You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Books’ category.
by Janice Hoiberg
Dr. Matt Ritter, author, botanist, and professor in the Biological Sciences Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.
Dr. Matt Ritter, professor in the Biological Sciences Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, presented a lecture, guided walk and book signing on Sunday, June 30, 2019, at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden.
“California Plants, A Guide to our Iconic Flora” is Matt’s latest book, a richly illustrated field guide to our State’s spectacular native plants. There are more than 5,000 native species in California—one in five of which are now rare or endangered. Illustrated with Matt’s beautiful photos, the book draws on his insights into California’s native flora, underscored with his unique humor, .
In his forward to the book Governor Jerry Brown writes:
Matt Ritter teaches us to better understand how our future is linked to that of all other living things: our soil, our microbiota, and our wonderful and indomitable native plants.
For anyone interested in California’s flora, Matt’s book is an informative reference and a joy to browse through.
“California Plants,” by Dr. Matt Ritter, book cover.
“California Plants: A Guide to Our Iconic Flora” is available in paperback from Amazon.com. Support BAGSC when shopping on Amazon by first clicking on the AmazonSmile button at the bottom of BAGSC’s home page or on the BAGSC Resources page and follow the instructions.
“California Plants: A Guide to Our Iconic Flora” also can be ordered through Pacific Street Publishing, with free shipping on orders of two or more books. A portion of the proceeds from each book supports the California Native Plant Society and The Wildlands Conservancy, to protect and preserve our natural lands and open spaces.
by Deborah Shaw
It’s #ColorOurCollections week! From February 5-9, 2018, libraries, archives, and other cultural institutions around the world are sharing free coloring sheets and books based on materials in their collections.
This year, 162 participating institutions are sharing free coloring content. Download coloring books from all over the world at http://library.nyam.org/colorourcollections/ in a variety of subjects, including: botany, natural history, entomology, anatomy, Shakespeare, and more! Find the original and use the opportunity to “color from the master” or create you own unique coloring page.
Join the festival online through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Color your choice of page(s) and then post your creations with the hashtag #ColorOurCollections
#ColorOurCollections was launched by The New York Academy of Medicine Library in 2016.
The Bioheritage Diversity Library (see the previous post in this BAGSC News blog) is one of the participants. Their coloring pages can be downloaded from either the Color Our Collections website, or the Biodiversity Heritage Library website.
Happy coloring!
by Arillyn Moran-Lawrence, posted by Deb Shaw
Website for “Ko; An Ethnobotanical Guide to Hawaiian Sugarcane Varieties,” by Noa Kekuewa Lincoln, PhD., © 2016, University of Hawai’i, Manoa, all rights reserved.
Arillyn Moran-Lawrence, will have a pen and ink drawing of Hawaiian Sugar Cane in the forthcoming book Ko; An Ethnobotanical Guide to Hawaiian Sugarcane Varieties. The book will be published by University of Hawaii Press, a nonprofit scholarly publisher.
The author is Noa Kekuewa Lincoln, PhD, Assistant Professor at the University of Hawai’i, Manoa.
About the author of “Ko; An Ethnobotanical Guide to Hawaiian Sugarcane Varieties”
Dr. Noa Kekuewa Lincoln is of native Hawaiian, German, and Japanese decent, born in Kealakekua on Hawai‘i Island. He received his BS in Environmental Engineering from Yale University, and his PhD in Environment and Resources from Stanford University, where his work focused on traditional agricultural development pathways and management strategies. His postdoctoral work examined traditional values and practices of ecosystems for food in Aotearoa. Noa has worked in marine and terrestrial ecosystem restoration and conservation around the Pacific, and has coupled these efforts with cultural and environmental education and community engagement. He has worked on traditional Hawaiian ethnobotany and agriculture and has implemented projects facilitated through a variety of partnerships with community organizations. He is recognized as an emerging expert in Hawaiian crops and cropping systems. His primary interests are in combining traditional and modern knowledge of land management to evaluate social utility, rather than economic, contributions. He is currently a research fellow with Ngai Tahu Research Centre at the University of Canterbury and an Assistant Professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa with a focus on Indigenous Crops and Cropping Systems.
by Deb Shaw
Plant: Exploring the Botanical World is a beautifully illustrated coffee table book featuring 300 watercolors, drawings, paintings, prints, photographs and micrograph scans of botanical subjects. The book was on display during the portfolio-sharing session at the 2016 American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) conference in Pittsburgh, and had lines of admirers thumbing through the sample copies.
Many of our ASBA colleagues are featured in Plant: the artwork was selected by a panel of international experts including Dr. James Compton, botanist and plant collector; Charlotte Tancin of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation; and Patricia Jonas, of ASBA.
Hailed as “a dazzling collection…that brings the evolution of botanical art right into the 21st century” (Gardens Illustrated), Plant is a wonderful resource for artists, horticulturists, and anyone who appreciates the breathtaking variety of the natural world.
Phaidon, is eager to share Plant with botanical artists and the natural science illustrators. They are extending a limited time special offer: 30% off the purchase price plus free shipping in the United States for arrival in six to seven days. Plant normally retails for $59.95; the special price is $39.95 USD (Amazon is offering the book at a 16% discount, for $50.62).
Use this link to purchase the book and receive the special offer on Phaidon’s website: http://www.phaidon.com/plantoffer/
SPECIFICATIONS:
Format: Hardback
Size: 290 x 250 mm (11-3/8 x 9-7/8 in)
Pages: 352 pp
Illustrations: 300 Illustrations
ISBN: 9780714871486
Please contact Ellie Levine, Phaidon Executive Marketing Manager, North America if you know of an institution or organization who would like to receive a complimentary copy of Plant for their library, or if you are interested in purchasing multiple copies of the book.
Thank you to Britt Griswold, Guild of Natural Science Illustrators for letting us know about this wonderful offer!
About Phaidon (from their website):
Phaidon is the premier global publisher of the creative arts with over 1,500 titles in print. We work with the world’s most influential artists, chefs, writers and thinkers to produce innovative books on art, photography, design, architecture, fashion, food and travel, and illustrated books for children. Phaidon is headquartered in London and New York City.
by Deb Shaw
A New Blue
Blue pigment discovered at Professor Subramanian’s lab at Oregon Stste University. Photo from Oregon State University.
Professor Mas Subramanian is a professor of materials science at Oregon State University, researching new materials that could be used in electronics. In 2009, one of his grad students, Andrew E. Smith took a mixture out of the furnace that had been heated to more than 2,000 Fahrenheit and found it had turned a brilliant, clear blue color. They had accidentally, serendipitously discovered a new blue pigment; the first new blue in more than 200 years. The last “new inorganic blue” to be manufactured was Cobalt Blue in the early 1800’s. Cobalt, however, was not lightfast and was toxic to boot.
Considered a “complex inorganic pigment,” the new blue is currently called YInMn blue, named for its chemical makeup of yttrium, indium and manganese oxides.
Subramanian, Smith and Oregon State University chemistry professor Arthur Sleight patented the YInMn material; Shepherd Color, an industrial pigment distributor is testing out the pigment’s application. Once the Environmental Protection Agency approves the color for commercial manufacturing, Shepherd is licensed to sell the pigment. So far, YInMn has proven to reflect heat more than Cobalt Blue and has proven to be remarkably stable; holding up against oil, water and sunlight better than other available blues. In addition to being light safe, none of the ingredients are toxic.
Once large manufacturers are using a pigment, the material trickles down to our art supplies. Keep your eyes open in the next few years for a brand new blue, which will most likely receive a sexier name for marketing purposes. And the team of “new blue” researchers are already working to create new colors by altering the mixture. They have created a purple by adding titanium and zinc and are expecting additional bright, vivid colors to follow.
National Public Radio (NPR) has an article online with interesting links about the new blue from July 16, 2016. Oregon State University has an in depth article about it as well.
Late Summer “Reads”: Links to Books and Online Articles and Podcasts about Color
Now that we’re hitting the dog days of summer, here are some interesting books, links and podcasts about color:
NPR has a series of free podcasts about color, called Color Decoded: Stories that Span the Spectrum. Read the articles, or listen or download them all from the link, or individually from any of the links below. Many of the following (in reverse order) are only a few minutes long, so queue them all up. Some of them have been featured on our BAGSC News blog previously. They’re fun listening while painting or drawing:
- For One Artist, Colorblindness Opened Up A World Of Black And White
- The Color Of Politics: How Did Red And Blue States Come To Be?
- How Kodak’s Shirley Cards Set Photography’s Skin-Tone Standard
- Sacred, Sad And Salacious: With Many Meanings, What Is True Blue?
- How Animals Hacked The Rainbow And Got Stumped On Blue
- These X’s Are The Same Shade, So What Does That Say About Color?
- Is It Time To Reappropriate Pink?
- Whether Green With Envy Or Tickled Pink, We Live In A Color-Coded World
- #ColorFacts: A Weird Little Lesson, In Rainbow Order
- Girls Are Taught To ‘Think Pink,’ But That Wasn’t Always So
- The Golden Gate Bridge’s Accidental Color
- Celebrating Green: As Color, As Concept, As Cause
- The Color Red: A History in Textiles
Each of the individual articles have links to other resources and stories about color: TED Talks, podcasts and news articles. It’s easy to journey deep into online color discoveries.
For those who prefer spending the end of summer curled up with a good book, here are a very few great reads about colors:
- A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire, Amy Butler Greenfield, ISBN-10: 0060522763
- A Red Like No Other: How Cochineal Colored the World, Carmella Padilla and Barbara Anderson, ISBN-10: 0847846431
- Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World, Simon Garfield, ISBN-10: 0393323137
- Color: A Natural History of the Palette, Victoria Finlay, ISBN-10: 0812971426
- The Brilliant History of Color in Art, Victoria Finlay, ISBN-10: 1606064290
- Rarest Blue: The Remarkable Story of an Ancient Color Lost to History and Rediscovered, Baruch Sterman, ISBN-10: 0762782226
Have a favorite book about the history of a color? Let us know in the “Comments” section.
Enjoy!
by Deb Shaw
Not too long after Jim Folsom, published his free ebook, “A Botanical Reader for the Curious Gardener,” in February 2016, it mysteriously disappeared from iBooks, much to the disappointment of those who hadn’t yet had a chance to download it. The problem turned out to be some technical glitches.
Cover, “A Botanical Reader for the Curious Gardener”, James P. Folsom, © 2016, all rights reserved.
Jim used the opportunity to issue version 1.2 of “A Botanical Reader” as they got the ebook back online. The new version includes edits, expansion of the Botanical Calendar, and an enlarged Plant Trivia TimeLine.
BAGSC News covered the initial launch of “A Botanical Reader” [read the full article at: https://bagscblog.com/2016/03/04/a-botanical-reader-by-jim-folsom-now-available-in-ibooks/]
The ebook is downloadable for free through iTunes/iBooks, at https://itun.es/us/XDT5ab.l It’s listed in the category of Life Sciences, and is a
About the Author
James P. (Jim) Folsom, PhD., rides the demographic peak of baby boomers, having been born in southeastern Alabama in 1950. His lifelong love of plants is reflected in a BS in Botany from Auburn University, an MA in Biology from Vanderbilt University, and a PhD in research botany from The University of Texas at Austin. Though his research has centered on the orchid family, with much of the research time spent in Tropical America (including a year in Colombia on a Fulbright Pre-Doctoral Fellowship), Jim’s botanical interests are wide-ranging. As Curator of the Botanical Gardens at The Huntington in San Marino, CA, he dedicates much of his effort to educational programs that increase public interest and understanding of the science, culture, and history of plants and gardens. He lives at The Huntington with his wife, Debra (also a botanist) and children Molly and Jimmy. Jim was recognized as a Friend of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America in 1996, a Member-at-Large of the Garden Club of America in 1998, and presented a Professional Citation by the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta in 1999. The Garden Club of America awarded him their Medal of Honor in 2007.
by Margaret Best, posted by Deb Shaw
BAGSC member Margaret Best has a painting in the newly released book ‘Florilegium’ to mark the bi-centennial of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney, Australia.
A Florilegium Society for the gardens was formed with Shirley Sherwood as the honorary Patron and Beverly Allen as president. One of the goals of the society was to produce a high quality book containing full-page works by various botanical artists to portray a diverse array of plants of significant importance to the garden. The complete exhibition of works is to be hung at the gardens from the end of July to November and is expected to travel to the Shirley Sherwood gallery in 2018.
This is a project of over three years in the making and the superb volume has just been released. The book showcases works by 41 Australians artists, 13 British artists, two South Africans, two Japanese and one each from the United States, Canada, Netherlands, France, Korea and New Zealand.
Leslie Walker scouting out the tree, Schotia brachypetala at The Huntington Gardens. © 2013, Margaret Best, all rights reserved.
The only Canadian with a painting in the book is Margaret Best. She flew to Los Angeles in 2013, and with the help of Leslie Walker and Janice Sharp, Margaret was able to find a sole specimen of a Schotia brachypetala, in The Huntington Gardens. This is a South African native tree known in Australia as the ‘drunken parrot tree’. Wild parakeets are attracted to the gardens by the clusters of small red flowers that drip nectar. After a short period, the copious quantities of nectar ferments and causes the birds to become intoxicated!
Margaret working in Janice’s studio. © 2013, Janice Sharp, all rights reserved.
Graciously hosted by Janice, Margaret was able to work in her wonderful studio for a week to complete drawings, colour matching of flowers, leaves and pod specimens for a large study. More than year later, Margaret visited a remarkable specimen in Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town. With the help of the curator Ernst Van Jaarsveld, she was able to acquire a small branch from the landmark tree. That caused a last minute composition change to include the textures of bark and new growth emerging from older parts of the tree.
The outstanding book contains many fine works by artists such as Jenny Phillips, Beverly Allen, John Pastorizia-Piñol, Anita Walsmit Sachs and many more notables. [A list of the Florilegium paintings and artists can be found here.] It is most definitely worthy of any serious botanical artist’s book collection. Ask Leslie and Janice – they have heaped accolades on its quality since recently receiving their copies!
The ‘Florilegium’ may be ordered by contacting Angela Lober, international phone 02 9552 1169 or by email. Payment can be made by cheque or direct deposit. Cheques are payable to: The Florilegium Society at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney Inc., and can be mailed with your contact and delivery information to: Ms Angela Lober, 12 Allen Street, Glebe NSW 2037
Congrats Margaret!
by Deb Shaw
Cover, “A Botanical Reader for the Curious Gardener”, James P. Folsom, © 2016, all rights reserved.
It’s here! Jim Folsom, has just published his ebook as of February 29, 2016: “A Botanical Reader for the Curious Gardener.” The Reader is a wealth of resources; Jim’s Botany for Artists is just one chapter in a line-up of content that Jim lists in his introduction:
- Introductions (Chapters 1, 2, and 3) explain the organization of the Reader, suggest places and activities of interest, and lay out overarching themes that pervade the study and cultivation of plants.
- The Literature Review presents some commonly available texts and resources, suggesting which might be most useful for different readers.
- In Botanical Terms is a series of short essays dedicated to highlights that showcase topics fundamental to plant science and eliminate barriers presented by useful but arcane botanical terminology.
- Conversational Botany is a Primer that tells the story of plants in textbook-style.
- Issues – Plants, Politics, & Practice includes background and discussion of topics that are part of today’s public discourse as well as transcriptions of presentations I give on current topics.
- An annotated Plant Trivia Timeline gives snippets of plant-related stories and discoveries in chronological sequence, so as to provide historical context to plant use and cultivation.”
- Hands-on Discovery suggests particular plants and instructive techniques that will help students make their own observations and learn-through-doing, which is the most effective and delightful method.
Excerpt From: James P, Folsom. “A Botanical Reader.” James P. Folsom, 2016. iBooks. https://itun.es/us/XDT5ab.l
Chapter from “A Botanical Reader”, listing “Botany for Artists” as one of the sections. James P. Folsom, © 2016.
Easy to read, this is a book of RESOURCES. In addition botany, horticulture, gardening, food, and the secret world of plants, Jim introduces his readers to his favorite Plant Destinations (where we can see the “wonders of the plant world”) and compiles a list with descriptions of the books we should have on our shelves and the websites we need to have bookmarked in our browsers.
ASBA and BAGSC members will be treated to a three-part series, starting in the March issue of The Botanical Artist, excerpted from Jim’s chapter, Botany for Artists.
The ebook is downloadable for free from iBooks, at https://itun.es/us/XDT5ab.l It’s listed in the category of Life Sciences, and is a
Jim Folsom lecturing during the “Weird, Wild & Wonderful Symposium.” Photo by Clara Josephs, © 2015, all rights reserved.
About Jim Folsom, Telleen/Jorgensen Director of the Botanical Gardens, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Jim Folsom, PhD., rides the demographic peak of baby boomers, having been born in southeastern Alabama in 1950. His lifelong love of plants is reflected in a BS in Botany from Auburn University, an MA in Biology from Vanderbilt University, and a PhD in research botany from The University of Texas at Austin. Though his research has centered on the orchid family, with much of the research time spent in Tropical America (including a year in Colombia on a Fulbright Pre-Doctoral Fellowship), Jim’s botanical interests are wide-ranging. As Curator of the Botanical Gardens at The Huntington in San Marino, CA, he dedicates much of his effort to educational programs that increase public interest and understanding of the science, culture, and history of plants and gardens. He lives at The Huntington with his wife, Debra (also a botanist) and children Molly and Jimmy. Jim was recognized as a Friend of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America in 1996, a Member-at-Large of the Garden Club of America in 1998, and presented a Professional Citation by the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta in 1999. The Garden Club of America awarded him their Medal of Honor in 2007.
BAGSC News 