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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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Orchid Chandeliers at New York Botanical Garden

Posted in Education, gardening, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Events on March 3, 2015|

The New York Botanical Garden opened its annual orchid show this weekend. This year the theme is The Orchid Show – Chandeliers. This year emphasis is on the aerial beauty of orchids. Orchids are presented in hanging baskets, living columns and a huge star-shaped chandelier filled with hundreds of plants.

Planned events include orchid care demonstrations, classes, poetry readings, ballroom dancing, music, cocktails, and a screening of the film, “Vanilla: The Sacred Orchid”.

The New York Botanical Garden is once again extending a 20% discount to readers. Use code 7111 when you purchase an All Garden Pass online.

An All Garden Pass includes the following benefits:

Admission to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, Rock Garden (April-October), Tram Tour, Garden grounds, and all exhibitions and public programs on the day of your visit.

View video from The Orchid Show – Chandeliers

Offer valid only when code 7111 is used online at nybg.org. Valid for visits made February 28, 2015 through April 19, 2015. Offer subject to availability. Discount cannot be combined with any other promotional offer or previously purchased tickets. Discount may be modified or withdrawn with prior notice. Tickets are not refundable or exchangeable.

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‘American Botanical Paintings’ Wins Awards

Posted in botanical art books, Plants, Special Announcements on February 18, 2015|

By Bonnie Driggers, BAEE

In early 2014, the Botanical Artists for Education & the Environment (BAEE) published American Botanical Paintings: Native Plants of the Mid Atlantic. The book has met with good success over the past year, particularly among people interested in gardening and the environment as well as in botanical art. It is sold at Monticello; the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Shop in Richmond, Virginia; Meadowlark Gardens in Vienna, Virginia; the New York Botanic Garden; the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; as well as at other gift and garden shops.

Don’t wait to get your copy!

The book is available from Amazon and from the publisher at www.starbooks.biz for both retail and wholesale purchases. Please direct all questions about this title to BAEE.

‘American Botanical Paintings’ Wins Awards

American Botanical Paintings: Native Plants of the Mid Atlantic is the winner in the Home and Garden category of the 11th Annual USA Best Book Awards. Winners and finalists traversed the publishing landscape: Simon & Schuster, Penguin, John Wiley & Sons, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Kensington Books, Harlequin, McGraw-Hill, Llewellyn, Yale University Press, Cornell University Press, University of Missouri Press, White House Historical Association, Wisconsin Historical Society Press, American Bar Association and hundreds of independent houses.

The BAEE book, American Botanical Paintings: Native Plants of the Mid Atlantic was awarded a Distinguished Technical Communication award in the 2014 Society for Technical Communication (STC) Washington, DC-Baltimore Chapter’s Summit Competition for Technical Communication.

The BAEE website also won a Distinguished Technical Communication award.

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Workshop for Educators Combines Art and Life Science

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Articles & Interviews, Teaching & Learning on February 13, 2015| 2 Comments »

The ART+BIO Collaborative has announced a professional development workshop for educators teaching in formal and informal learning environments. Program participants will have special access to art work from the public and non-public collections of the new Harvard Art Museums, as well as areas not frequently accessed by the public.

Information about the new workshop, plus information about upcoming trips to Puerto Rico and the southwest are listed below. This information has been added to the Classes Near You sections for Massachusetts, Texas and New Mexico.

After reading about the new classes, be sure to move on to the conversation with the instructors of the professional development workshop.

ART+BIO Collaborative

www.artbiocollaborative.com

NEW! Professional Development Workshop for Educators

Combining Comparative Anatomy & the Visual Arts:
A Professional Development Workshop for Educators
Dates: April 20- 22, 2015 from 1-4:30pm 
Location: Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge MA, 02138
 Fee: $25, Does not include museum admission

This ART+BIO Collaborative workshop introduces educators to creatively combining visual art and life sciences to engage students in creative art-making and deeper learning of advanced scientific concepts. Working from museum collections and exhibits at the Harvard Art Museums and Harvard Museum of Natural History, participants will use biological illustration to learn about comparative anatomy and evolution. Participants will design creative art+science collaborations for their own classrooms and participate in collaborative art-making. This workshop is ideal for 6th-12th grade Art and Science teachers, however, all grade levels and informal educators welcome, along with any artists, naturalists or students interested in creative, interdisciplinary teaching and learning approaches. No previous drawing or science experience necessary. This workshop is part of the 2015 Cambridge Science Festival.
Pre-Registration required. Participants will earn 10 Professional Development points.

Sign-up Today!

Download flyer

ISLAND LIFE: Tropical Field Studies of Art+Nature in Puerto Rico, March 8-14, 2015- Spring Break

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DESERT LIFE: Field Studies of Art+Nature in the Southwest
June 26-July 2, 2015
Discover the unique beauty of the desert in this one-of-a-kind artistic journey through white sand dunes, black lava rock, desert caves, and mountain landscapes of West Texas and New Mexico.
View Details/Register

A Conversation with Stephanie Dowdy-Nava and Saul Nava
Stephanie Dowdy-Nava, primary instructor of the professional development (PD) workshop and co-founder of the ART+BIO Collaborative would like to start a conversation with you about science and art. You can join in the conversation by responding to her prompt below. Please respond by typing your comments in the Comment box.

Integrating biology and art helps students understand advanced scientific concepts more deeply and fully engage their creativity through informed, thoughtful artmaking. The PD program focuses on designing creative collaborations between natural history and the visual arts using comparative anatomy and biological illustration. What are some creative ways you have successfully integrated art and science in your classroom, studio or lab? Share your ideas here and they could become part of our workshop discussion.

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Shirley Sherwood Collection of Botanical Art at Jonathan Cooper Park Walk Gallery

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Events on February 12, 2015|

© Beverly Allen, all rights reserved Born Sydney, Australia, 1945 . Doryantes excelsa (Gymea Lily), Watercolour on Arches paper  39 x 28 ins (99 x 71 cm)

The Jonathan Cooper Park Walk Gallery invites you to view new works in the Shirley Sherwood Collection.

Botanical art has for centuries been closely linked to exploration, travel, and adventure, aiding and inspiring scientists in their quest to understand the natural world. The best botanical artists have always combined technical skill in producing a faithful likeness of a specimen with their own artistic flair.

The Jonathan Cooper Park Walk Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition of new works by 18 outstanding contemporary artists in Work from Botanical Artists in the Collection of Dr. Shirley Sherwood: Celebrating 25 Years of the Collection. This exhibition will be on view April 23 – May 30, 2015. All works are for sale.

Interested in plants and art since childhood, Dr. Sherwood earned her undergraduate degree in botany from Oxford University and her D.Phil working in a team which discovered the important drug Tagamet.

She started the Shirley Sherwood Collection in 1990, and it now includes 900 paintings and drawings, representing the work of over 240 contemporary artists from 30 countries around the world. Alongside curating exhibitions of works from her collection specially hung for the Shirley Sherwood Gallery, she has exhibited her collection in many other prestigious locations including the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the Marciana Library in Venice and the Real Jardín Botánico Madrid. She has also written six books and many articles on botanical art.

The Sherwood family have all generously supported Kew with the building of the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, the only purpose-designed botanical art gallery in the world. The gallery opened in April 2008, and has between 2 – 3,000 visitors a week. Awarded the OBE for services to botanical art in early 2012, Dr. Sherwood is a Fellow of the Linnaean Society, was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal by the Royal Horticultural Society and is an Hon. Fellow of St Anne’s College, Oxford.

Artists participating in this exhibition are: Beverley Allen, Francesca Anderson, Phansakdi Chakkapak, Annie Hughes, Ingrid Finnan, Monika de Vries Gohlke, Coral Guest, Mieko Ishikawa, Rachel Pedder-Smith, Kate Nessler, Brian Poole, Jenny Phillips, Rosie Sanders, Jessica Tcherepine, Carol Woodin, Fiona Strickland, Susan Ogilvy, Susannah Blaxhill.

The Jonathan Cooper Park Walk Gallery is open Monday – Friday (10:00 am – 6:30 pm) and Saturday (11:00 am – 4:00 pm). Admission is free.

Celebrate 25 Years of the Shirley Sherwood Collection!

Visit Jonathan Cooper Park Walk Gallery

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UCR Botanic Gardens Invites Local Artists

Posted in botanical art, Education, Photography, Plants, Special Announcements, Special Events on February 12, 2015|

Download guidelines, entry form

The UCR Botanic Gardens invites local artists to take part in the annual Primavera in the Gardens Poster Art Contest.

The artwork of the two first-place winners will be used as the artwork for Primavera. First-place winners will each receive four tickets to this annual food, wine and art event. Second-place artists will each receive two tickets to the event.

Original artwork will be accepted for two categories: 1) Photography and
2) Other Media. This contest is open to all artists. The only stipulation is that all original artwork must be of the UCR Botanic Gardens and be no smaller than 11″ x 14″.

Did you take a show-stopping photograph of a plant or landscape scene from inside the Garden? Do you have a drawing or painting of a plant in the UCRBG collection of which you are especially proud?

Download the entry form and submit your original artwork to the Primavera Poster Contest. Submissions are due March 6, 2015.

Download Guidelines & Entry Form