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Archive for the ‘Science Library’ Category

Learn to paint orchids on vellum at US Botanic Garden

Posted in Education, general botany, Learning Opportunities on February 12, 2016|

Carol Woodin
www.carolwoodin.com
Carol is an award-winning freelance artist whose specialties include orchids, rare wildflowers, heirloom fruits and garden plants.

Painting Glowing Orchids in Watercolor

After an overview of the special botanical characteristics of orchids, and a primer on the unique qualities of vellum, students will learn to combine the two. Creating rich color through multiple layers of watercolor dry brush, artists will capture shaded form and surface qualities such as gloss, veining, and warts so characteristic of orchids. Using vellum’s special surface to its greatest advantage, artists will gain comfort in working with this beautiful and translucent material.

For more information, contact Carol Woodin.

This information has also been posted to the Classes Near You sections for New York and Washington, DC.

Did you know?
George Washington thought that U.S. capital should have a botanic garden promoting the importance of plants to our young nation?

Established in 1820, the United States Botanic Garden is one of the oldest gardens in North America.

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Wildflowers of the Mojave Desert

Posted in Education, general botany, Learning Opportunities, travel on December 22, 2015|

Discover the plants of the Mojave Desert this spring in a weekend workshop offered by UC Riverside Extension. Here is what’s new at Classes Near You > Southern California:

University of California, Riverside
Extension Program

Botanical Illustration of Desert Flora
March 18 – 20, 2016
The class begins at 8 PM on Friday and ends at 4 PM on Sunday.

Learn how to draw artistic and realistic flowering plants in a manner designed to understand the form, function, and identification of native plants. Exciting hands-on experiences both in the lab and in the field amid native flora habitats.

Learn botanical illustration techniques in pencil, pen, and watercolor.
Focus on comprehensive line drawing stressing contour, volume and perspective.
Make drawings of minute structures to full-scale renditions of plants.
Understand how artistic and scientific skills work together.

This class qualifies for credit toward certification in Nature Field Studies at UCRX. This field class at the Desert Studies Center in the Mojave National Preserve and is operated by CSU Fullerton. The Center is located within the Preserve at Soda Springs (Zzyzx), about an hour outside Las Vegas and a three-hour drive from Riverside, CA. The course fee includes two nights’ lodging at the Center. Cost: $325

The instructor for this course is Donald Davidson of the Traveling Artist Wildflowers Project .

Contact Donald Davidson if you have questions for the instructor.

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Plant project continues with ‘The Flora of Madrona Marsh II’

Posted in Education, general botany, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Events on October 27, 2015|

Nevin's Barberry with Bluebird Oct 2015_© Estelle DeRidder, all rights reserved

In 2012 botanical artist Estelle DeRidder received a grant from the American Society of Botanical Artists to create plant identification cards about plants at the Madrona Marsh Preserve in southern California. A traveling exhibition about the plants of Madrona Marsh launched in November 2014. The second installment of this ongoing project,
The Flora of Madrona Marsh II, is now complete and on view at Madrona Marsh through December 3, 2015.

You’re Invited!
An opening reception will be held on Sunday, November 15 from 1:00 – 3:00 pm. Meet Estelle and view the illustrations of 12 plant species she created for this phase of her project. Dessert and coffee will be served.

The Madrona Marsh is located at 3201 Plaza Del Amo, Torrance, CA 90503.
Hours: Tuesday through Thursday 10:00am – 5:00pm
View map

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Evening Tour of Chelsea Physic Garden

Posted in botanical art, Education, gardening, general botany, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements on July 23, 2015|

Enjoy a special evening event at the Chelsea Physic Garden with Head Gardener, Nick Bailey.

On Thursday August 13, Bailey will give a guided tour of the Garden that includes visits to the Garden of Medicinal Plants and the new World Woodland Garden, a garden focusing on medicinal plants from forest environments.

Artist Nici Ruggiero will talk about her installation “Curse or Cure”, an installation of apothecary jars in the Garden of Medicinal Plants. Also included in the evening tour is a visit to London’s Secret Garden: Plant Portraits from Chelsea Physic Garden.

More about Chelsea’s Secret Garden

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Exhibition about mysterious fungi at The Hunt Institute

Posted in botanical art, Education, general botany, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements on July 15, 2015|

The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation invites you to explore the amazing and mysterious world of fungi!

Boletus calopus Fr. [Boletus calopus Persoon, Boletaceae], watercolor on paper by Aurel Dermek (1925–1989), 1965, for Dermek and Albert Pilát, Poznávajme Huby (Bratislava, Veda, t. Tlač. SNP-Neografia, Martin, 1974, pl. 58), 30 x 21 cm, HI Art accession no. 6084.2.

The Mysterious Nature of Fungi
Hunt Institute for
Botanical Documentation
Pittsburgh, PA
Sept. 17, 2015 – Dec. 17, 2015

The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation presents
“The Mysterious Nature of Fungi” from 17 September to 17 December 2015. This exhibit gives an overview of these mysterious organisms that are found almost everywhere on this planet and are the cause of both bliss and blight.

Join us Thursday, 17 September 2015, 5-7 pm for an opening reception.
At 5:30 pm the curators will give a short introduction to the exhibition in the gallery.

We will also open on Saturday and Sunday, 10-11 October, 1-4 p.m., during Carnegie Mellon University’s Cèilidh Weekend festivities.
On Saturday join our curator throughout the afternoon for tours of the exhibition. On Sunday (1:30-2:30 p.m.) Richard Jacob, a biochemist by trade and president of the Western Pennsylvania Mushroom Club, will present the talk “Mushroom clubs: Citizen science in action!”

The Cabinet of curiosities in the Hunt Institute lobby will display lithographs from a limited-edition portfolio in our Library collection. The 20th-century American avant-garde composer, writer and visual artist John Cage (1912–1992) also was an avid, amateur mushroom forager who was so enthusiastic about mushrooms that he and his friend, visual artist Lois Long (1918-2005), co-founded the New York Mycological Society in 1962. Together they published The Mushroom Book (1972), with the taxonomic assistance of the mycologist Alexander H. Smith (1904-1986).

“The Mysterious Nature of Fungi” 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 AM–noon and 1–5 PM; Sunday, 1–4 PM (except 22 November and 26–29 November). Because our hours of operation are occasionally subject to change, please call or email before your visit to confirm. For further information, contact the Hunt Institute at 412-268-2434.

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.

Click on first image to view images as a slideshow.

: [Pilobolus Tode, Pilobolaceae], watercolor on paper by Carmen Sylvia Zocchio-Fidalgo (1941–), 54.5 x 40.5 cm, HI Art accession no. 4830.

: French and Italian Truffles [Tuber melanosporum Vittadini and Tuber magnatum pico Vittadini, Tuberaceae], watercolor on paper by Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh (1941–), 2009, 33.5 x 39 cm, HI Art accession no. 7782.

: Boletus calopus Fr. [Boletus calopus Persoon, Boletaceae], watercolor on paper by Aurel Dermek (1925–1989), 1965, for Dermek and Albert Pilát, Poznávajme Huby (Bratislava, Veda, t. Tlač. SNP-Neografia, Martin, 1974, pl. 58), 30 x 21 cm, HI Art accession no. 6084.2.

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Pollinators at UC Botanical Garden featured in video

Posted in general botany on May 18, 2015|

The UC Botanical Garden invites you to celebrate First Friday’s in the Garden!

Video in the Grove: The Pollinators by Sarah Rara
First Friday at UC Botanical Garden
June 5, 2015
6:00 – 7:30 PM

Photo courtesy UC Botanical Garden, All rights reserved

Video Artist Sarah Rara will join us to introduce the video she made with footage taken in the UC Botanical Garden. Bring a picnic and enjoy this film under the Garden’s towering Redwoods in our stunning amphitheater.

The Pollinators focuses on the insects, birds, animals, and vectors that
pollinate flowers. Filmed against brightly colored backgrounds that both
attract and distract pollinators, the video explores wild color spaces,
modeling the ultraviolet-rich color range perceived by insects that extends
beyond human vision and the RGB colorspace of video. The Pollinators was
filmed over the course of a full calendar year to document a complete
annual cycle of flowering with sound by Luke Fischbeck.

The Pollinators is generally shown as a video installation, running as a
non-narrative video loop structured by color from Red to Ultraviolet. This
is a rare one-time-only screening of The Pollinators outside of the video
installation and loop format, to honor the native plants and pollinators
of the UC Botanical garden at Berkeley that inspired the film.

Cost: $10 Adults/ Free for children under 12 years old

For more information, contact the Garden’s Program Coordinator or
call 510-664-9841.

Directions to UC Botanical Garden

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The Botany Studio

Posted in Education, general botany, Photography, Plants, Teaching & Learning, teaching and learning on January 30, 2015|

Four years ago we learned about The Botany Studio at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The Studio’s senior artist, Kandis Elliot, was our guest and their poster about fungi had received First Place for Informational Graphics in the eighth annual International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge 2010 sponsored by the journal Science and the National Science Foundation.

Today the Botany Studio operates a Botany Outreach Store featuring not only their collection of botany posters, but also digital media and selected publications about the plants of Wisconsin.

If you’re looking for posters about plants for your classroom or program, be sure to visit the Botany Studio. You’ll find posters about the following topics: