Hunt Institute 14th International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration - selected artists

Later this year, the 14th International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration will be held at The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. The exhibition will include 41 artworks by 41 artists from 10 countries.  

The exhibition will be on display between 27 September and 19 December 2013 on the 5th floor of the Hunt Library building at Carnegie Mellon University.  The exhibition is open to the public free of charge. 

The International Exhibition is held every three years and was established by the The Institute in 1964 in order to support and encourage contemporary botanical artists. It features the works of talented botanical artists from around the world.  The artists who enter are:

• top class botanical artists
• ... who live anywhere in the world (this is an international exhibition)
• ... who have NOT had artwork accepted and displayed in the Hunt Institute’s series of International Exhibitions

Heath-leaved Banksia, Banksia ericifolia L.f. [Banksia ericifolia Linnaeus filius, Proteaceae],
watercolor on paper, 38.5 x 57 cm,
by Julie Dagmar Nettleton (Australia), 2012,
HI Art accession no. 8038,
©2012 Julie Dagmar Nettleton, All Rights Reserved

Banksia ericifolia is believed to be the first plant specimen collected by Sir Joseph Banks at Botany Bay in 1770. Then in 1782 Carl Linnaeus named the genus Banksia in honour of Banks. It is an Australian native and a species characteristic of Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub which is found on North Head, Manly on Sydney Harbour. 

Selected Artists

The selected artists for the 14th International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration are listed below.  I've said something about them if I've written about them before plus I've reviewed information on their websites:

• Christine Battle, England - completed the 2-year Diploma course in botanical illustration from the English Gardening School at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London.  She is an RHS Gold Medalist and is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists
• Phansakdi Chakkaphak, Thailand;  author of Beauty in Bloom. This is a Facebook Album about this artist
• Li-Jun Chen, China 
• Gaynor Dickeson, England - got a distinction in her SBA Diploma and is an active member of both the Society of Botanical Artists and the Society of Floral painters.  This is her blog Gaynorsflora
• Ria van Elk-van Altena, Netherlands - This is her Facebook account.  Ria is a founder member of the Botanical Artists Association Netherlands. 
• Dianne Emery, Australia.  Dianna teaches botanical illustration and art at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, Canberra and Beechworth.
• Mayumi Ezure, Japan 
• Laura Fantini, United States. Born in Italy, Laura produces large (life-sized) drawings in coloured pencil. Here's a review of her work - Laura Fantini - by Charley Parker, Lines and Colors and this is a work in progress page on her website (click the pictures to advance the artwork).  This is her blog Laura Fantini which documents recent exhibitions and awards for her work
• Lara Call Gastinger, United States.  Lara Call Gastinger is the chief illustrator for the Flora of Virginia Project (the book is now published).  I was hugely impressed with her botanical artwork when I first saw it at the RHS Botanical Art Show in the Lindley Hall in 2007 (see below and my blog post - RHS Gold Medal Botanical Art 23 Feb 2007) and the concept behind her artwork.

"Ten Walks in Virginia" (2007)

a sample of drawings from Lara Call Gastinger's RHS Gold Medal winning collection

Drawings copyright Lara Call Gastinger
Photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

• Ellen Gaube, United States. I'm much taken by her drawings of natural plant forms
• Janice Glimn-Lacy, United States.  Sadly this is a posthumous exhibition of her work as she died on June 21st this year.  A collection of her botanical illustration work has been accepted by the prestigious Hunt Institute and a recent ink drawing is to be included in the exhibition
• Cherie Ann Gossett, United States contributes to the Sonoran Desert Florilegium
• Asuka Hishiki, Japan has a first and Masters Degrees in Fine Art and Painting from the Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto, Japan. She has exhibited extensively within the USA in the last four years. 
• Annie Hughes, Australia.  Annie is Chilean by birth but now lines in New South Wales. She's one of my favourite botanical artists and I keep interviewing here when she wins a gold medal.  Here's my interview with her in April this year - Interviews with RHS Botanical Art Gold Medal Winners.  Check out also her recommendations in Ten Top Tips for winning an RHS Gold Medal for Botanical Art
• Carolyn Jenkins, England - Carolyn's work is simply stunning - it zaps the eyes as soon as you see it from the other side of the room.  In 2011 she won Best Exhibit in Show as well as an RHS Gold Medal in the RHS Botanical Art Show in London. You can find references to it in three posts on this blog: RHS Botanical Art Show & Five Gold Medal Winners; How to enter the RHS Botanical Art Show and A New Leaf - an exhibition by Amicus Botanicus. I commend her website to you for study into what it takes to create botanical art with impact.

Carolyn Jenkins GM "The Anatomy of Flowers" display
which won best Botanical Exhibit in the RHS Botanical Art Show 2011
copyright Carolyn Jenkins

• Barbara Klaas, United States - her member gallery at ASBA
• Esther Klahne, United States - link to a commercial website
• David Kopitzke, United States - Botanist, artist and musician David Kopitzke works for DNR's Bureau of Endangered Resources. He pioneered programs to work with landowners to enhance wild populations of rare plants on private lands.
• Joo-Young Lee, South Korea
• Kyung-Min Lee, South Korea 
• Charlotte Linder, England - member gallery at SBA
• Roberta Mattioli, Italy was born and lives in Italay and is an Associate Member of the SBAS
• Carrie Megan, United States is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists and the New England Society of Botanical Artists.
• Kayoko Miyazawa, Japan
• Masako Mori, Japan
• Julie Nettleton, Australia - whose work you can see at the top of this post has been a botanical artist since 2002.  She's a member of the Artists of the Florilegium of the Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust in Sydney.  She's currently working on a large project to create a monograph of paintings of significant plants growing at North Head Sanctuary in Manly.
• Mary Anne O’Malley, United States is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists and teaches at the Minnesota School of Botanical Art
• Tomoko Otomo, Japan
• Beth Phillip, England has an degree in Botany, a Diploma in Botanical Painting with Distinction from the English Gardening School and an RHS Gold Medal for her botanical art.  She's a member of a member of the Hampton Court Palace Florilegium Society, the Gloucestershire Society of Botanical Illustration (G.S.B.I.) and the Institute for Analytical Plant Illustration (I.A.P.I.).
• Lesley Randall, United States exhibited at the RHS Botanical Art Show in London in 2012
• Abigail Rorer, United States is exhibiting an engraving of a Skunk Cabbage
• Susan Rubin, United States  is an instructor in the Botanical Art and Illustration Certificate Program at the Denver Botanic Gardens. She's a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists, the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and the Coloured Pencil Society of America. You can read a profile of the artist (pdf) in the CPSA magazine To the Point
• Gael Sellwood, England describes herself as a natural history artist creating highly detailed work on paper or vellum.  She's also a member of the Society of Botanical artists and exhibits regularly with them.
• Deborah B. Shaw, United States
• Janet Snyman, South Africa - this is an article about her work
• Min-Jeung Son, South Korea - I'm wondering is this is the person as the botanical artist from South Korea in this article
• Sun Yingbao, China
• Charlotte Staub Thomas, United States began her career as a botanical artist in the 1990s and is a Board Member of ASBA
• Denise Walser-Kolar, United States paints in watercolour on vellum. She's exhibited and published extensively in the USA
• Eric Wert, United States paints flowers, fruit and vegetables in oil on panels.  Eric tells me he now uploads most of his still life works to a new works album on his Facebook Page
• Margaret Wilson, United States - her member gallery at ASBA

A full-color, illustrated catalogue with biographical data, portraits of the artists and reproductions of the artworks will be available for purchase.

Collectively, the 14 International catalogues include 1,129 artists and are the most comprehensive record available of contemporary botanical artists and illustrators. Most of the previous International catalogues are available for purchase at the Institute.

Links:  Making A Mark - 14th International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration - Intent to submit