The Art of Botanical Illustration 2010

Tenth Biennial Exhibition

Open daily: week days 10am - 4pm, weekends 10am - 6pm.  Free Entry.

Presented by the Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne (FRBG) The Art of Botanical Illustration is a biennial exhibition where over 150 carefully selected works depicting native and ornamental plants in a variety of media are on display and for sale.  There has been a worldwide resurgence in botanical illustration where the disciplines of the artist and scientist are recorded in works of visual beauty and outstanding technical accuracy.  The exhibition's growing international profile has become a focus for both artists and collectors and will be open to the public in November 2010 at Domain House Gallery, South Yarra.

In 1990 the FRBG recognised the growing talents of botanical illustrators in Victoria by offering these artists a home in the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG), Melbourne, where Anita Barley, an established artist at the National Herbarium, conducted classes.  Barley had previously taught illustration at Burnley Horticultural College in the 1980s.  The school has become a training ground for botanical illustrators from where many talented artists have emerged.  High profile artists such as Jenny Phillips, Celia Rosser and Margaret Stones have run workshops there with Dianne Emery, Mali Moir and Helen Burrows, artists with strong international reputations, currently conduct classes.

The Art of Botanical Illustration inaugural exhibition was held in 1992 in the National Herbarium of Victoria, promoting and encouraging the talents of the artists associated with the FRBG.  Thirty artists exhibited 140 botanical illustrations since then the exhibition has been held biennially, now it includes national and international artists submitting their work for selection.  Viewers are able to see not only beautiful and exquisitely crafted works, but gain an insight into botanical illustration's role in scientific and horticultural identification processes.

Since the first exhibition many beautiful works have been purchased for inclusion in the State Botanical Collection, which belongs to the RBG and is located in the National Herbarium of Victoria.  It is made up of two sections: the first contains over 1.2 million dried plant specimens which are used in scientific research; and the second is located in the library and is made up of books, periodicals, collections of maps, letters, manuscripts, photographs and artworks.  This material is an invaluable resource to staff and researchers working in areas such as biodiversity, classification, evolution, geography, molecular systematics, conservation and horticulture.

The scientific accuracy of the work submitted for selection is a critical part of the high standards expected for inclusion in The Art of Botanical Illustration exhibition.  Each artwork is carefully selected by a panel which includes a botanist, an artist and the head librarian at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne to ensure that the highest standards are met.  The work must adhere to the following criteria: it must provide an accurate representation of the form and botany of the chosen subject; the characteristics of the species or variety must be adequately conveyed; the representation should be an artistically pleasing, balanced and a considered work of art; it must be identified and named accurately according to standard botanical practices; and must have been completed within the previous two years.

Since 2002 the Celia Rosser Medal has been presented to an artist or artists whose work in the exhibition is judged to be of the highest possible standard.  The medal, named in honour of Celia Rosser, recognises Rosser's major contribution to the genre of botanical illustration, having spent 25 years recording the entire genus of Banksia for Monash University.  Past medals winners have included Anita Barley, Dianne Emery, Mali Moir, Jennifer Wilkinson, Jenny Phillips and Sandra Sanger with Honourable Mentions going to Elizabeth Cooper, Alison Gianangeli, Fiona McKinnon and Rita Parkinson.

The Friends' Illustrated Garden Collection project was established in 2001, to create a Florilegium of significant plants within the Gardens and elsewhere.  From the exhibits, illustrations are considered and selected for inclusion in this collection.  This 21^st century Florilegium is held digitally and photographically, the original works are not kept, with reproduction rights assigned to the Friends for the purpose of raising funds for the RBG.

Susannah Blaxill will be the guest artist at this year's exhibition.  She is an Australian artist with a strong international reputation with her work held in both public and private collections worldwide.  Susannah is recognized world-wide for her ability to take a moment in an ordinary plant form's life cycle, anywhere from the beginning of growth to the dying and decaying plant, and turn it into a "portrait" that will take your breath away.  She is able to make the viewer see the plant as they have never seen it before, with detail and form that is almost unbelievable.

Susannah is an Australian, who moved to England in her early twenties, where her interest in gardening and subsequently drawing and painting took root.  She became a professional artist and was elected a member of the Society of Botanical Artists in London before returning to Australia nearly fifteen years later and since then she has been living and painting in New South Wales.

The Art of Botanical Illustration, Tenth Biennial Exhibition will run from 6 - 21 November 2010 at Domain House Gallery, Dallas Brooks Drive, South Yarra (opposite the National Herbarium).  Open daily: week days 10am - 4pm, weekends 10am - 6pm.  Free Entry.  Exhibition opening on 5 November 2010 will be by ticketed entry only.  Medal winner/s and selection for the collections are announced.  For exhibition enquiries or opening night tickets please contact The Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne Ph: 9650 6398

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