Botanical Artistry

Yes, that's right palaeobotanical artist, Stephen Caine, is based around Tertiary period fossil leaves collected in Spitsbergen by the noted Scottish polar explorer William Spiers Bruce (1867-1921). The drawings are presented in a 19th century style. Some of the fossils collected by Bruce are displayed alongside the drawings, by kind permission of the National Museums of Scotland, who now hold this fossil collection.

Show runs from Tuesday 5 May to Friday 26 June 2009. See site for details.

One of our members Linda C. Miller has an exhibition of botanical art at the Williamsburg Regional Library from March 17 through May 1, 2009.

Click on the read more link below for further details.

Notice of an exibition from the Hunt Institute:

Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation presents the exhibition "Wings of Paradise: Watercolors of Silkmoths by John Cody" from 26 March to 30 June 2009.

Cody paints moths of the Saturniidae family on plants in their natural habitats in an effort to increase awareness of and, hopefully, conservation of these beautiful creatures. In conjunction with the exhibition, the Hunt Institute will hold its annual Open House on 14-15 June 2009. We will offer two talks and displays, one on the life and work of Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), whose work included beautifully illustrated folios on the insects of Surinam, and another highlighting women botanical illustrators over four centuries. We will also have a guided gallery tour of the exhibition by our assistant curator of art, tours of our departments and reading room, and opportunities to meet one-on-one with our staff to ask questions and see items in the collections.

The exhibition is open to the public free of charge.

Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon and 1-5 p.m.; Sunday, 1-4 p.m. (except 10, 12 April and 3, 24, 25 May). We also will open Sunday, 17 May, 1-4 p.m., during Carnegie Mellon’s commencement.

See the Hunt Institute's website for details of exhibitions.

Australian botanical artist Helen Fitzgerald has been kind enough to create some wonderful videos where she demonstrates her botanical painting techniques.

As well as regular videos, there are also videos made up from still shots with a voice-over describing what is going on. I found these were particularly effective as you are able to study what is happening in each shot. Here are some examples.

See more of Helen's videos here.

Dale Chihuly is known for his innovative glass sculptures, and his work is immediately recognizable for its grand scale and vibrant colors. His work can be seen at museums around the world.

He has created many installations in botanic gardens and this one looks very interesting with the integration of the sculptural forms of the desert plants found at Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix.

The exhibition is on from November 22, 2008 to May 31, 2009
at the Desert Botanical Garden (website).

More information on Dale Chihuly can be found at his website: www.chihuly.com.

Image courtesy of Margaret Storer-Roche

A really interesting looking exhibition is on in Melbourne, Australia 4 - 20 December.

Botanical artists Anita Barley, Dianne Emery, Mali Moir, Kate Nolan, Rita Parkinson, John Pastoriza-Piñol, Dolores Skowronski-Malloni and Catherine Wadrop have created works inspired by Ernest Haeckel, the 19th century zoologist.

According to their press release Haeckel's work "succeeded in beautifying, otherwise grotesque organisms by highlighting the complicated structures hidden to the naked eye. Haeckel intended his viewers to be confronted with something new and also be conscious of its beauty and precise visible form".

This exhibition is on at Domain House, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne until the 23rd November. According to the website, the exhibition includes "170 paintings selected from over 400 submitted. They represent the work of 82 artists from around Australia and overseas, including that of talented students attending Botanical Illustration classes held at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne".

All artworks are viewable online and can be selected by artist, plant genus or catalogue number.

Entry is free and the exhibition is open from 10am - 5pm daily until the 23rd of November. Domain house can be found here:

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WHAT is a botanic garden exactly? An interesting article looks at the diversity of botanic gardens in the United Kingdom and the things they contain - including botanical art.

A new book by botanists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on fruits contains some amazing photography. You can see a terrific slide show here at the BBC news site.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7591649.stm

Photography as good as this really gives botanical illustration a run for its money!