View Symposium schedule
Interested in learning more about the history of botany and botanical art?
A fantastic learning opportunity is coming to Southern California this summer that you don’t want to miss.
The eccentric beauty of the plant kingdom will be celebrated in a traveling exhibition of contemporary botanical illustrations and will be on view
June 13–Aug. 23, 2015 (Saturdays and Sundays only), at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. “Weird, Wild & Wonderful: The New York Botanical Garden Second Triennial Exhibition” is curated by the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA). The juried show includes 47 works, selected from a field of nearly 240 submissions, created by ASBA artists from Australia, Canada, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The show will be on view in the Flora-Legium of the Brody Botanical Center and is included with general admission to The Huntington.
“Botanical artists have traditionally depicted conventionally beautiful flora,” said Robert Hori, gardens cultural curator and program director at The Huntington. “This exhibition is meant to showcase nature’s oddities—plants of charismatic quirkiness that have a bizarre beauty all their own.”
In conjunction with the exhibition, The Huntington will co-host a symposium
July 23–26, 2015, offering a broad view of all that is weird, wild, and wonderful in the plant kingdom. The symposium is presented in partnership with the ASBA and the Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California (BAGSC, the local ASBA chapter). Learn about plants, explore the history of botany, take a botanical art class and learn about photography too. You can view the complete schedule on the Symposium website.
In addition to an exciting selection of classes, there will be special keynote presentations by botanists, artists and historians. The schedule of Symposium keynote lectures is as follows:
Thursday, July 23, 7 p.m. (Opening night dinner)
Do You ‘See’ Plants? Using Art and Technology to Teach Science
Jodie Holt, professor of plant physiology at the University of California, Riverside, and botanical consultant for James Cameron’s science fiction film, “Avatar.”
Friday, July 24, 12:30 p.m.
Painting the Wonder Plants of Borneo
Mieko Ishikawa, botanical artist.
Friday, July 24, 7 p.m.
The Art of Orchids
Phillip Cribb, deputy keeper of the Herbarium and curator of the Orchid Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew. This keynote is generously underwritten by Orchid Digest.
Saturday, July 25, 12:30 p.m.
The Beauty of Ancient Plant Representations:
Weird or Wonderful?
Alain Touwaide of the Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions.
Saturday, July 25, 7 p.m.
From Field to Print: Botanical Art and Photography for Conifers Around the World and the Dendrological Atlas
Zsolt Debreczy and István Rácz of the International Dendrological Research Institute, co-authors.
An adjunct exhibition of approximately 60 works by local BAGSC members will be on view in the Brody Botanical Center Aug. 1–9. This supplemental show will extend the theme of weird and wonderful plants through educational outreach activities for children and families, demonstrations in different media, informal workshops, displays of botanical curiosities, and “Find Me in the Garden” links between the exhibitions and the botanical collections. During the week of this display, both exhibitions will be open to visitors daily (Wednesday through Monday) during public hours.
Summer school has never ever been this exciting!
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