Arte de Nuestra Flora opens in Costa Rica

Costa Rica's Botanical Art Worldwide exhibition opened in the Museo Calderón Guardia, San José on Monday. Organized by the University of Costa Rica and Lankester Botanical Garden, the project brought together students, artists, professors and scientists. We have a few preview photographs kindly provided by Tatiana Munoz Brenes. The Costa Rica team will be posting more photos up within the next few days! Congratulations to all in Costa Rica!

Museo Calderón Guardia, San José, with exhibition banners.

Opening comments by Mario Blanco, Lankester Botanical Garden Director. Looking on from left: Tatiana Muñoz Brenes, Exhibition Manager, Daniel Briceño, Head of University of Costa Rica Biology School, three steering committee members, Prof. Eric Hidalgo, Head of Fine Arts School, Sylvia Strigari, botanical artist, and Jorge Warner, Lancaster Botanical Garden Head of Horticulture, and Luis Nuñez, Museo Calderon Guardia Director.

Photos courtesy Tatiana Munoz Brenes, University of Costa Rica.

Thailand Edition Announces Events Associated with Botanical Art Worldwide

Botanical Art Worldwide Featured Exhibition

The project Botanical Art Worldwide has been featured on the website of American Express Essentials as one of 15 art exhibitions worldwide to see this spring. Akiko Enokido's watercolor on vellum, Camellia japonica var. decumbens has been included as a representative image. Please see the posting and list (Botanical Art Worldwide is number 14) here: https://www.amexessentials.com/top-art-exhibitions-events-spring-2018/

New Zealand Announces Accepted Artists in ‘Ngāi Tipu Taketake'

New Zealand has announced its selected artists for Botanical Art Worldwide - Ngai Tipu Taketake - Indigenous Flora. The exhibition will open on March 30 at Auckland Botanic Garden and run through July 1, 2018. It will then travel to Wellington Botanic Gardens, Millennium Art Gallery in Blenheim, and further venues are in the planning stages. Jurors Sri Benham, Dr. Ross Ferguson, and Rebecca Stanley chose 40 artworks for inclusion by the following artists: Suzy Abbott, Lesley Alexander, Jan Barker, Wilma Blom, Margaret Blue, Karen Bowman Atherton, Rebecca Brown-Thompson, Vicki Catlow, Carole Cornes, Ann Cryer, Valerie Cuthbert, Jennifer Duval-Smith, Jo Ewing, Hamish Foote, Erin Forsyth, Jenny Haslimeier, Jane Humble, Annette Judd, Janet Marshall, Jill McIntosh, Maria Mercedes Trujillo Arango, Sandra Morris, Helen Nutt, Neal Palmer, Bryan Poole, Liz Powell, Denise Ramsay, Gillian Receveur, Kathleen M. Reilly, Emma Scheltema, Paula Shelley, Gail Timmerman-Vaughan, Jeana Trent, Kohl Tyler-Dunshea, Sue Wickison, and Jane Zimmerman. More information can be found at the Friends of Auckland Botanic Garden's website here.  Congratulations New Zealand!

Fuchsia excorticata, New Zealand Fuchsia, 'kotukutuku', watercolor on paper, ©Denise Ramsay

China announces Botanical Art Worldwide participation

China is joining the Botanical Art Worldwide project, and Beijing Botanical Garden will host the exhibition in its Education Center's exhibition hall. Beijing Botanical Garden is one of the top botanical gardens in China, and has had an active exhibition schedule devoted to botanical art. 

China's rich plant diversity and long history of drawing flowers and plants have contributed to its recent revival of botanical art. We are thrilled that China's fascinating flora and botanical artistry will be represented in this worldwide project to promote indigenous plants and their portrayal through botanical art. Serving as its steering committee are Linhai Zhang, PhD, Secretariat Director of the International Association of Botanic Gardens, and Dr. Kang Wang, Head of Education for the Beijing Botanical Garden. Please join us in welcoming China to the project!

© Ma Ping, Hong Kong Balanophora, Balanophora hongkongensis, pen and ink

Mexico Announces Participation in Botanical Art Worldwide

México has announced that they are working on preparations to participate in Botanical Art Worldwide. The project and exhibition will be organized by the Collective de Ilustradores de la Ciencia y la Naturaleza de México (CICYNM). The group is in the process of notifying botanical artists and illustrators in the country and have appointed a steering committee. A venue will be announced within the next couple of weeks. Welcome México!

Euphorbia pulcherrima  (Pointsettia), watercolor on paper, © Aarón Estrada Dávila 2017

Chile announces participation in Botanical Art Worldwide

We are pleased to announce that Chile is officially joining the Botanical Art Worldwide project! A new artists' group has been formed: Circulo de Ilustradores Naturalistas de Chile (Circle of Naturalist Illustrators - Chile), and free workshops will be held leading up to the entry deadline. An organizing team has been assembled and work has begun on launching a website. For the time being, email queries are being accepted at: ilustradoresnaturalistaschile@gmail.com. A venue has been secured at Recoleta Dominica Patrimonial Center in Santiago, housing a 400-year old monastery and library. The Center holds a very complete historical book collection, a Decorative Arts Museum, and a collection of three-dimensional art objects.

Chile has a fascinating flora, and contains many plants found nowhere else in the world. Its diverse geography extending over 2,600 miles north to south, with elevations ranging from sea level to over 22,000 feet, have created a broad range of habitats where its unique flora can thrive. We look forward to seeing the images created by this nascent Circle, CINC, in Chile!

News

We are very happy to announce that Brazil has joined us in the Botanical Art Worldwide project! Brazil is country number 19 and brings the continent of South America into the list of participating continents. Its steering committee consists of Diana Carneiro, Maria Alice deRezende, and Fátima Zagonel, who have all been recipients of Margaret Mee Fellowships. The fascinating and unique flora of Brazil includes such well-known trees as Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), Rubber Tree (Hevea brasiliensis), and Brazil Nut (Bertholletia excelsa), along with rare and unusual orchids, bromeliads, and mosses. The project and exhibition will be a joint effort between the Municipal Botanical Museum, the Botanical Garden of Curitiba, and the Center of Botanical Illustration of Paraná. See Brazil's page on this website for more information. Below is a painting of the national tree of Brazil, Caesalpinia echinata, by Fátima Zagonel in watercolor on paper. This tree is also now listed as endangered by Brazil and on the IUCN Redlist.

Welcome to Brazil!!