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What is expected of artists both during and after a residency? Ruth Ava Lyons explains.

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Articles & Interviews, Special Events on February 13, 2013|

Artist residencies sound romantic. However a residency comes with expenses and logistical issues you may never have considered.

Featured guest Ruth Ava Lyons explains what is expected of artists during and after a residency.

Artists generally have to pay for their round-trip transportation to a residency. Housing and studio space is covered as well as meals. Sometimes there is a small stipend for materials. A residency can range from 2 weeks to one year, so you have to be contractually bound to a time frame. This is why it is good to do residencies when you are young and do not have to deal with the interruption in family life with children or occupation. The artist is expected to…

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Do residency programs accept up-and-coming artists?

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Articles & Interviews, Special Events on February 12, 2013|

Last week Ruth shared some ways artists can learn about residency programs. Today Ruth answers the question:

Do residency programs accept up-and-coming artists or do they only want to deal with artists with extensive portfolios?

Ruth says…

The cost of being an artist is very high, with competition being a fact of the lifestyle. It isn’t enough to be productive and talented…you have to stay on top of a self-marketing plan 24/7. There is a great deal of rejection that accompanies the struggle, so you have to be very persistent and keep letting programs/institutions know of your existence. This approach applies to residency programs as well.

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UC Riverside Botanic Gardens Hosts Poster Contest

Posted in botanical art, Learning Opportunities, Photography, Special Announcements, Special Events on February 12, 2013|

For the past fourteen years, the botanical gardens at the University of California Riverside has hosted Primavera in the Gardens, its annual fundraiser. This year the UCR Botanic Gardens will celebrate its 15th Annual Primavera event and the 50th anniversary of the founding of the gardens. In celebration of these important milestones, the UCR Botanic Gardens is inviting local artists to submit original artwork to their annual poster art contest.

Artists in the Riverside area are eligible to submit original artwork in two categories — photography and painting/drawing. All entries must be of the
UCR Botanic Gardens and be no smaller than 11″ x 14″. All entry forms and artwork must be sent to Margo Chabot no later than March 15, 2013.

First- and second-place awards will be given in both categories. The four award-winning pieces will be auctioned off at the 2013 Primavera Silent Auction. The two first-place winners will become the exclusive property of the UCR Botanic Gardens and will be used as the artwork for the 2013 Primavera event. Artwork will be printed on posters that will be distributed throughout the Riverside area.

First-place winners in each category will each receive four tickets to Primavera 2013, second-place winners will each receive two tickets.

For more information, download the call for entries packet below:
Primavera in the Gardens Poster Art Contest

Please direct all questions to Margo Chabot or Brightie Dunn.

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How to Become an Artist-in-Residence

Posted in Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Articles & Interviews, Special Events on February 8, 2013|

Have you ever wondered about how to become an artist-in-residence?

I asked featured guest Ruth Ava Lyons about how one becomes a resident artist. She replied:

There are several ways artists approach residencies. There are online resources like CaFÉ (www.callforentry.org) that announce residencies for all levels of artists. Artist Communities (www.artistcommunities.org) is wonderful for looking at programs in specific countries as well as res artis. Sometimes its simply interacting with artists who share unique experiences at residencies and garner your interest with their firsthand experience. At this point in my life, I am thinking about places that I am specifically interested in, however there are a lot of things to consider. For instance, there is an arctic circle residency that I would love to participate in, but it requires a significant monetary contribution. Some residencies are for long periods of time that would be hard on my family. Some residencies require active interaction with the public through a lecture or workshop. I am very protective of my studio and I am not willing to open it while work is in progress, so if a residency involves allowing studio visits, that will be very difficult for me to accommodate.

What else would you like to know? Ask here…

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Using Plants to Connect People With Nature

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Articles & Interviews, Special Events on February 6, 2013|

Plants have a presence in each of the paintings created by Ruth Ava Lyons.
I asked Ruth why she chose plants to connect viewers to nature.

Ruth replied:

I like a field-based approach to my subject matter. I wander in various environments and study and synthesize and translate and interpret my impressions of the natural world. Artists like me vacillate between our direct experiences in nature and the solitary studio setting. We follow the work of biologists, botanists, ecologists, and naturalists to inform and strengthen our visions with their findings, so there is a lot of cross-cultural personal research that takes place as well. It is always challenging for me to attempt to capture the essence of plant imagery while…

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Ruth Ava Lyons Discusses Painting in Oil, Using Gold Leaf

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, nature, Special Articles & Interviews, Special Events on February 4, 2013|

Feature guest Ruth Ava Lyons paints in oil and prefers oil over acrylic. She also applies other media to her paintings. I asked what is it about oil that captures her attention. She replied:

Oil is a very seductive medium. It has a richness of palette that is hard to simulate in acrylic which sometimes sends a visual clue that it is man-made/plastic/synthetic. In my youth, I studied the old masters and became very fond of their techniques with oil…

Ruth discusses her use of oil, metal leaf, gold leaf and more

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Ruth Ava Lyons Creates Emotional Connections Between People, Plants and Nature

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Articles & Interviews, Special Events on February 1, 2013| 26 Comments »

Ruth Ava Lyons is an artist living in Charlotte, North Carolina. The botanical images she creates are not like those found in botanical art, yet they make the same connections between plants, people and nature that botanical artists hope to establish with their audience.

Ruth’s images are vibrant, emotional and pull you into Nature’s landscape. She has completed several artist residencies. Most recently in the Everglades National Park Artist in Residence Program in Florida. This year she will travel to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to complete an artist residency at the Heron Island Research Station, supported with a Regional Artist Project Grant. This project was made possible through the support of the North Carolina Arts Council, a state agency, the Blumenthal Endowment, and the arts councils in Cabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Rutherford, Union, and York (South Carolina) counties. Ruth is represented by Hidell Brooks Gallery in Charlotte, NC.

Ruth has graciously agreed to spend time with us this month to discuss her art and her experiences as an artist in residence.

Please welcome Ruth Ava Lyons as this month’s special guest!