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Study the Anatomy of Trees at Brenton Arboretum

Posted in botany, Education, gardening, general botany, Learning Opportunities on January 25, 2012|

See what’s new at Brenton Arboretum at Classes Near You > Iowa:

Brenton Arboretum, Dallas Center
www.thebrentonarboretum.org
The Brenton Arboretum is a 140-acre arboretum established in 1997 featuring 2,600 trees and shrubs. Most of the more than 175 species of trees and shrubs are organized by species to ease learning and to emphasize the importance of trees in our world.

Winter Tree Anatomy & Identification – Saturday, January 28, 2012; 10 AM – 12 PM. Learn about neighborhood trees in this introductory course. Participants are invited to bring in their own specimens. Specimens should include twigs with buds, leaves, flowers and fruit/nuts when possible. Cost: Free for members, $5 non-members. To register, contact Lee Goldsmith or call (515) 992-4211.
Wednesday Wanderers – Every third Wednesday of the month; 4-6 PM. Discover your relationship to the natural world in these monthly gatherings that will explore many plant-related topics. Free for members, $5 non-members. To register, contact Lee Goldsmith or call (515) 992-4211.

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Exhbition of Edible Botanicals Opens Tomorrow

Posted in botanical art, gardening, Learning Opportunities, Sketching & Journaling, Special Announcements, Special Events on January 25, 2012|

Colored pencil paintings and drawings of edible plants, both wild and cultivated, are the focus of Botanical Edibles…Wild and Cultivated, a new exhibition featuring the work of SUNY ULSTER Artist-in-Residence, Wendy Hollender. Tomorrow’s opening festivities will include a special slide presentation by Wendy that will be followed by an opening reception in the Muroff Kotler Gallery.

Wendy Hollender is a botanical artist, teacher, author and organic farmer living in New York. Learn more about the exhibition and the programs Wendy will conduct during her residency on her website at Drawing in Color.

Botanical Edibles…Wild and Cultivated
January 26 – February 17, 2012
Ulster County Community College
Stone Ridge, NY 12484
View map

Opening Reception
Slide presentation by Wendy Hollender, 7 PM (Student Lounge VAN 203)
Gallery Reception in Muroff Kotler Gallery begins after Wendy’s presentation

Related

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Winter Exhibition Features Portraits in Bloom

Posted in botanical art, gardening, Special Announcements, Special Events on January 23, 2012|

Portraits in Bloom
January 3 – March 28, 2012
Westport Public Library
McManus Room

Forty-one floral portraits by Connecticut artist, Mary Ann Neilson, are now on view at the Westport Public Library in Westport, CT. Mary Ann’s work has been featured in publications about art and illustration, including the Splash series of books published by Northlight Books. Her paintings are included in the collection at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, a garden where Mary Ann taught for nine years.

Mary Ann says that plants “convey a sense of place“. She continues to say:

Flowers in a still life highlight the “set-up”. Botanical and floral paintings are in their essence portraits of plants. To me, portraits of plants and people hold in common the dual challenge of creating a likeness and expressing their spirit in being alive.

The Westport Public Library is located at Westport Public Library, 20 Jesup Green, Westport CT 06880. View map

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Exhibition Celebrates the Art of Anne Ophelia Todd Dowden

Posted in botanical art, botanical art books, Education, gardening, general botany, Special Announcements, Special Events on January 9, 2012|

Wild Green Things: The Art of Anne Ophelia Dowden
Andersen Horticultural Library
Minnesota Landscape Arboretum
January 18 – May 2, 2012

Anne Ophelia Todd was born in Denver and grew up in Boulder, Colorado spending her early years roaming the foothills of the Rockies. Dowden says, “I collected and drew any living thing that came my way, especially insects and flowers, and the study of nature was my absorbing hobby.”

After graduated with an art degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology, the artist moved to New York City in 1930, and taught drawing for more than 15 years. During that time, she married fellow artist Ray Dowden. Dowden began her botanical illustration work in the early 1950s, when magazines began to use her artwork on their covers and in their articles. She was in her 50s when she wrote, designed and illustrated her first book, Look at a Flower.

After 60 years in New York City, Dowden moved back to Boulder in the early 1990s to be near family and her beloved mountains. She set up her studio and published her last book, Poisons in Our Path: Plants That Harm and Heal, in 1994, when she was 87 years old. Dowden died in 2007 at the age of 99.

Anne Ophelia Todd Dowden’s artwork will be on view in the Andersen library, the Snyder Building lobby and the skyway ramp between the Visitor Center and Snyder Building. There also will be works in an Oswald Visitor Center display case.

A special insiders look at the art of Anne Ophelia Todd Dowden by exhibit curator, Lucie Taylor, will occur when Wild Green Things opens next week. Visitors will have the opportunity to view Dowden’s books, original sketches and original paintings during a one-hour presentation scheduled for Wednesday January 18 from Noon – 1 PM in the Snyder Building. Limit: 30. Cost: $7.50 members, $10 non-members. Register Online

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is located in Chanhassen, Minnesota on State Hwy 5, nine miles west of the intersection with I-494. The largest public garden in the Upper Midwest, the Arboretum is part of the University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. Open 363 days a year, admission is $9 adults; free for members and ages 15 & under.

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Learn About Conifers This Holiday Season at Brenton Arboretum

Posted in gardening, Learning Opportunities on November 23, 2011|

Brenton Arboretum in Iowa will host a guided walking tour about conifers and a Christmas bird count next month.

Winter Conifer Walk – Saturday, December 10, 2011; 10 AM – 12 PM. How do evergreen’s stay green in the winter? Horticulturist, Lee Goldsmith, will answer this question and more on this walking tour of the arboretum. Cost: Free for members, $5 non-members. To register, contact Lee Goldsmith or call (515) 992-4211.
Christmas Bird Count – Saturday, December 17, 2011; 1 AM – 12 PM. Free. To register, contact Lee Goldsmith or call (515) 992-4211.

This information can also be found at Classes Near You > Iowa.

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‘Golden Natives’ Exhibition at Theodore Payne Art Gallery

Posted in botanical art, Education, gardening, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Events on September 28, 2011|

Gene Bauer: The Golden Natives, 1972-1974
Theodore Payne Art Gallery
www.theodorepayne.org

Gene Bauer, the first chair of the California Garden Clubs’ Native Flora Committee, created a remarkable series of 27 screen-printed booklets from 1972-1974. As the first Chairman of California Native Flora for the California Garden Clubs, Inc., she launched this project to educate and stimulate an interest in native plants among the club’s membership. Ultimately, she created 27 unique booklets, each profiling a California native plant. Thirty nine years later, these booklets are being recognized for their creativity.

Beginning October 1, 2011, the Theodore Payne Art Gallery will host Gene Bauer: The Golden Natives 1972-1974, a three-month exhibition of Bauer’s work.

“The complexity and artistic quality of Gene Bauer’s work cannot be overstated,” said Pamela Burgess, board member of the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants and the Theodore Payne Arts Council. “When you consider that it was created by hand without the advantage of today’s technology, it makes you appreciate her work all the more.”

Visitors will be able to view the booklets themselves and see the different elements that make up each booklet. Elements such as a cover with a serigraph of a plant printed on heavy paper, a tissue paper insert printed with a slightly different version of the cover serigraph, a written description with scientific and folkloric information, and a map showing where a plant grows. The custom-designed envelopes used to mail the booklets to Garden Club members will also be on exhibit.

In 2010, ESRI Press published Botanical Serigraphs: The Gene Bauer Collection, a book containing all of Bauer’s serigraphs. A reception and book signing with Ms. Bauer will occur Saturday, October 8, 2011 from 2:30 – 4:30 PM during the Foundation’s annual plant sale and Fall festival.

Related
Book review, Botanical Serigraphs: The Gene Bauer Collection

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Color Matching Using Color Photographs & Oil Paints

Posted in botanical art, gardening, Learning Opportunities, Photography on September 14, 2011|

A careful photographic study of plants at Winterbourne Botanical Garden lead to the creation of unique color palettes by artist and designer, Chris Eckersley. Nature’s colors were matched using oil color after Eckersley selected six colors from each photograph to create his color charts.

See examples of Eckersley’s work in the press release on the exhibition page for The Colours of Winterbourne.

A link to this exhibition has been added to the Exhibits to Visit section.

The Colours of Winterbourne
Winterbourne House and Garden
The Coach House Gallery
Sept. 1 – Oct. 13, 2011