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Master Gardeners Sponsor Botanical Drawing Workshop

Posted in botanical art, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Events on October 3, 2011|

ART IN THE GARDEN
A Learn and Grow Educational Program

Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011
10 AM – 12 PM
For children 7 – 18 years old

During this special workshop, botanical artist Linda Miller will teach children how to draw in the garden. Artists will learn how to simplify complex structures and how to add color using watercolor paints and colored pencils while creating a beautiful journal page using words and images. All materials furnished by the instructor and the York County Master Gardeners’ Learning Garden committee.

The class is held outdoors in the garden. Please bring your own insect repellent, drink and snacks. Admission is free and open to the public. Pre-registration required by October 7, 2011. Contact the York County Cooperative Extension Office to register at (757) 890-4940.

If you register and discover you cannot attend for some reason, please notify the York County Cooperative Extension Office so someone on the waiting listing may attend in your place. Thank you for your cooperation.

Sponsored by the York County Master Gardeners of Virginia.

This workshop will be taught at the Public Learning Gardens at 301 Goodwin Neck Rd. at County Dr. in front of the Fire & Safety Building and next to York County Parks & Rec Building.

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Meet the Birmingham Society of Botanical Artists

Posted in botanical art, Education, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Events on October 1, 2011|

This month, we have the opportunity to learn from several artists in a group-style Q&A session.

Please join me in welcoming our Feature Group for October, the Birmingham Society of Botanical Artists!

The Birmingham Society of Botanical Artists (BSBA) was created by the first graduating class of the certificate program in botanical art offered by the University of Birmingham, England. Having worked alongside each other for two years, this class of 12 students wanted to continue to meet regularly so they could continue to learn from each other. They formed the BSBA and now members of the original group, as well as graduates from other classes, meet monthly at the Winterbourne Botanic Garden. Since its creation in 1999, the BSBA has grown to include 50 members, all of whom are actively painting and exhibiting their work.

The certificate program responsible for uniting this dedicated group of botanical artists was cancelled in 2005 because of university budget cuts. Fittingly today, this two-year university program has been replaced with two one-year programs taught by the Birmingham Society of Botanical Artists.

The one-year Certificate Program is a program leading students through the sequence of steps artists complete while creating a botanical painting. Students learn plant morphology, how to create accurate line drawings, how to create three-dimensional forms, and how to work in the field. They also learn how to work in a variety of media. Regular homework assignments and a final project reinforce what has been learned, as does sharing work with fellow students. According to BSBA member & tutor Jeni Neale, the certificate program encourages students to find their own style and to develop their own specialty.

The second program developed by the BSBA is called Aspects of Botanical Illustration. It can be viewed as either a continuation of the certificate program or as a standalone program for individuals who want to learn about botanical art, but who do not have the time to dedicate to the certificate program. The Aspects program is a one-year program composed of a series of monthly classes dedicated to a specific theme (e.g., leaves and stems in graphite, painting shine on leaves, etc.). Neale states the Aspect program “enables students to work on developing their own skills in botanical illustration or to adapt what they have learnt to their own particular area of interest.”

This month we have the opportunity to learn from eight members of the Birmingham Society of Botanical Artists in a group-style Ask The Artist Q&A. Each artist has their own specialty and their own approach to botanical art. You are invited to ask questions about their respective specialties or about how they approach drawing and painting plants.

Artists participating in this month’s group Q&A are:

Jan Beesley – Specializes in detailed illustration using graphite pencils.
Julia Blower – New to the world of botanical illustration.
Dawn Burford – Specializes in illustrating books for publishers in pen and ink.
Jenny Major – Loves illustrating foliage and non-flowering plants. Dislikes big blousy flowers.
Jeni Neale – Specializes in colour mixing using just six colours and printing cards of her paintings on her home computer.
Audrey Richards – Prints her own cards from her colourful paintings.
Bridget Rochford – Specializes in illustrating wild flowers combining watercolour with graphite in the background.
Sue Wilson – Loves wet-in-wet for both leaves and flowers. Dislikes drawing, so often does minimal lines and goes straight in with the paint.

Do you have questions about printing or selling note cards featuring your botanical paintings? Looking for insight into how to become a book illustrator? Have questions you have not yet had the chance to ask? Use this opportunity to ask your question(s) and to learn from this diverse group of artists.

Please send questions to education@artplantae.com or type your questions in the comment box below. If you type your questions below, please know they will not be published to the Web automatically. Your questions will be added anonymously to the list of questions submitted to the BSBA.

All questions are due October 10, 2011.
Replies from our visiting artists and tutors will be posted on October 24, 2011.

What do you want to learn?

UPDATE: Go to The Birmingham Society of Botanical Artists Answers Your Questions

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Botanical Art Tour to Tuscany, Rome & Siena

Posted in botanical art, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Events on September 29, 2011|

Click to download itinerary

Experience Italy in 2012!

Imagine yourself in Tuscany in Spring 2012, in a restored medieval village, drawing or painting the seasonal displays of flowers such as red poppies, azaleas, wisteria or the native blue iris. Or if you prefer, depicting the local fruit and vegetable offerings such as asparagus, strawberries, fennel or peas found in the market place.

Imagine also your artistic endeavors being guided by a renowned teacher in a stunning historical indoor/outdoor studio setting. Join Margaret Best, botanical artist and teacher, and an expert Italian-speaking cultural guide, on a memorable 8-night visit to Italy.

Outside the studio you will visit an organic kitchen garden and join the owner for a sumptuous gourmet meal. And there is more…you will be able to experience truly authentic Chianti region by mingling with the local residents and visiting a boutique wine estate to sip their vintages. You will also savor the culture of Rome and Siena.

Your Instructor
Margaret Best is an internationally recognized botanical artist and teacher offering tuition in graphite, color pencil and watercolor. She has taught workshops to all levels of experience from rank beginners, intermediates to advanced levels in Canada, UK, USA and Bermuda. These workshop venues include respected botanical gardens and institutions such as The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA; Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens; San Diego Natural History Museum; Filoli, San Francisco, CA; Dow Learning Center, Calgary Zoo Conservatory, Calgary; Bermuda Art Center, Hamilton, Bermuda.

Margaret’s watercolors have been exhibited globally in New York; Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis; Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh; Los Angeles, Denver, Bermuda, Toronto, and San Francisco. Her work is found in many private and corporate collections around the globe. Recently the Royal Canadian Mint released a wild rose coin designed by Margaret.

For the past six years, Margaret has painted regularly with her mentor Pandora Sellars who is widely regarded by experts as the leading contemporary botanical artist of our time. She has also completed master classes with Katie Lee, Lizzie Sanders and Anne Marie Evans.

A professionally qualified art teacher, Margaret is known for her nurturing style and her ability to readily identify student skill level in order to steer advancement. This is what her students have to say:

That was a wonderful, wonderful workshop. Margaret creates a level playing ground where everyone could learn regardless of their skills. Thank you for helping to get me launched and I look forward to another workshop.”

Diana Platt, Santa Barbara, USA

Not only does Margaret have her own amazing works of art and technical skill beyond anything I have ever experienced, she is also an inspiration. Her classes are always supportive, informative, challenging, and stimulating. Margaret holds nothing back and shares her skills and life experiences freely. By the end of each class Margaret has successfully instilled the desire and provided the tools to create, not only art, but to become our best selves. I aim to take as many classes from Margaret that I am able and would recommend to anybody that she offers an opportunity that should not be missed.

Nancy Berreth, Calgary,Canada

Painting Tour of Italy with Margaret Best
April 26 – May 4, 2012
Cost: Euro 3,190 (convert currency)

Please direct all travel questions to Quench Travel Design, Ltd., a Toronto-based travel design group.

You May Also Enjoy Reading…
Margaret Best Discusses Color in Botanical Art, Provides Tips for Informal Science Educators

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New Exhibition Celebrates Botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker

Posted in botanical art, botany, Education, Special Announcements, Special Events on September 28, 2011|

The Making of a Botanist: Joseph Dalton Hooker, 1817-1911

Lloyd Library and Museum
www.lloydlibrary.org
Oct. 8 – Dec. 30, 2011

This special exhibition celebrates the famed 19th-century botanist and explorer, Joseph Dalton Hooker, and reveals how and why he became the great botanist that he was.

The son of William Jackson Hooker (confidant to Charles Darwin and former Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), Joseph Dalton Hooker explored India and the Himalayas and made significant contributions to rhododendron and orchid research.

Throughout the exhibition, Hooker’s relationships with 19th-century naturalists such as Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, Alfred Russell Wallace, and Charles Lyell will be explored. Exhibition highlights include the first edition of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859), Victoria regia, or the Great Water-Lily of South America (1847) by William Jackson Hooker, and The Rhododendrons of Sikkim-Himalaya (1849) by Joseph Dalton Hooker.

The opening reception will be held on Saturday, October 8, 2011 (4-7 PM). During the reception, Gene Kritsky, noted author and professor at the College of Mount St. Joseph, will speak about the relationship Joseph Dalton Hooker had with Charles Darwin. Kritsky’s presentation begins at 4:30 PM.

In November, Michael A. Flannery (Associate Director of Historic Collections at the University of Alabama, Birmingham and the former Director of the Lloyd Library & Museum), will discuss his new book, Alfred Russel Wallace: A Rediscovered Life. This special event will occur on November 30, 2011, from 7-9 PM and includes a coffee and dessert reception.

The Lloyd Library and Museum has designed a poster to commemorate the life and career of Joseph Dalton Hooker. Featuring one of the plants documented by Hooker while he was in India and the Himalayas, this poster is available exclusively at the museum store for $10 (click on image).

The Lloyd Library and Museum, located at 917 Plum Street in downtown Cincinnati, is a local and regional cultural treasure. The library was developed in the nineteenth century by the Lloyd brothers — John Uri, Curtis Gates, and Nelson Ashley – to provide reference sources for Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists, Inc., one of the leading pharmaceutical companies of the period. Today the library is recognized worldwide by the scientific community as a vital research center. The library holds, acquires, and provides access to both historic and current materials on the subjects of pharmacy, botany, horticulture, herbal and alternative medicine, pharmacognosy, and related topics. Although the library’s collections have a scientific focus, they also have relevance to humanities topics, such as the visual arts and foreign languages. The Lloyd is open to anyone with an interest in these topics. Free parking is available for patrons and visitors behind the library building. For more information, visit the Lloyd website at www.lloydlibrary.org.

Related

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‘Golden Natives’ Exhibition at Theodore Payne Art Gallery

Posted in botanical art, Education, gardening, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Events on September 28, 2011|

Gene Bauer: The Golden Natives, 1972-1974
Theodore Payne Art Gallery
www.theodorepayne.org

Gene Bauer, the first chair of the California Garden Clubs’ Native Flora Committee, created a remarkable series of 27 screen-printed booklets from 1972-1974. As the first Chairman of California Native Flora for the California Garden Clubs, Inc., she launched this project to educate and stimulate an interest in native plants among the club’s membership. Ultimately, she created 27 unique booklets, each profiling a California native plant. Thirty nine years later, these booklets are being recognized for their creativity.

Beginning October 1, 2011, the Theodore Payne Art Gallery will host Gene Bauer: The Golden Natives 1972-1974, a three-month exhibition of Bauer’s work.

“The complexity and artistic quality of Gene Bauer’s work cannot be overstated,” said Pamela Burgess, board member of the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants and the Theodore Payne Arts Council. “When you consider that it was created by hand without the advantage of today’s technology, it makes you appreciate her work all the more.”

Visitors will be able to view the booklets themselves and see the different elements that make up each booklet. Elements such as a cover with a serigraph of a plant printed on heavy paper, a tissue paper insert printed with a slightly different version of the cover serigraph, a written description with scientific and folkloric information, and a map showing where a plant grows. The custom-designed envelopes used to mail the booklets to Garden Club members will also be on exhibit.

In 2010, ESRI Press published Botanical Serigraphs: The Gene Bauer Collection, a book containing all of Bauer’s serigraphs. A reception and book signing with Ms. Bauer will occur Saturday, October 8, 2011 from 2:30 – 4:30 PM during the Foundation’s annual plant sale and Fall festival.

Related
Book review, Botanical Serigraphs: The Gene Bauer Collection

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Sketch the Tropical Flora & Fauna of Guatemala

Posted in botanical art, Learning Opportunities, Sketching & Journaling, Special Announcements, Special Events on September 26, 2011|

Details about Cynthia Padilla’s new trip to Guatemala can be found below and at Classes Near You > Texas and Classes Near You > Guatemala:

Cynthia Padilla, Dallas
http://fruitflowerinsect.blogspot.com
Cynthia Padilla teaches painting and drawing classes at prestigious universities, major museums, arboreta, art societies across the US, Canada, Central America and internationally. She curates exhibitions, serves as a juror of exhibitions, lectures and conducts demonstrations, and leads painting retreats worldwide. Cynthia is also the founder of the Botanical Art & Naturalist Illustration group on Yahoo!

Botanical Arts/ Nature Sketching the Tropical Flora and Fauna of Guatemala with Cynthia Padilla

Class will be based in lovely Antigua, a delightful bougainvillea-draped town with an international ambiance of internet cafes, art galleries, artisan crafts and warmhearted, welcoming people.

Participants will also head into the highlands where volcanoes rise out of early morning mist and spend 3 days on Lake Atitlan.

Begin a lifelong habit of journaling in nature and return home with a collection of sketches, tiny vignettes, notes & notations, measurements and musings, and works of art ready to frame. All media and all levels welcome.

Registration/Information: Liza Fourré, Director, Art Workshops in Guatemala, call 612-825-0747 or contact Liza Fourré, Director.

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Exhibition Celebrates America’s Parks

Posted in botanical art, Education, Special Announcements, Special Events on September 26, 2011|

America’s Parks Through the Beauty of Art celebrates the original artwork of artists who have captured scenes and images depicting parks in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Subject matter may be from any park be it a national, state, provincial, county or a city park.

Jurors are M. Stephen Doherty, editor of PleinAir Magazine; Susan T. Fisher, past president of the American Society of Botanical Artists & director of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Art Institute; and Todd Wilkinson, managing editor of Wildlife Art Journal.

The inaugural exhibition of America’s Parks Through the Beauty of Art will be held in Bolivar, Missouri at the Ella Carothers Dunnegan Gallery of Art,
March 17 – April 14, 2013. Additional exhibitions are planned for 2014 and 2015.

Complete details can be viewed in the prospectus for the inaugural exhibition. Here is quick look at some important information:

Eligibility: Open to all artists
Eligible Subject Matter: Original artwork of subject matter found in any national, state, provincial, county or city park or any park of any other such unit in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
Eligible Media: Original, two-dimensional art completed in 2010, 2011 or 2012. See prospectus for more details, including ineligible media.
Entry Fees: Early-entry Fee is US$30 for one entry, US$50 for two entries and US$20 for each additional entry. Standard Deadline Fee is US$40 for one entry, each additional entry US$25.

Download the “America’s Parks” Prospectus for the 2013 Inaugural Exhibition to read all details and to obtain an entry form.