ArtPlantae Today

Kellie Cox-Brady Paints Murals for Her Community

July 10, 2013 by Tania Marien

You have completed many community projects. When I saw the utility box you painted, I immediately thought of the app Foldify. Fortunately the app immediately shows you how your marks will be placed on the finished 3-D object you are creating. If you don’t like it, you simply delete it. Painting scenes on large three-dimensional objects in real life isn’t this easy. How did you think through the placement of elements on your utility box when you created your design?

What a fun app! I’ve never heard of this before, thanks for sharing. For painting on 3-D objects, I try to make the overall composition interesting and having the viewer want to see more, so for example…

Art in the Garden with Growcology & ArtPlantae

July 10, 2013 by Tania Marien

Introduction to Keeping a Garden Journal, © Tania Marien

Introduction to Keeping
a Garden Journal

Growcology and ArtPlantae join forces to bring experiences in botanical illustration to the garden!

Spend a leisurely summer morning in the Growcology garden learning about the history of botanical illustration and learning techniques you can use to create your own garden journal.

Participants will learn how to observe plants, how to assess a plant’s morphological features and how to record what they see in their journal.

View the schedule below to learn more.

To register, contact Selena at Art Growcology. Download flier

Itinerary for Saturday, August 3, 2013:

10:30-10:45
Participants introduce themselves, Q & A, workshop overview

10:45-12:30
Drawing in the Garden

12:30-1:00
Return to the barn for refreshments, lunch and the sharing of journals. Learn how you can take part in Growcology’s Fall Eco Art Show.

What to Bring:
Pencils, erasers, pen, any other art supplies, water, sack lunch, a smile and the desire to learn some art techniques while learning about plants!

Cost: $25
Age: 12 and older

More Learning Opportunities
Visit ArtPlantae’s listing at Classes Near You > Southern California.

Posted in botanical art, botanical art books, Education, gardening, general botany, Learning Opportunities, Sketching & Journaling, Special Announcements, Special Events |

Customer Appreciation Week at Aurea Vista

July 10, 2013 by Tania Marien

It’s Customer Appreciation Week at Aurea Vista!

This week Aurea Vista and its merchants celebrate the enthusiastic customers of this new marketplace. Come into the store for cookies and take advantage of discounts from merchants such as:

Beyond the Olive – 10% off
Eyantia – 10% off
Trizzio – 10% off
All That Glitters – 10% off
CHOPT – 10% off
Vanity Haus – Buy One Get One Half Off
ArtPlantae – Up to 40% off books for the studio and classroom, sketchbooks, activity books for the garden

While at Aurea Vista, accomplish items on your To Do list. Visit the children’s boutique area for that next baby shower gift or child’s birthday gift. Browse the beautiful selection of yarn and how-to books at Raincross Fiber Art. Search for that perfect vintage piece of jewelry at Spirit Trail Studio or a stylish summer blouse at All That Glitters.

In need of stationery for a special occasion? Delights & Invites, a full-service stationery store, can help you plan your next celebration.

There is much to see and enjoy at Aurea Vista. Visit ArtPlantae
July 10-12 from 12:00 – 3:00 PM to make a bookmark for summer reading. Bring the kids, take a break from the heat and experience all Aurea Vista has to offer.

See you there!

Directions
Aurea Vista is located at 3498 University Avenue in Riverside on the corner of Lemon and University. Hours: Closed Monday, Tuesday-Saturday (11-7), Sunday (11-5). Store hours are extended for Riverside’s monthly ArtsWalk and other special events.

Parking: Free customer parking is available across the street in the parking lot with the ballet mural. Aurea Vista customers can park in spaces #1-8 that face University Avenue. Street parking is free after 5 PM Monday-Friday. Street parking is free on Saturday and Sunday. Street metered parking is $1 per hour before 5 PM.

Directions to Aurea Vista

Posted in ArtPlantae Books, botanical art, botanical art books, Education, gardening, Learning Opportunities, Special Announcements, Special Events |

Self-expression in Botanical Art

July 8, 2013 by Tania Marien

Is there room for the expressive arts in the disciplined world of botanical art?

I asked Kellie Cox-Brady how she balanced technical botanical illustration with Cornell University’s semi-expressive approach to botanical illustration when she wrote the advanced course for them.

When creating the advanced course, I felt it was important to have those two avenues of self-expression and technical illustration as that is something I am constantly doing in my own work and I’m so glad you asked about it. That is one of the reasons I call myself a natural scientific artist…

Plants & Comic Books

July 5, 2013 by Tania Marien

Were you into comic books when you were a kid?

I was not. I couldn’t get into the “Zoom”, “Pow”, “Boom” nature of the comic books I did encounter back then. The genre is much more than this, however, and today we take a look at comic books and comic strips with a “plant awareness” theme.

In Children’s Comics: An Opportunity for Education to Know and to Care for Nature? Joachim Woldschke-Bulmahn & Gert Groning present examples of how some garden topics are portrayed in comic books. Their review of American and German comic books is very interesting. They include excerpts from these books that address themes about gardening and the environment. The examples they include in their 10-page paper support the points they make and are best viewed within the context of their paper (it would be impossible to explain these scenes in words). The best I can do here is offer a summary of some of the points they make while discussing each comic strip.

During their survey of comic books, Woldschke-Bulmahn & Groning (1994) observed the following:

Comic books treat gardening as a social activity. The independent pursuits of the lone gardener are not interesting to comic book readers.
Yard work is a common topic and is often presented as an unpleasant chore.
The act of gardening is presented as a variety of activities in comic books (i.e., some enjoyable and some not so enjoyable).
Generational approaches to gardening are often portrayed (e.g., Dad’s opinion about topiaries versus his son’s opinion about topiaries).
Gardening competitions are a recurring topic.
Environmental protection is also a recurring topic.

Joachim Woldschke-Bulmahn and Gert Groning argue this genre has much to teach children about the environment and that comics should be read not only by students, but by their teachers too. You can read their paper online for free or look for a copy at your local college library.

Literature Cited
Wolschke-Bulmahn, Joachim and Gert Groning. 1994. Children’s comics: An opportunity for education to know and to care for nature? Children’s Environments. 11(3): 232-242

Related

Posted in book review, Teaching & Learning |

Kellie Cox-Brady Creates Curriculum to Teach Advanced Botanical Illustration Online

July 3, 2013 by Tania Marien

How does one create an online course for advanced botanical illustration students?

Kellie Cox-Brady shares how she created the Advanced Botanical Illustration course at Cornell University.

Creating the Advanced Botanical Illustration course was a very wonderful and interesting experience. How I created the class was first keeping the same organization as the other two courses such as introductions, journals, homework and more. Once I had the overall layout of how the course would read, I filled in the details of the class including specific assignments, tutorials, techniques…

Learn More

Posted in botanical art, Education, general botany, Learning Opportunities, Special Articles & Interviews, Special Events |

Creating Murals for the Plant Sciences

July 3, 2013 by Tania Marien

Kellie Cox-Brady started painting murals last year. She recently added color to the plant science department at Cornell University. Join the conversation with Kellie, our special guest for July.

Find out how Kellie created these murals.

Related
See Kellie’s current mural project in-progress on her Facebook page.