The Making A Mark Award for Botanical Art

I've been highlighting the artwork of artists I like on this blog for years - and I know that is much appreciated. Last year I went one step further and created "The Making A Mark Award - for Botanical Art"!

The Making a Mark Award: a new perspective on Botanical Art

I first introduced "The Making A Mark Award" on my Botanical Art and Artists News Blog in June last year - see Plantae 2022 - and a new Award

Below is how I described the purpose of the award and who would win it

The BRAND NEW Making A Mark Award will allow me to make a cash award to any one (or more) of the following:

• a first time exhibitor at the exhibition who impresses
• people who bring a fresh and different approach to botanical art and illustration
• artwork demonstrating a genuine new perspective on how to portray habitat
• artwork about plants which don't often get illustrated
• drawing excellence - maybe in less used media

In essence, it's about:

• a new perspective on botanical art
• artists who "make their mark" with the artwork they create which catches my eye - because it's excellent and different.

The award comprises:

• a £100 Award
• an interview with the artist which will be written up as an interview on my Botanical Art and Artists News Blog.

I'm actually minded to also produce a similar award for other national art societies.....

 

The winner of the inaugural Making A Mark Award in 2022: 
Inês-Hermione Mulford

Winner of the Inaugural Making A Mark Award
Inês-Hermione Mulford
with her four small graphite drawings of mosses and lichens
(in the grey frames at either side)

Inês-Hermione Mulford won the first award because she fulfilled a number of the criteria I'd identified for the recipient. These were

• she was a first time exhibitor at Plantae 2022 - the annual exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists
• she produced a portfolio of artwork which challenged dimensions at either end of the spectrum
• the nature of her graphite macro drawings of Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) mosses and lichens ticked the box for nearly every criteria

Hence why she won the award.

On her website you can see 

• her Macro Landscape Drawings of Bryophytes and Lichens and 
• her larger Macro Landscape Paintings (one of which is show below).

Dwindling by Inês-Hermione Mulford
(Wooly fringe moss with highland granite and lichen
Oil on 120x120cm Backed Board

An Interview with Inês-Hermione Mulford

Tomorrow my blog post on Botanical Art and Artists you will be able to find my interview with Inês-Hermione which looks at

• how and why she got into art
• how she started drawing plants
• her approach to drawing macro views of bryophytes and lichens
• what lessons she learned from exhibiting with the SBA

Inês-Hermione Mulford is also back at Plantae 2023 at the Mall Galleries NEXT WEEK with another drawing.

One of the first time exhibitors next week will also hopefully be identified as the most appropriate recipient of my the Making A Mark Award for 2023!

Plantae 2023

Plantae 2023 - the annual exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists - opens next week. The exhibition includes over 360 artworks by 186 artists.

• Venue: Mall Galleries
• Dates: 
• 16th May from 2.30pm – 5pm and 
• 17th to 20th May from 10am – 5pm daily
• Entry Fee: £5

There are also demonstrations of botanical art as follows. 

Sessions are limited to 12 attendees only.  To attend a demo, you must book a ticket £20 per session (price includes entrance fee). 

• Wednesday 17th May
• 11am – 12pm: Billy Showell – Wet in Wet watercolour techniques
• 2pm – 3pm: Billy Showell – wet in wet watercolour techniques
• Thursday 18th May
• 11am- 12pm: Shevaun Doherty- vellum painting
• 2pm – 3pm: Shevaun Doherty – vellum painting
• Friday 19th May
• 11am – 12pm: Amber Halsall – colour penci
• 2pm -3pm : Amber Halsall – colour pencil
• Saturday 20th May
• 11am – 12pm : Rui Jiang – oil painting
• 2pm – 3pm : Guy William Eves- graphite