Mary Dillon, Ireland
Black Parrot Tulip
Perhaps nothing so deftly combines the two components of the Marin Art & Garden Center’s name as botanical illustration, bridging the worlds of art and gardening. The earliest civilizations depicted plant life in their artwork, but the modern art of botanical illustration really finds its roots in the Renaissance, where such leading artists as Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Dürer brought scientific rigor to their work.
Today, botanical illustration includes many media, from pen and ink to watercolor to colored pencil, but always sharing an attention to botanical detail and horticultural accuracy.
The Marin Art & Garden Center was proud to host the 22nd Annual International from September 22 to November 30, 2019, the first time this exhibition has been held on the West Coast. The selection jury of Frank Almeda, Ph.D., Curator Emeritus, Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability, California Academy of Sciences; Julie Bly DeVere, Head Curator and Collections Manager, Historic Filoli Estate; and Martha Kemp, Botanical Artist met in May, selecting 48 artworks from a competitive field of 230 entries. Artists included hail from the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Russia, Slovenia, South Korea, and the UK. Of the 45 artists included, eighteen of these have never before been included in an ASBA international exhibition.
Those with work accepted are: Natalia Alatortseva, Claudia Campazzo, Svetlana Chernysheva, Maria Alice de Rezende, Catherine Dellor, Carrie Di Costanzo, Mary Dillon, Jean Emmons, Akiko Enokido, Margaret Farr, Ingrid Finnan, Tatiana Gart, Elaine Goldstone, Heather Gross, Gaye Grossman, Asuka Hishiki, Kristin Jakob, Eliza Jewett, Sumi Kim, Nancy Wheeler Klippert, Karen Kluglein, Olga Koelsch, Svetlana Lanse, Clair Leroux-Daublain, Patricia Luppino, Lucy Martin, Tammy McEntee, Inma Medina, Linda Medved Lufkin Susan Mintun, Mali Moir, Robin Moore, Janet Parker, John Pastoriza-Piñol, Dick Rauh, Cynthia Rice, Mitsuko Schultz, Deborah B. Shaw, Liz Shippam, Heidi Snyder, Vi Strain, Anna Suprunenko, Susan Tomlinson, Faye Van Wert, and Judeth Woznyj.
A series of classes in various media accompanied the exhibition, and a catalog was also published.
For more information about artists and artworks visit ASBA’s website.
The American Society of Botanical Artists celebrated its 25th Anniversary by featuring member artwork in a full-size catalog titled “Celebrating Silver.” The art submitted echoed the silver theme with plants that either have a silver quality or ’silver’ in the name of the plant. The Northern California Society of Botanical Artists (NCalSBA) exhibited 42 images by its members who were featured in the catalog. This exhibition ran concurrently with the ASBA 22nd Annual International Exhibition.