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Healing Herbs, Gardens for Health

Posted in Education, History, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Events on April 16, 2015|

Dr. Alain Touwaide from the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions will be in the Los Angeles area to discuss the healing herbs of antiquity and to explore the therapeutic benefits of nature. Presentations will be held at UCLA and at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino.

The Healing Herbs of Antiquity

Dr. Alain Touwaide is the Scientific Director of the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions and a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution.

Believing that ancient cultures would not have invested time and energy into medical formulas if they were not effective, Touwaide researches medical traditions from the ancient world through today.

This special lecture will start from the observation that the medicinal plants and diet of ancient Greece are relevant to present-day medicine. Touwaide will explore sources for the discovery of the therapeutic and dietetic legacy of Ancient Greece, and ask “What do we actually know about the healing herbs of Antiquity?”

Please RSVP to Yarell Castellanos by April 21, 2015
(310) 825-0913

This lecture will be presented by David Schaberg, the Dean of Humanities at UCLA. A reception will follow. Parking in Lot 4 for $12 (cash only).
Directions

Gardens for Health: A Walk Through History
Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens
Rothenburg Hall
Saturday, May 2, 2015
2:30 PM

For centuries people have recognized the therapeutic benefits of nature and gardens. Alain Touwaide will explore the relationship between humans and nature. Learn about Pompeii, Constantinople, Baghdad, Cordoba, Granada, and Padua, as well as early manuscripts illustrating the relationship between humans and nature.

FREE
No reservations required
More Information

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Paint the Produce Section with Kathleen McKeehen

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, travel on April 9, 2015|

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Kathleen McKeehen, Scientific Illustrator
www.florawithfauna.com
Kathleen is a teacher and freelance illustrator. Her work has appeared in Organic Gardening Magazine and The Herb Companion. View Kathleen’s artwork in the ASBA Members’ Gallery or at the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators’
Science-Art.com. Kathleen welcomes both beginners and advanced students to her classes.

Painting the Produce Section

In this two-day workshop with illustrator Kathleen McKeehen participants will learn about washes and dry-brush techniques botanical illustrators use to paint realistic fruit and vegetables. Beginning artists are welcome and encouraged to attend. Participants with experience in watercolor painting will have the opportunity to work with challenging subjects.

Kathleen McKeehen is a freelance scientific illustrator who teaches botanical drawing and painting at her studio in Indianola, WA, at Gage Academy of the Arts in Seattle and at The Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle, WA. Kathleen’s painting of Arbutus menziesii (Pacific Madrone) is featured in Today’s Botanical Artists by Cora B. Marcus and Libby Kyer (2007).

Cost:
2-day workshop without lodging $225
2-day workshop with lodging $540

Lodging option includes two nights lodging at the Methow Valley Inn with continental breakfast. Contact the Confluence Gallery to register.
(509) 997-ARTS

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This information has been posted to Classes Near You > Washington.

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Exhibition brings attention to decline of native birds and habitat in Southern California

Posted in Education, gardening, nature, Special Announcements on April 3, 2015|

The Illusionists (detail) © 2013 Mara Lonner, All rights reserved. (latex paint, ink on wall with framed reduction print, 96" x 212" x 2”)

The Illusionists (detail)
© 2013 Mara Lonner (latex paint, ink on wall with framed reduction print, 96″ x 212″ x 2”), All rights reserved

The California oak and Western meadowlark are the focus of this exhibition, which includes textile drawings created by Mara Lonner as well as monoprints and a wrap-around wall painting created specifically for the show.

The work for Mara Lonner: So much, nothing began with a conversation between Lonner and Kimball Garrett, Ornithology Collections Manager at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, who said the most critical threat to native birds in this region is the loss and fragmentation of natural habitat.

The riparian and coastal tidal wetlands, oak savannahs and grasslands that once constituted the local landscape have been mostly destroyed by development. Resident species of native birds, once abundant in these habitats, have declined in population and/or left the area. Although migratory birds may fly through Los Angeles County on their way to other environments to nest and flourish, this region has become “negative space” for these animals.

The pieces in Lonner’s exhibition correlate the missing birds and native habitat. Her exhibition will be on view at the Theodore Payne Gallery through June 27.

Lonner will teach a nature sketching workshop related to her exhibition. Learn how to see and record nature in this special workshop for beginning artists.

Sketching from Nature Workshop for Beginners

View Details/Register

About Theodore Payne
Located on 22 acres of canyon land, the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants, Inc. was established in 1960 and is dedicated to the understanding, preservation and use of California native flora.

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The Beauty of Plant Life Cycles

Posted in Education, Special Announcements, Special Events on March 27, 2015|

Canna ‘Phaison”, Amaryllis ‘Candy Cane’, Onoclea sensibilis “Sterile Rebirth”. All images © 2014 Carol Ashton-Hergenhan

Carol Ashton-Hergenhan reveals the beauty of plant life cycles in
Florescence, Senescence and Regeneration: The Work of Carol Ashton-Hergenhan.

This exhibition will be on view at Twenty-Two Gallery in Philadelphia from
June 12 – July 2, 2015.

Twenty-Two Gallery states:

This show continues (Carol’s) exploration of the cycle of plants from Florescence when the plant attracts pollinators to continue its species, through Senescence as the aging plant struggles to continue its own existence in preparation for a future generation, to Regeneration, when the species starts anew and the cycle begins again.

Carol is an artist and Master Gardener with a passion for plants. Her work has been featured in numerous botanical art exhibitions. Her painting of Allium sphaerocephalon (Hairy Drumstick Allium) is currently touring the country in Weird, Wild & Wonderful, a traveling exhibition curated by the American Society of Botanical Artists. In 2014, her paintings of Viburnum dentatum (Southern Arrowwood) and Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweetgum) were published in the book, American Botanical Paintings: Native Plants of the Mid Atlantic written by Botanical Artists for Education & the Environment.

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Paint Heirloom Plants this Spring

Posted in Education, gardening, Special Events on March 27, 2015|

The popular Contra Costa Master Gardener Great Tomato Plant Sale expands to two locations this year. If you’ve been inspired by the heirloom tomato by
Asuka Hishiki on the cover of the “Weird, Wild & Wonderful” catalog, here is your chance to find something weird, wild and wonderful for your own garden.

This year the Great Tomato Plant Sale will feature 58 proven varieties of heirloom plants. Contra Costa Master Gardeners propagate their plants using only seeds from open-pollinated varieties that breed true. Start your shopping now by downloading the list of tomato varieties and the list of pepper varieties to be sold at this year’s sale.

You have two opportunities to look for goodies this year. The first opportunity occurs on Saturday, April 4 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. at “Our Garden”, the Contra Costa Master Gardeners’ demonstration garden in Walnut Creek, CA (map). The second opportunity occurs the following weekend on April 11. On this date you can visit the sale at “Our Garden” from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. or shop for heirloom plants at AdamsCrest Urban Farm in Richmond from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. (map). The sale in Richmond will feature tomatoes better suited for cooler climates. Both plants sales are family-friendly educational events.

Bring your own boxes or wagon. Cash or check only, please.

Celebrate Spring!
Look for that weird, wild and wonderful plant too tempting to ignore.

Visit The Great Tomato Plant Sale

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Linking the natural world, landscape history and art

Posted in Education on March 20, 2015| 1 Comment »

Over the centuries, the county of Dorset has motivated not only naturalists and scientists but provided the creative inspiration for artists, writers, and poets with its rich tapestry of colours, sounds and sights woven into an ancient landscape. Some artists have used inspiration from the array of wild flower meadows, ancient woodland and iconic views across west Dorset, while others such as Sarah Morrish (Assoc. SBA SFP) find her inspiration in nature’s details.

Sarah has a background in conservation and education, yet spends most of her time now illustrating the natural world in watercolour and pencil. She has embarked on a special project in partnership with The Kingcombe Centre to produce a series of paintings illustrating the twigs and buds of Kingcombe’s iconic ancient hedgerow trees and shrubs. After a residential visit in winter/early spring, Sarah will produce eight paintings of eight species incorporating several twigs together with associated lichens, leaves and fruit, which she hopes will be exhibited at the Royal Horticultural Society in 2016.

Sarah said, “Since coming to Kingcombe from the late 1990’s, I have always been fascinated by the hedgerows there and have in the past included many elements of them in my artwork.”

Sarah began her project in February 2015 and will return regularly to Kingcombe through late winter and spring to continue her work.

To receive updates about the project, follow Sarah’s blog, Art & the Hedgerow.

Sarah also teaches botanical illustration courses at the Kingcombe Centre in Dorset and has two planned for this year. Her class A Brush with Nature – Illustrating Spring Flowers will be held May 5-8 and A Brush with Nature – Illustrating the Natural World will occur August 5-7, 2015. Why not come along and gain experience and a valuable insight into the work of a Botanical & Natural History Artist? You will not be disappointed.

If detailed illustration is not for you, Sarah will also be leading lino-print workshops at the Centre throughout the year.

For information about art workshops at Kingcombe, see Arts/Creative Workshops.

Sarah will also teach courses in her home county of Hampshire. New for 2015 is the Nature’s Details Summer School. This takes place on a private country estate in the South Downs National Park and consists of three courses, Botanical Drawing & Painting, Illustrating Butterflies & Moths and Drawing & Painting Birds. Each course can be attended as a 1 or 2-day option and includes watercolour paper, subjects and a cream tea!

For more information, visit Nature’s Details Summer School.

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Online courses in science illustration, scratchboard

Posted in Education, Learning Opportunities on March 20, 2015|

Scientific illustrator Gretchen Kai Halpert will begin two new sessions of the Scientific Illustration Distance Learning Program she created. She introduced her new program to readers earlier this year.

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

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.