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Archive for the ‘Learning Opportunities’ Category

Study & Draw Carnivorous Plants at Splinter Hill Bog

Posted in botanical art, botany, Education, general botany, Learning Opportunities, nature, Sketching & Journaling, travel on February 12, 2013|

Valerie Webb of The Illustrated Garden will lead a three-day workshop at Splinter Hill Bog in Alabama, a preserve that is home to several species of carnivorous plants, including five species of pitcher plants.

Here is what’ new at Classes Near You > Alabama!


The Illustrated Garden, A Studio Blog
www.valwebb.com
Val Webb is the 2013 Artist-in-Residence at the Mobile Botanical Gardens. This year Val will work at the gardens and encourage others to sketch the garden’s collections to learn about plants, gardening and all that the Mobile Botanical Gardens has to offer. Visit Val’s website to view her online tutorial, Botanical Drawing with Pencil and Watercolor. Connect with The Illustrated Garden on Facebook.

    Botanical Drawing: Splinter Hill Bog and Beyond
    April 25-27, 2013
    This class is offered through the Mobile Botanical Gardens. On the first day of this workshop, participants meet at the garden to board a bus that will take them to Splinter Hill Bog. The second and third days of this workshop will be held at Mobile Botanical Gardens. View a detailed itinerary and registration information on the Mobile Botanical Gardens website. Cost: $225.

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How to Become an Artist-in-Residence

Posted in Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Articles & Interviews, Special Events on February 8, 2013|

Have you ever wondered about how to become an artist-in-residence?

I asked featured guest Ruth Ava Lyons about how one becomes a resident artist. She replied:

There are several ways artists approach residencies. There are online resources like CaFÉ (www.callforentry.org) that announce residencies for all levels of artists. Artist Communities (www.artistcommunities.org) is wonderful for looking at programs in specific countries as well as res artis. Sometimes its simply interacting with artists who share unique experiences at residencies and garner your interest with their firsthand experience. At this point in my life, I am thinking about places that I am specifically interested in, however there are a lot of things to consider. For instance, there is an arctic circle residency that I would love to participate in, but it requires a significant monetary contribution. Some residencies are for long periods of time that would be hard on my family. Some residencies require active interaction with the public through a lecture or workshop. I am very protective of my studio and I am not willing to open it while work is in progress, so if a residency involves allowing studio visits, that will be very difficult for me to accommodate.

What else would you like to know? Ask here…

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Using Plants to Connect People With Nature

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Articles & Interviews, Special Events on February 6, 2013|

Plants have a presence in each of the paintings created by Ruth Ava Lyons.
I asked Ruth why she chose plants to connect viewers to nature.

Ruth replied:

I like a field-based approach to my subject matter. I wander in various environments and study and synthesize and translate and interpret my impressions of the natural world. Artists like me vacillate between our direct experiences in nature and the solitary studio setting. We follow the work of biologists, botanists, ecologists, and naturalists to inform and strengthen our visions with their findings, so there is a lot of cross-cultural personal research that takes place as well. It is always challenging for me to attempt to capture the essence of plant imagery while…

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Plant Identification at Fullerton Arboretum

Posted in botany, Education, general botany, Learning Opportunities on February 6, 2013|

A three-part series in plant identification begins this weekend at the Fullerton Arboretum.

Here’s the latest from Classes Near You > Southern California:


Fullerton Arboretum
www.fullertonarboretum.org
Located on the campus of California State University Fullerton, the Fullerton Arboretum was established in 1979 and is the largest botanical garden in Orange County.

    Introduction to Plant Identification
    Study the characteristics botanists use to classify, identify, and recognize major groups and families of plants. Examine fresh plant material, preserved specimens, photographs, and published references to learn plant parts and functions. Each class will build on the next, but they can be taken individually. Each class meets from 9 AM to 1 PM.
    To register, please call (657) 278-3407.
    Cost (a la carte): $25 members, $30 nonmembers
    Cost (full series): $70 members, $85 nonmembers

    Intro to Plant ID (Part I) – February 9, 2013
    Intro to Plant ID (Part II) – March 23, 2013
    Intro to Plant ID (Part III) – April 13, 2013

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Ruth Ava Lyons Discusses Painting in Oil, Using Gold Leaf

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, nature, Special Articles & Interviews, Special Events on February 4, 2013|

Feature guest Ruth Ava Lyons paints in oil and prefers oil over acrylic. She also applies other media to her paintings. I asked what is it about oil that captures her attention. She replied:

Oil is a very seductive medium. It has a richness of palette that is hard to simulate in acrylic which sometimes sends a visual clue that it is man-made/plastic/synthetic. In my youth, I studied the old masters and became very fond of their techniques with oil…

Ruth discusses her use of oil, metal leaf, gold leaf and more

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Ruth Ava Lyons Creates Emotional Connections Between People, Plants and Nature

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Articles & Interviews, Special Events on February 1, 2013| 26 Comments »

Ruth Ava Lyons is an artist living in Charlotte, North Carolina. The botanical images she creates are not like those found in botanical art, yet they make the same connections between plants, people and nature that botanical artists hope to establish with their audience.

Ruth’s images are vibrant, emotional and pull you into Nature’s landscape. She has completed several artist residencies. Most recently in the Everglades National Park Artist in Residence Program in Florida. This year she will travel to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to complete an artist residency at the Heron Island Research Station, supported with a Regional Artist Project Grant. This project was made possible through the support of the North Carolina Arts Council, a state agency, the Blumenthal Endowment, and the arts councils in Cabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Rutherford, Union, and York (South Carolina) counties. Ruth is represented by Hidell Brooks Gallery in Charlotte, NC.

Ruth has graciously agreed to spend time with us this month to discuss her art and her experiences as an artist in residence.

Please welcome Ruth Ava Lyons as this month’s special guest!

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Plant Traits, Conservation, Trading Cards

Posted in botanical art, Education, general botany, Learning Opportunities, nature, teaching and learning on January 30, 2013|

Jay Fitzsimmons, whose trading card activity we learned about in Friday’s teaching and learning column, has provided links to articles about plant traits associated with conservation issues. How can this new information be used to create new trading card activities?

If you are looking for more ideas about how to use trading cards in your classroom or program, read comments posted in response to Jay’s article and add your own to continue this conversation.


Related
Use Trading Cards to Teach Natural History

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