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Margaret Best’s 6th Destination Workshop in Andalucía, Spain

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, travel on August 30, 2015|

By Best Botanical

There are only 2 spaces left in Margaret Best’s April/May 2016 workshop in Spain. Non-artist friends, partners or spouses are also welcome.

The workshop accommodation is a beautifully restored 16th century house in an aromatic garden surrounded by 3000 acres of olive and orange groves. As for all of Margaret’s previous painting trips, this workshop/tour is capably managed on the ground by Kiloran McRae for the Quench Travel Group of Toronto.

Five glorious days of painting will be spent in a spectacular setting high in Sierra Moreno Mountains, just north of Seville in the heart of Andalucía with options to tour the historic sites of Seville and Barcelona. As always, Quench’s remarkable local connections will make for an unforgettable, cultural immersion. Tapas, flamenco dancing, sherry bodegas, historical gardens …

Many of the already registered participants have been on 3 or more of Margaret’s destination workshops. Their enthusiasm for these unique painting opportunities speaks to the quality of their previous experiences. Botanical artist and ASBA member Jan Clouse and her husband Charles of Santa Barbara have this to say about their previous trips with Margaret and Kiloran:

Margaret knows how much Jan appreciates her guidance and mentoring, but the sustained exposure to her teaching skills provided by these trips is inestimable. We both admire Kiloran’s skills as well. Where do we start? Guide? Translator? Chaperone? Student of Medieval history? Plant identifier? She does it all at breakneck speed — in two, sometimes three, languages. Can’t praise her too highly either.

The food was as always, rave-worthy … impressive botanical gardens, the welcoming horticulturists, and historical sites as well… Altogether we had terrific experiences as botanical painter, guitarist, and tourists.

For details about this unique painting opportunity and a chance to explore some remarkable art and sites of historical significance in Spain, visit
Exclusively Quench online.

Previous Margaret Best/Quench workshop destinations include:

Tuscany, Italy
Marrakech, Atlas Mountains, Morocco
Newfoundland, Canada
Cotswold’s, England
Puglia, Italy

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Natural history exhibitions at Adkins Arboretum

Posted in Art, Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements on August 12, 2015|

Adkins Arboretum brings attention to the art of nature in their ongoing series celebrating regional artists and their exploration of natural themes.

The Arboretum is currently hosting an exhibition of work by Rebecca Clark whose work in Finite and Alive: New Drawings focuses on the wildlife of Chesapeake Bay.

The Arboretum explains that Clark’s drawings of oysters, animals and birds are drawn absent of any background. Their isolation on white paper emphasizes the rich textures and forms of their shells, fur or feathers and the pure sense of aliveness of each one. It also isolates them from the rest of nature. They go on to explain that by “surrounding these creatures with empty space, Clark creates an underlying tension. The creatures she depicts are imperiled, cut off from the environments that created and sustained them. In doing this, she intimates not only the effects of pollution, habitat loss and climate change on individual species but, even more significantly, the loss of human consciousness of our intimate connections with the delicate balance of life on earth.”

An artist all her life, Clark credits Leslie Exton of the botanical illustration program at Corcoran College of Art with helping her learn to draw. She says that Exton “taught us very particular techniques and it opened up a whole new world for me.”

Meet Rebecca Clark this weekend at the artist reception on Saturday,
August 15 from 3-5 pm.

New at “Exhibitions to Visit”

Clark’s exhibition is only one of four exhibitions to be held at Adkins Arboretum. The following events have been posted to the Exhibitions to Visit page:

NEW

Finite and Alive: New Drawings

NEW
Unnatural Nature
Outdoor sculpture by Howard and Mary McCoy
Visitor’s Center Gallery
Adkins Arboretum
Ridgely, MD
June 1 – September 30, 2015

NEW
Leaf Impressions
Dominie Nash
Visitor’s Center Gallery
Adkins Arboretum
Ridgely, MD
October 6 – November 27, 2015
Reception October 24, 3-5 p.m.

NEW
The Art of Nature
Adkins Arboretum Botanical Art Students
Visitor’s Center Gallery
Adkins Arboretum
Ridgely, MD
December 1, 2015 – January 29, 2016
Reception December 5, 3-5 p.m.

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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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Sketch the Landscape of Southern France

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, travel on July 23, 2015|

Botanical Art and Tours in PROVENCE, France
May 27 – June 02, 2016
Arles, France

Four botanical art/drawing sessions and tours during the week.

Learn botanical drawing and watercolor in Southern France with Lisa Coddington. Experienced artists and bashful beginners are welcome. Scheduled classes and personal attention will refine your botanical art skills. There will be unique and wonderful opportunities to sketch and photograph Southern France in the blush of spring.

This workshop includes:

Five nights accommodations with bath ensuite in Arles.
One night accommodation with bath ensuite in Marseille.
Two formal and two informal painting classes and a “Welcome” wine and cheese reception.
Two half-day tours and one full-day tour; picnic at the Pont du Gard.
Breakfast daily and more!

FEES include:

Cost based on share lodging
*Limited single supplement $275.00

EARLY BIRD SPECIAL:
Place your deposit by August 31 to receive complimentary art supplies.

For itinerary details, please contact Lisa Coddington. For travel information, please contact Harriet at Cultural Encounters or call (505) 982-8264.

View Lisa’s online gallery at LisaCoddington.com

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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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An invitation to view artists’ portfolios, discuss drawing and painting techniques

Posted in Special Announcements, Special Events, Teaching & Learning on July 8, 2015|

Download your invitation here

Less than two weeks from now, weird, wild and wonderful festivities begin at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens.

The Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California, The Huntington and the American Society of Botanical Artists cordially invite you to the Weird, Wild & Wonderful Symposium to be held
July 23-26, 2015.

The fun actually begins a few days earlier with your choice of two pre-Symposium workshops taught by award-winning artists Elaine Searle from England and Mieko Ishikawa from Japan. Elaine will demonstrate how to create “liquid shine” and form using light and color. Mieko will introduce her students to Nepenthes, the wonder plant of the southeast asian rainforest. She will discuss her visit to the rainforest and show students how to draw and paint this popular carnivorous plant.

The Weird, Wild & Wonderful Symposium begins officially on Thursday, July 23 with a private dinner in the Chinese Garden and a special presentation about using art and technology to teach science. This special keynote address will be given by Dr. Jodie Holt, Professor of Plant Physiology and Divisional Dean, Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California, Riverside who served as the botanical consultant to the movie “Avatar”.

This wonderful summer evening will be followed by three days of workshops, tours, and unique opportunities to learn from artists (and each other) during portfolio-sharing sessions and technique showcases. There will also be mid-day and evening keynote presentations. The focus of these presentations will be painting the plants of Borneo, the art of orchids, ancient plant representations, and how botanical art and photography are being used to document the conifers of the world. Download your invitation to learn how you can attend the keynotes for as little as $10!

Symposium workshops and tours are filling up quickly and wait lists have been activated. Do not miss this opportunity to learn from botanists, artists and historians whose work celebrates the intersection of botany and art.

If you cannot attend the Symposium, do try to visit The Huntington soon to view Weird, Wild & Wonderful: The New York Botanical Garden Second Triennial Exhibition, Botanical Illustrations of Remarkable Plants. This is the traveling exhibition curated by the American Society of Botanical Artists now on view in the Brody Botanical Center through August 23, 2015 (weekends only).

More about the Weird, Wild & Wonderful Symposium

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Florilegium Society Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Posted in botanical art, botanical art books, Special Announcements, Special Events on June 24, 2015|

Curcubita ficifolia © Kimiko Kambe-Gang. All rights reserved.

The Chelsea Physic Garden will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their Florilegium Society with a special exhibition.

London’s Secret Garden: Plant Portraits from Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society will be on view August 4-26, 2015 and will feature works from some of today’s finest botanical artists. Open each day from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., entrance to the exhibition is free with paid admission to the Garden.

The Florilegium Society was formed in 1995 with the explicit purpose of documenting the plant collections in the Chelsea Physic Garden. Founded in 1673, the Chelsea Physic Garden is the oldest garden in London.

Many of the works of art in the exhibition are included in the Society’s new book, Botanical Illustration from Chelsea Physic Garden, written by Andrew Brown with contributions from Christopher Bailes, Phillip Cribb and Anne-Marie Evans.

This new book can be purchased online from independent bookstores ($75 US) and from the publisher directly.

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