ArtPlantae Today

Farmers’ market fare becomes larger than life

September 12, 2016 by Tania Marien

Sally Jacobs
Larger Than Life
TAG Gallery
Bergamot Station
Santa Monica, CA
Sept. 27 – Oct. 22, 2016

Using watercolor and pencil to capture the produce and flora of Los Angeles farmers’ markets in exacting detail, Sally Jacobs stays true to the morphology, patterns and colors of her subjects to create striking images of food plants and flowers.

Sally Jacobs is a contemporary botanical artist from Los Angeles whose work has been shown in exhibitions and museums in New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis and Phoenix. Her work has also been featured in Today’s Botanical Artists, a book about North American botanical artists.

Sally Jacobs—Larger Than Life will be on view at the TAG Gallery beginning
Sept. 27, 2016. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016 from 5-8 p.m.

An artists’ panel featuring Sally Jacobs and fellow TAG Gallery artists Ernie Marjoram and Jane Peterson is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016 at 3 p.m.

About TAG Gallery
The TAG Gallery is a member-owned community for forty artists. Located in Santa Monica’s landmark Bergamot Station, it hosts exhibitions and lectures by local and visiting artists. The Gallery has launched the careers of both emerging and mid-career artists based in the greater Los Angeles area.
Learn more at www.taggallery.net.

Posted in botanical art, Special Announcements, Special Events |

Natural forms focus of exhibition at Southampton Cultural Center

September 12, 2016 by Tania Marien

Click to view

Painting the Natural Form
Contemporary Botanical Painting
by Rose Pellicano
Southampton Cultural Center
Southampton, NY
September 14 – October 31, 2017

Rose Pellicano is a contemporary botanical artist whose work has been shown in exhibitions throughout the United States. She is a fellow of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium and the recipient of a silver medal from the Royal Horticultural Society. Her paintings are included in the permanent collection of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation and in the book Today’s Botanical Artists.

Explore the urban grassland at Riverside Art Museum

September 10, 2016 by Tania Marien

Tania Marien of ArtPlantae will lead Urban Grassland: Sketch & Study an interpretive program to be held in conjunction with the Land/Sky exhibition opening at the Riverside Art Museum (RAM) this fall (Oct. 29, 2016 – Jan. 29, 2017).

In Urban Grassland: Sketch & Study museum visitors will learn about grasses in urban environments, how they grow and how we use them. Visitors will learn about the biology of grasses in an exploratory activity involving botanical illustration. This hands-on experience will occur in the Land/Sky gallery where visitors will sketch surrounded by the large grass paintings of Karen Kitchel, one of the artists participating in the show.

The Land/Sky exhibition highlights two artists’ interpretations of the California landscape. On view will be Karen Kitchel’s paintings of grasses and weeds, and
Eric Nash’s paintings of signs and the urban environment.

Grasses are everywhere–in our yards, in our kitchens, in our parks and along our streets. While California is home to more than 300 species of grasses, not all grasses are native to California. Learn more about California grasses in this upcoming session of RAM’s Maker Series. Visitors will leave with the tools necessary to begin their own creative relationship with the urban grassland.

Urban Grassland: Sketch & Study will be held on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016 from Noon-3 p.m. This program is free with paid admission or RAM membership.
The Riverside Art Museum is located at 3425 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside CA on the corner of Mission Inn Ave. and Lime St. (map)

Posted in Learning Opportunities |

‘Crossed Pollinations’ festival celebrates nature and culture

September 8, 2016 by Tania Marien

You’re invited!

Celebrate the beauty of nature and the diversity of Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley.

The Alhambra Civic Center Library will host the Crossed Pollinations Exhibition and Community Festival, Sept. 20 – Oct. 2, 2016. The festival will bring out your inner scientist, artist and explorer. Meet artists, learn about local produce, be an artist for a day and learn from young ambassadors.

An opening reception will be held at the Alhambra Civic Center Library
on Sept. 20, 2016 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. At the reception you will meet Andrea Lofthouse-Quesada, curator of Crossed Pollinations, artist, community activist and Environmental Science teacher at Alhambra High School. She will speak about the inspiration behind the festival and about her desire to highlight the richness of global perspectives.

If you can’t make it to the opening reception, don’t worry. Many weekend activities are planned. They include:

Why We Paint Flowers

Culinary Origins
Alhambra Farmer’s Market
Sept. 25, 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Market vendors will highlight Chinese agriculture, produce and flowers. They will also discuss the origins and natural history of selected produce and flowers.

Be an Artist for a Day
Alhambra Civic Center Library
Oct. 1, 1-3 p.m.
This workshop will be facilitated by Andrea Lofthouse-Quesada and Hope Flores. Workshop participants will choose a style of flower-inspired art and an inspiring medium that could include pattern making, scientific illustration and/or collage. Materials and instruction will be provided.

Alhambra BioBlitz / #nature #scavengerhunt #competition
Alhambra Civic Center Library
8:30 a.m. – Noon
An exciting competition to be held throughout the city of Alhambra. Participants will form teams of three to five people. Each team will look for insects, invertebrates, plants, mushrooms, etc. They will document their findings or observations on iNaturalist. The team with the most observations wins! (Note: Teams must register in advance.)

Culinary Origins
Alhambra Farmer’s Market
Oct. 2, 8:30 a.m. – Noon
Market vendors will highlight Chinese agriculture, produce and flowers. They will also discuss the origins and natural history of selected produce and flowers.

Festival visitors will also learn from Youth Ambassadors, multilingual students who will lead visitors in hands-on activities during scheduled events. Youth ambassadors will also lead tours of the exhibition. Group tours are available to groups of 10 or more people. Tour groups must register in advance.

What might you see at the exhibition? Here’s a sneak peek:

Three nature educators from the Xishanugbanna Tropical Botanic Garden, Yunnan, pictured at a habitat restoration project which involves students from a local village. One of the educators is profiled in the exhibition. Courtesy Crossed Pollinations, all rights reserved

Three nature educators from the Xishanugbanna Tropical Botanic Garden, Yunnan, pictured at a habitat restoration project involving students from a local village. One of the educators is profiled in the exhibition. (Image courtesy of Crossed Pollinations: Investigating Nature & Culture in China. All rights reserved)

Visit the Crossed Pollinations website

Posted in Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Events |

How to discuss flower painting with teens

August 29, 2016 by Tania Marien

Need to discuss flower painting with teenagers?

You will find helpful suggestions in the article, How to Read Art: Analyze these artists’ techniques to interpret their paintings. This article is in the September 2016 issue of Scholastic Art, a magazine dedicated to bringing art history to middle school and high school students.

In How to Read Art, three flower painters and their approach to flower painting are discussed. The painters featured in this article are Dutch flower painter Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) and Georgia O’Keefe (1887-1986). The editors of Scholastic Art compare the realistic style of Ruysch, to the expressive style of Van Gogh, to the creative flower close-ups of O’Keefe. The paintings under analysis in the article are “Flower Piece” by Ruysch, “Irises” by Van Gogh and “Purple Petunias” by O’Keefe.

The September issue of Scholastic Art can be viewed online for free.
(NOTE: Adobe Flash is required to view this magazine online.)

Literature Cited
Scholastic Art. (2016). How to read art: Analyze these artists’ techniques to interpret their paintings. Scholastic Art. September 2016, 4-5. Retrieved from http://art.scholastic.com/issues/09_01_16.

Posted in botanical art, Teaching & Learning |

Exhibition of natural history art at Arader Galleries

August 17, 2016 by Tania Marien

Open Parrot Tulip, Oil on Paper, © 2016 Ingrid Finnan, all rights reserved

Outside In – Contemporary Natural History Works
Arader Galleries
San Francisco, CA
Sept. 9 – Oct. 12, 2016

Arader Galleries to host an exhibition featuring original work by the following contemporary botanical artists:

Francesca Anderson

exhibition of Francesca’s work

Jean Emmons
Abstract painter turned botanical artist. Jean’s painting process is based on medieval manuscript illustration. Her award-winning work is in private and public collections, including the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, the Royal Horticultural Society’s Lindley Library and the Shirley Sherwood Collection.

Monika deVries Gohlke
Painter, printmaker and freelance designer of home-furnishings. Monika’s artwork appears in many publications and is held in public and private collections.

Ingrid Finnan
Ingrid’s parrot tulip graces the postcard for this exhibition. Her work has been shown in exhibitions in England, Italy and the United States. It is included in private collections and the Shirley Sherwood Collection.

Asuka Hishiki
Award-winning artist whose work has been shown in many exhibitions across the United States. Visit Asuka’s website to view her portfolio and her comments about each painting.

Catherine Watters
Primary instructor and curriculum developer for the Filoli Botanical Art Certificate Program in Woodside, CA. Her work has been shown in exhibitions in France, England and the United States. Her work is included in several permanent collections worldwide.

Carol Woodin
Carol is an award-winning freelance artist whose specialties include orchids, rare wildflowers, heirloom fruits and garden plants. Her paintings are in private, public and corporate collections including the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Smithsonian Institution, the Shirley Sherwood Collection and the Alisa and Isaac M. Sutton Collection.

Arader Galleries will host an opening reception on September 9, 2016 from 5-8 pm.

Visit Arader Galleries

Posted in Learning Opportunities |

Artists invited to participate in Elmhurst Art Crawl

August 17, 2016 by Tania Marien

The Elmhurst Artists’ Guild in Elmhurst, IL is hosting the First Annual Art Crawl at the Elmhurst Art Museum on August 27, 2016. Proceeds benefit the Elmhurst Artists’ Guild Scholarship Fund. Funds will be used to award scholarships to two high school students.

The Art Crawl is a self-guided walking & trolleying tour of Elmhurst’s museum campus and business sector. Visitors participate by walking and trolleying around town and exploring each venue. An interactive map will be posted on the Guild’s website so visitors can view the locations of participating artists and vendors. The Elmhurst Artists’ Guild (EAG) is excited to have the York Theatre, an Elmhurst landmark, kick off this inaugural event with a special morning screening of “ET the Extra-Terrestrial”; all proceeds will go to the EAG Scholarship Fund.

The EAG invites artists and vendors to set up booths to sell and show their products. Artist’s fees for a space is $75.00, with $50.00 going to the EAG Scholarship Fund and $25.00 going to the Elmhurst Art Museum. The fee for vendors is $150.00, with $125.00 going to the EAG Scholarship Fund and $25.00 going to the Elmhurst Art Museum.

Artists interested in participating in this event should download forms on the EAG website at www.elmhurstartistsguild.org.

About the Elmhurst Artists’ Guild
The Elmhurst Artists’ Guild is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 1946. Its mission continues as the charitable and non-for-profit functions of shows, workshops, lectures, classes and similar activities which further the purpose of advancing the arts.

About Elmhurst Art Museum
www.elmhurstartmuseum.org
Founded by forward-thinking teachers, artists and community organizers with a shared belief that “people from all walks of life and professions can learn how to see and to think differently through the study of art, architecture and design.”