Posted in botanical art, botany, Education, general botany, History, Learning Opportunities, travel on May 6, 2013|
You have mentioned that the Marianne North Gallery mobilized botanical knowledge. Were there particular kinds of knowledge that North hoped to cultivate?
Yes, absolutely. There are several running themes in North’s work that are telling of the kinds of stories she wanted to capture and put on display. First among these was the sheer abundance and variety of botanical nature. North rarely painted the same thing twice, and opted instead to…
Posted in botanical art, Education, History, Learning Opportunities, Special Articles & Interviews, Special Events, travel on May 3, 2013|
Our conversation with featured guest Katie Zimmerman continues…
Part of your research explores how the Marianne North Gallery works as a built environment and how the gallery functions within the broader context of the gardens at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Why study these aspects of North’s contribution to botany?
One of the really fascinating things to me about North’s life and work is how such an individual and solitary woman, pursuing an equally individual project, was actually a fairly ordinary part of a broader, and highly social, botanical enterprise. We can see this very nicely when we look closely at the North Gallery as a space and the ways in which that space transcended its walls to become an integrated part of the gardens and the world beyond. Looking at how the gallery functioned as a built environment allows us to chart…
Posted in botanical art, botanical art books, Education, general botany, History, Learning Opportunities, nature, Special Articles & Interviews, travel on May 1, 2013| 11 Comments »
In 1871 Marianne North, a forty-year old woman from a wealthy Victorian family, embarked on an adventure to paint the plants of the world. Even by today’s standards, North’s travels are an amazing accomplishment. You might think Marianne North is a one-of-a-kind wonder, however she shares the title of brave pioneering female naturalist with women such as Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) who was one of the first to describe metamorphosis, and Jeanne Baret (1740-1807) who was the first woman to circumnavigate the globe and the herb woman whose expertise as a field botanist made her an invaluable asset to botanist Philibert Commerson during the Bougainville expedition (1765-1768).
Through her paintings, Marianne North made several contributions to the field of botany. This month we have the unique opportunity to learn more about Marianne North from Katie Zimmerman, a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge whose research is dedicated to the work of this fearless naturalist and artist.
Please welcome Katie Zimmerman, the Featured Scholar for May!
About Katie Zimmerman
Katie is a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge and an instructor at the University of Washington where she teaches courses in the history of science. She is broadly interested in the relationship between art and science, the geography of knowledge, and Victorian natural history. Before taking up her dissertation on Marianne North, Katie taught high school and university courses in Warsaw, Poland, worked at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, and earned her MA in the history of science at Oregon State. Katie lives in Seattle, WA with her husband, two children, and a dog named Huxley – all of whom greatly admire and appreciate the botanical wonderland produced by that rainy state.
Posted in botanical art, Education, gardening, general botany, History, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Events, Technology on April 9, 2013|
This year the city of Banning, CA celebrates its 100th birthday. One of the many festivities celebrating this milestone is the city’s first-ever Earth Day event at Gilman Historic Ranch and Wagon Museum. This inaugural event will be held this weekend on Saturday, April 13, 2013 from 9 AM – 5 PM.
Local organizations will host education stations and provide educational activities for children and adults. Stations will provide information about topics ranging from the water cycle to how to propagate California native plants. Learning opportunities will be provided by:
Also participating in this event are specialty merchants, food vendors and local organizations dedicated to thoughtful green-living practices. See you there!
Banning Centennial Earth Day
Gilman Historic Ranch & Wagon Museum
Saturday, April 13, 2013
9 AM – 5 PM
View map
Admission:
$6 per car
$3 per adult (walk-in)
$2 per child (walk-in)
$1 per dog
Posted in botanical art, Education, general botany, History, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Events on January 22, 2013|
![Rumex obtusifolius leaf [Rumex obtusifolius Linnaeus, Polygonaceae], watercolor on paper by Julia Trickey, 2006, 55 × 36.5 cm, HI Art accession no. 7755, © 2006 Julia Trickey, All Rights Reserved.](https://artplantae.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/hibd-trickey-rumex.jpg?w=189&h=300 "Visit The Hunt Institute")
Rumex obtusifolius leaf [Rumex obtusifolius Linnaeus, Polygonaceae], watercolor on paper by Julia Trickey, 2006, 55 × 36.5 cm, HI Art accession no. 7755, © 2006 Julia Trickey, All Rights Reserved.
What We Collect:
Recent Art Acquisitions, 2007-2012
Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA
March 22 – June 30, 2013
A selection of recent acquisitions to the Art Department of the Hunt Institute, from the early 19th century through the present, will be placed in the context of the Institute’s collection practices and the history of botanical illustration. Whether working alongside botanists for scientific and horticultural publications or preparing artworks for collectors, galleries or commercial use, artists throughout the centuries have added their individual perspectives to portraying plants and have made lasting contributions to the botanical record and the history of art.
Included will be original illustrations for an early-19th-century botanical handbook and its contemporary, the field guide; a 19th-century classroom wall chart and the modern text book; a 20th-century seed packet and a booklet on seedling identification; a 20th-century monograph on the mistletoe genus and a journal article on marine fungi; drawings and watercolors illustrated by research botany professors; independent projects on floras of a region, native and medicinal plants and plants and their pollinators; and recent botanical artworks by artists previously represented in Hunt Institute’s International Exhibition of Art & Illustration. Mediums represented are watercolor on paper and vellum; ink, graphite and charcoal drawing; printmaking techniques: copper etching, wood engraving, vitreography and nature printing; and gelatin silver photography.
The artists working before 1900 include Pancrace Bessa (1772–1846), Sydenham Edwards (1769?–1819), Will Kilburn (1745–1818), James Sowerby (1757–1822), William Jackson Hooker (1785–1865), W. A. Meyn (19th-century), Powe (18th-century) and Christian Schkuhr (1741–1811). The contemporary artists featured include Bobbie Angell, Wendy Brockman, John Cody, Felicity Rose Cole, Carolyn Crawford, Paul Dobe (1880–1965), John Doughty, Beverly Duncan, Josephine Elwes Ewes, Alison Gianangeli, Janice Glimn-Lacy, Audrey Hardcastle, Lizzie Harper, Christina Hart-Davies, Lyn Hayden, Richard Homala (1934–2009), Brigette Kohlmeyer, Job Kuijt, Donelda LaBrake, Peter Loewer, Rogers McVaugh (1912–2009), Susan G. Monden, Cindy Nelson-Nold (1957–2009), Susan Ogilvy, Kandis Phillips, Alfred Putz (1892–1966), Mary Rankin, Thomas Reaume, Eugeni Sierra-Ràfols (1919–1999), Eva Stockhaus, Jessica Tcherepnine, Julia Trickey, Denise Walser Kolar, John Wilkinson and Sun Yingbao.
The Hunt’s annual Open House will be held in conjunction with this exhibition. Curators, librarians and staff will lead exhibition tours and discuss the history of botanical wall charts and botanical publications during this event. View the library’s Open House schedule.
Visitor Information
The exhibition will be on display on the 5th floor of the Hunt Library building at Carnegie Mellon University and will be open to the public free of charge.
Hours: Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–Noon and 1–5 p.m.; Sunday, 1–4 p.m. (except March 29-31, May 5 and May 26-27). Hours subject to change, please call or email before your visit to confirm the library will be open.
About the Hunt Institute
The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, a research division of Carnegie Mellon University, specializes in the history of botany and all aspects of plant science and serves the international scientific community through research and documentation.
Posted in botanical art, Education, History, Learning Opportunities, Special Articles & Interviews on January 7, 2013|
The conversation with Anita Walsmit Sachs continues. We touch upon one of Anita’s current projects and a link to the historic Ambonese Herbal.
ArtPlantae: In the article your wrote for the December 2012 issue of The Botanical Artist – Journal of the American Society of Botanical Artists, you mentioned you work with scientists whose research is dedicated to the plants of southeast Asia. Does any aspect of your research include plants described by Georgius Everhardus Rumphius in The Ambonese Herbal? The manuscript used to print The Ambonese Herbal is located in the library at the University of Leiden. Have you ever seen this historic text?
Anita:
The scientists of our herbarium work at the Flora Malesiana so plants described by Georgius Everhardus Rumphius must have passed my hands. In the library of the herbarium I have seen a copy of the books, which was very impressive. Also the story of his life is very impressive, his constant perseverance and dedication to his passion.
Posted in botanical art, Education, History, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Events on December 27, 2012|
The American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA), in collaboration with
Bartram’s Garden in Philadelphia, is curating an exhibition of original contemporary botanical artworks depicting plants discovered and introduced by John and William Bartram, American pioneers in botany and horticulture.
Very soon ASBA members will submit artworks for consideration and a team of four jurors will select about 40 works to be included in this traveling exhibition. This exhibition will focus on the native plant discoveries made by John and William in their travels throughout the eastern wilderness between the 1730’s and 1790’s. An illustrated, full-color booklet will be published in conjunction with the exhibition.
This traveling exhibition will be on view at the following venues:
Additional venues will be posted in the “Exhibits to Visit” section as information becomes available.
Botanists and illustrators strive to document conifers around the world.
ArtPlantae Today 