduction to crow quill and ink at week 9.

Session II advances to more complex drawings, using crow quill and ink, and scratchboard.

Contact Gretchen at ghalpert@stny.rr.com for more information Contact Gretchen Halpert for information.

A Conversation with Gretchen Kai Halpert

Jane LaFazio
janelafazio.com/
Jane is a mixed media artist and a member of the San Diego Sketchcrawl group. Jane teaches at conferences across the U.S. and leads classes in Italy and Greece too. In addition to sketching classes, Jane teaches workshops in collage, mixed media, and quilting. There are always many, many opportunities to learn from Jane in-person. Below is a short list of classes that may be of interest to you. To view all of Jane’s upcoming classes, see her teaching schedule online.

Also see this interview with Jane and her Ask The Artist Q&A with readers.

Mindy Lighthipe
www.mindylighthipe.com
Mindy Lighthipe is an award-winning natural science illustrator and the author of the children’s book Mother Monarch. She leads tours to Costa Rica and teaches scientific illustration at the University of Florida.

Foundation Drawing 101 – Working in Graphite

Mindy Lighthipe

Foundation Drawing 101 – Working in Graphite

Assignments and classroom conversation are hosted in private areas online. Instructional material can be viewed on a desktop computer or iPad. Beginning and advanced artists are welcome.

Study drawing and discover natural science illustration!

Drawing the Beauty of Plants
A new eight-week online course begins May 13, 2015. Subjects to be covered include: leaf anatomy and taxonomy, measuring and dissection, atmospheric perspective, scientific lighting, composition, root systems, nature journaling and accurate note taking.

Learn More

Anna Mason
www.WatercolorsWithWOW.com
Learn how to paint botanical subjects with great detail. Online classes include step-by-step tutorials, access to the Knowledge Base of Anna’s School of Watercolor, sketchbook exercises, practice exercises and a supportive community of artists from which to learn. Need help getting started? Sign up to receive Anna’s free Pick Up Your Brush class.

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Billy Showell
www.billyshowell.com
Subscribe to receive a new tutorial every two weeks. Artists of all abilities are welcome. Choose from one of three plans:

FREE – Access to a selection of basic lessons.
Monthly Plan – Access to current projects. New projects uploaded every two weeks. Subscribers at this level also receive access to the previous two months of projects and tutorials.
Six-Month Plan – Six-month membership with access to all current and new projects. Access to projects, courses and tutorials from previous six months.

Learn More

Val Webb
The Illustrated Garden, A Studio Blog
www.valwebb.com

Val Webb is an illustrator and teacher who teaches both live and online workshops. Be sure to watch Val’s online tutorial, Botanical Drawing with Pencil and Watercolor. Connect with The Illustrated Garden on Facebook.

Learn from Val this summer. Here is what’s on the schedule: