BOTANICAL BEAUTY AT 40° SOUTH
Art in the gardens of Strathmore Colonial House 6-7 of November, 2021
There is no better place than Strathmore Colonial Gardens to share the beauty of botanical art and illustration through paintings, photography and the descriptive form of botanical illustration. The art exhibition is as diverse as the gardens and we are proud to introduce many forms to whet the appetites of both art and botany lovers.
Come in, sit, relax and listen to the acoustic sounds of R & R.
(photo by Louise Fairfax)
BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATION AS AN ART FORM
Plants and flowers have been a part of human existence for millennia and botanical art is the best way to promote correct recognition. It is a translation of the scientific language of Latin into picture form. So, to be truly botanical we need to spend a lot of time getting to see and understand every aspect in the plant’s structure quite apart from colour. This involves concentration, close observation, and exploration to produce a piece which is educative to both the artist and the viewer.
Today it is just as necessary to be able to correctly identify plants for other reasons, sorting the weed species from the desired; essential for all gardeners.
We live in an age of green- consciousness. If we want to save threatened or protected flora, everyone needs to be able to recognise the difference. Brenda Haas
(Painting by Ann Hodgkinson)
ART FORMS
BOTANICAL ARTISTS
Watercolour, Eco prints, cards, Paintings
From the traditional to the modern genres that Botanical art and illustration has evolved into since its inception.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Wilderness
Louise Fairfax is a world acclaimed photographer, showing her works publicly for the first time.
PLEIN AIR AND LIVE MUSIC
Oils, Acrylics
R & R will be entertaining us on Sunday from 12.30
Luke Harvey, Suzie Perrott nd Latham Thigpen will be painting in situ
ARTISTS
MARGOT THIGPEN
Life for me is art. When I look around me, I see shapes, form, colour and beauty. (Even when others don’t).
Painting is my meditation. It calms the soul and soothes the mind. It engages the spirit or God within and shows me that the world is a wonderful place.
Tasmania’s world of nature provides incredible visual stories and when I am lucky enough to be able to capture these on paper, I am able to share what I feel and see with others.
KATHLEEN RITSON
I gained my botanical interest and love for nature growing up amongst the mountains and rainforests in NE Tasmania .
Later in life, my interest turned to botanical art.
To add a more scientific approach to my paintings, I completed some botany courses as the two go hand in hand: botany being a pure science and botanical art a pure art form.
This experience opened to me a fascinating insight into the function, structure, and diversity of plant life and inspired me to portray, and to share, the beauty and wonder of the natural world to others.
BRENDA HAAS
Perhaps it was through a love of Nature and a desire for learning, but in botanical art I found true ‘mindfulness’.
My art career began in 2000 when Kathleen Ritson joined Adult Education with a course, ‘Introduction to Botany and Botanical Illustration’.
The humility which comes with exploring plants with all their differences, remembering Latin, the language of ‘science’ and finding the peace which comes with solitude was to become my pathway to bliss.
ANNICK ANSSELIN
I am inspired by the beauty and uniqueness of the natural environment and the plants and animals found within it.
I think of myself as an observer and recorder, analysing and interpreting what I see in drawings, watercolours and etchings, with a special interest in the endemic species of Tasmania. The result is both a work of art and a record which gives the information needed to identify the specimen.
My watercolours and drawings are mostly traditional botanical or scientific works, done in great detail, many needing extensive microscopy. Each work may take weeks or longer to complete, especially if the life cycle of the subject is included. I love the detailed work this art-form needs.
ARTISTS
JUDITH BESWICK
I have been working in botanical art for about 10 years.
Every Thursday there are 14 ladies who love to sit and practice our art. I started with water colour but I switched to pencils. Now I love coloured pencils. We meet at the Forth Community Hall and we use water colour and coloured pencils.
SUSANA SMITH
She is a very keen gardener and has been growing a range of plant species in her fairly large rural garden for a number of years. Aside from growing plants, she also loves to illustrate them, as well as the flora in her local environment. By growing and illlustrating plants, she is able to combine her two life-long passions.
Their property is at an altitude of approximately 600m and the climate and rainfall is perfect for the types of plants Susana likes to grow, such as peonies, clematis, fritillarias, erythroniums, trilliums, epimediums, narcissus and eranthis, to name a few. She likes the challenge of growing rare and unusual plants and bulbs from seed. The process can take several years from seed-sowing to flowering, but this makes the eventual flowering event all the more rewarding!
TANYA SCHARASCHKIN
Tanya draws both Australian native plants as well as non-native plants commonly grown in public spaces. She often represents plants from an angle not commonly observed by the general public. The absence of colour in her graphite and ink artwork enables her to focus solely on structural and textural details. Tanya has especially enjoyed being able to include pen and ink illustrations in her scientific publication. An additional aspect of plants that Tanya is interested in, both as a scientist and an artist, is plant anatomy. In 2015 one of her plant anatomy images won the People’s Choice Award for the Nikon Small World Competition at QUT, Brisbane. She is currently creating artwork inspired by plant anatomy.
JENNIFER WILKINSON
My interest in gardens and particularly in the flowers they produce, has come together with my love of painting. I am passionate about Botanical Art and have been able to explore this over the last 25 years or so. Jenny Phillips of the Melbourne School of Botanical Art has been a source of inspiration. Jenny encouraged me to teach which I did through Adult Education for many years. I hope I have been able to show others to a way enjoy the world of plants.
There is so much more to the artistic representation of a plant than a purely illustrative likeness. I hope to convey a personality in the plant I am studying, and invite you to join with me to allow yourself to experience an emotional response to the plants I have represented.
ARTISTS
JUNE HILDER
For over 30 years I lived on a bush block in southern Tasmania. It was here that I developed a great appreciation of the splendour and fragility of this island’s natural world. Through my art, I aim to portray the beauty and uniqueness of Tasmania’s native flora so it can also be enjoyed and valued by others.
LOUISE FAIFAX
I am in love with life: I guzzle it greedily, and hang on to every precious moment. As a lover of life, I also (of course?) love light, the source of life, and the means by which we see the beauty all around us. It is my love of the essence and its enabler that led me to photography. Through it, I seek to capture the beauty I see around me, and hold it for longer. I enjoy sharing my particular interpretation of that beauty with others
ANN HODGKINSON
Being surrounded by the flora and fauna of rural NW Tasmania has inspired my paintings and drawings. The dynamic nature of plants and trees beckon me to portray them in strong colour and unconventional compositions, whilst still attempting to follow the discipline of botanical art. I use graphite, ink and watercolour on smooth hot press paper which allows me to produce the fine detail, which is also a feature of my work. Many hours fly past in the intriguing study of nature!
ANNIE RUSHTON
Through botanical drawing I have come to view the world with very different eyes, an Aladdin’s Cave of wonders! To look at a flower in the way a bee sees it, to marvel at the ingenuity with which plants protect and nurture their seed, to witness the mystery of bright new leaves budding on a gnarled twig…. all this and more fills me with reverence for the everyday natural world. Capturing memories of a moment with my pencil on paper imprinted with leaves and pigments yielded by the plant I am representing, is my way of honouring the energy and beauty of nature.
ACOUSTIC MUSIC AND PLEIN AIR
LUKE HARVEY GALLERY 81
In 2009, Luke discovered a book in his local library, Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao. The book explores the 81 verses of ancient Chinese text, the Tao Te Ching. The author, Wayne Dyer, interprets each of the 81 verses from a contemporary viewpoint. After reading this book, Luke was inspired to create a landscape painting to accompany each verse. As the project of paintings unfolded, he was also moved to write in his own words (a reflection) to complement each of the paintings. The permanent exhibition of 81 paintings and reflections is his response to the Tao.
Each individual painting is uniquely framed with silky oak timber. They have been arranged in the Gallery to create a continuous flow of interlocking images. We hope you’ll enjoy the gallery within our walls and within your own house — either with our book, or with an original oil painting bought from our other exhibitions.
Gallery 81
BOTANICAL BEAUTY AT 40° SOUTH
Please join us on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th Nov at
Strathmore Colonial House