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by Jude Wiesenfeld and Janice Sharp
Last April Alexander Viazmensky (Sasha) and his students held their first Botanical Art Exhibition in St. Petersburg, Russia (see the article on page 9 of The Botanical Artist, the journal of the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) for June 2016, Volume 22, Issue 2, ISSN 1523-5165*).
Sasha Viazmensky demonstrating initial watercolor technique for painting a mushroom.
This October 19 – 21, 2016, Sasha came to teach a workshop about painting mushrooms for BAGSC artists. Held at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia, California, Sasha brought with him a wealth of knowledge on his speciality. His technique is largely wet on wet. He reiterated often that we should get ready to put the paint on the paper, then STOP and think about where we will place the paint before proceeding.
One thing we learned to observe is how many more gills appear at the edge of the mushroom that are thinner and closer together than the ones near the stem.
Sasha was an excellent and affable teacher. Each day we watched him demonstrate the techniques for different types of mushrooms. He spent a great deal of his time individually guiding each of us.
* The Botanical Artist is a quarterly publication for members of ASBA. Back publications are available to members for purchase. View a sample of The Botanical Artist.
Sasha demonstration of a Polypore Mushroom (fungi that grow on tree trunks).
Those in attendance were (from left to right):
Beth Stone, Gilly Shaeffer, Olga Eysymontt, Sasha, Cynthia Jackson, Janice Sharp and Bonnie Ash (missing from the photo are Pat Mark, Kathy Morgan and Jude Wiesenfeld).
These are examples of our work!
by Deb Shaw
Cristina Baltayian will continue her monthly series of botanical art classes at the LA Arboretum through the Fall:
4 Tuesdays per session per month
10am – 2pm (includes lunch break) / Oak Room
The Fall session dates are:
October 4, 11, 18, 25
November 1, 8, 15, 22
December 6, 13, 20, 27
Costs are $275 for Arboretum members per month / $295 non-members per month (includes Arboretum Admission).
To register, please call the LA Arboretum Education Department at 626.821.4623 or pay at the class.
These classes will explore color pencil, graphite, pen and ink, and watercolor on various papers, vellum and other surfaces. The emphasis will be on plant observation, drawing, composition, color theory and matching, and medium techniques. In conjunction with the Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California, students will be studying and portraying many of the Arboretum plant introductions from the last 50 years. The goal is to build a collection of paintings that will celebrate and document the invaluable contribution of the Los Angeles Arboretum to the state of California.
The LA Arboretum is located at: 301 North Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007.
by Sally Jacobs, posted by Deb Shaw
E-invite for Sally Jacobs exhibition, Larger than Life at TAG Gallery.
Sally Jacobs will be giving an “Artists’ Panel” for her exhibition, Larger than Life this Saturday, October 8, 2016 at 3:00 pm at the TAG Gallery in Bergamot Station Arts Center. It’s a great way to see the show and hear about her approach, technique, and more.
The Los Angeles Times gave the show a great review! See the LA Times review of Larger than Life here: http://www.latimes.com/home/la-hm-sally-jacobs-20160926-snap-story.html
The gallery is located at:
TAG Gallery
Bergamot Station Arts Center
2525 Michigan Ave., D3, Santa Monica, CA 90404
310.829.9556
Contact: gallery@taggallery.net | http://www.taggallery.net
by Estelle DeRidder, posted by Deb Shaw
As part of the 9th California Island Symposium, the Island Art Exhibition now moves from the Ventura Beach Marriott to the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.
The public is invited to the opening reception of the Island Art Exhibition at the Pritzlaff Conservation Center at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden on October 11 from 6 – 7:30 pm. Guests will be able to enjoy the art and views of the Channel Islands. Light appetizers and refreshments will be served. The event is free, but registration is required. The exhibition will be on display at the Garden from October 11 through November 6, 2016.
Plantanus racemosa, California Sycamore, Watercolor by Mitsuko Schultz, © 2016, all rights reserved.
First place went to an acrylic painting by Marcia Burtt that depicts Prisoners Harbor on Santa Cruz Island. Nicole Strasburg won second place with a gouache etching of Scorpion Valley on Santa Cruz Island. Third place winner Estelle DeRidder used colored pencil to illustrate a native Toyon. An honorable mention was awarded to Mitsuko Schultz for her watercolor of a California Sycamore.
Registration and information for the opening reception at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is available on their website.
About the Island Art Exhibition:
The Island Art Exhibition explores creative practices at the intersection of art and science as a component of the California Islands Symposium. The Islands Symposia have been held every five years since 1965, and present recent work in all disciplines of natural, environmental, and cultural science on the California Islands, which include all of the islets, rocks, and islands off the Pacific coast of California and Baja California, Mexico. This juried art exhibition encourages a greater understanding and appreciation of the unique California Islands. The display features original paintings, watercolors, and pen and ink drawings that reflect the beauty of the islands.
About the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden:
The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is a 78-acre nonprofit educational and scientific institution that conserves California’s native plants through gardens, research, education, and sustainable practices. The Garden was founded in 1926 and is one of the nation’s oldest botanical gardens focused exclusively on native plants.
by Deb Shaw
Hylocereus undatus pitahayas, Pitaya or Dragon Fruit, watercolor by Diane Nelson Daly, © 2016. The dragon fruit is the fruit of a cactus species indigenous to the Americas. The fruit is sweet and crunchy with a flavor that is a cross between kiwi and pear.
Cornucopia, a botanical art exhibition of all things edible by the Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California (BAGSC) will open Friday, September 23 in the Ecke Building at the San Diego Botanic Garden (SDBG). The exhibit runs from September 23 – November 18, and includes 47 artworks by 21 BAGSC artists, illustrating the diverse plants that people use all over the world for food, drink and flavorings. The paintings are accompanied by descriptions, stories or recipes written by the artists.
Broccoli, watercolor by Asuka Hishiki, © 2016.
The opening reception will be Friday, September 23, from 3:30 pm – 6:30 pm. The public is invited; the exhibition is free with paid admission or membership.
Artists in the exhibition include: Bonnie Born Ash, Nancy Beckham, Jan Clouse, Diane Nelson Daly, Estelle DeRidder, Asuka Hishiki, Cynthia Jackson, Susan Jackson, Clara Josephs, Teresa Kuwahara, Patricia A. Mark, Arillyn Moran-Lawrence, Kathy Morgan, Terri Munroe, Alyse Ochniak, Mitsuko Schultz, Janice Sharp, Deborah Shaw, Ellie Yun-Hui Tu, Leslie Walker, Jude Wiesenfeld.
Rosa californica, California Rose, watercolor by Estelle DeRidder, © 2016.
The San Diego Botanic Garden is located at 230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas, California 92024, 760.436.3036. Directions can be found on the SDBG website. Download the postcard invitation featuring a watercolor by Teresa Kuwahara: cornucopia-invitation-postcard.
by Margaret Best, posted by Deb Shaw
“The Art of the Tulip” Select River Cruises with Margaret Best, Artist-in-Residence.
BAGSC member Margaret Best will be the Artist in Residence on a unique river cruise through the Low Countries focusing on “The Art of the Tulip.”
Onboard the MS Select Bellejour, participants will enjoy lectures about the history and cultural impact of the tulip. Demonstrations will be combined with botanical art instruction, including one-on-one attention from the instructor.
Margaret is a regular teacher at the Dundas Valley School of Art in Canada. She is one of three teachers at the school selected to be an Artist in Residence on Select River Cruises in 2017.
Margaret Best teaching.
To coincide with Tulip Time in April, Margaret will be offering lectures on the Art of the Tulip from the Ottoman era to contemporary portrayal, while traveling luxuriously on the waterways of the region. She will be also offering instruction on keeping an illustrated journal of this memorable trip with spectacular tulip specimens and other seasonal flowers both on board and in famous gardens, like Keukenhof to name but one.
For non-artist partners, friends or spouses there are a wide range of small-group tours to choose from to soak up the European culture and to partake in the unique food and beverage offerings. Like specialty cheese, chocolate, beer and a visit to the Delft China factory.
Seeing this remarkable spectacle of color is on most plant lover’s bucket list. For botanical artists, combining Margaret’s tuition with expert tour guides on a Select Cruise line famous for a more personalized treatment of guests, it will be unforgettable.
Tour dates: March 30 – April 7, 2017
Cost: $3,190
Download “The Art of the Tulip” PDF information flyer: art-of-the-tulip-20062016
Includes airport transfers, pre-cruise hotel and excursions, unique excursions with tour escort and Artist in Residence, onboard lectures and demonstrations, house wine and beer, gourmet meals, gratuities, and partner program options.
For more information and reservations, contact Sandie Harman, 416.407.1830 or 705.657.7196.
by Clara Josephs, Beth Stone and Deb Shaw
BAGSC held an information-stuffed quarterly meeting on Sunday, September 11. Workshops were announced, the new BAGSC website was revealed (more about the website in a future article coming soon) and BAGSC member Kathy Morgan demonstrated carbon dust techniques on clayboard.
Kathy was first introduced to carbon dust in a class with Olga Eysymontt and was immediately hooked. Kathy has mastered this unique method of painting known for rich, dark values and flawless transitions.
A few of Kathy’s favorite materials: a pad of Dura-lar, Wolff’s carbon pencils in four grades of hardness and a stencil cutting kit. Photo by Beth Stone, © 2016.
Instead of using an X-acto blade to cut a stencil, Kathy prefers to use a heated stencil cutter on a sheet of Dura-lar, over a piece of tempered glass. She first places her tissue drawing under the glass, then uses a pen to carefully trace the outline(s) on the Duralar. Moving slowly, she then carefully cuts along all the outlines with the heated stencil cutter. She saves both the positive and negative parts of the stencil to use in different stages of her drawing.
Kathy usually adds some temporary registration marks to her drawing surface and her stencil, to make it easier to align the stencil again at a later stage.
Kathy Morgan prefers to use soft cosmetic brushes of various sizes for her carbon dust work. Photo by Beth Stone, © 2016.
She uses four different hardnesses of Wolff’s carbon pencils to get different tonal values, starting with the lightest tone and getting darker as the drawing progresses. She prefers to use cosmetic brushes, always working from the outside edges in. (If you work from the inside towards the outside, you run the risk of creating a hard, dark edge where the stencil begins.)
Kathy uses a metal emery file to create the carbon dust, adding each hardness of dust to its own empty plastic medicine vial. (Yet another use for those empty medicine containers!)
Kathy Morgan answers questions from BAGSC members Carmen Lindsay and Cristina Baltayian. Photo by Beth Stone, © 2016.
Details are added with a very sharp carbon pencil in the tonal value she needs. She sprays finished works with a workable fixative.
BAGSC members who could stay after the potluck lunch experimented with the technique with the assortment of fruits and vegetables that Kathy brought as subject matter. Thank you Kathy for a fun and informative presentation.
Kathy Morgan demonstrating drawing a pear. Photo by Clara Josephs, © 2016.
BAGSC members Carmen Lindsay and Bonnie Born Ash experiment with carbon dust. Photo by Clara Josephs, © 2016.
by TAG Gallery and Sally Jacobs, posted by Deb Shaw
Savoy Cabbage, graphite, by Sally Jacobs, © 2016.
BAGSC member Sally Jacobs has an upcoming exhibition of watercolor paintings and graphite drawings entitled “Larger Than Life.” The exhibition at the TAG Gallery in the Bergamot Station Art Center runs from September 27 – October 22, 2016
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 1, 2016 from 5 – 8 pm
Artist Panel: Saturday, October 8, 2016, 3 pm
The following is from the press release, sent out by TAG:
Sally was inspired by the rich arrays of produce and flora found in Los Angeles’ farmers markets. Jacobs zooms in, portraying flowers, vegetables, and fruit with dramatic precision. Jacobs transforms a vegetable we choose for nourishment or a flower for decoration by aiming higher, rendering it’s unique structure eye-catching and explicit, causing the viewer to catch their breath in wonder.
Jacobs uses watercolor or pencil in a unique, graduated way, masterfully capturing the minutest details of her subjects’ anatomy while staying true to the whole. She delves deep into a plant’s structure to reveal striking patterns and colors that seize one’s attention and imagination.
Bok choy, watercolor, by Sally Jacobs, © 2016.
Jacobs is a contemporary botanical artist who has exhibited in numerous juried shows in New York and San Francisco, and at museums in New York, Minneapolis and Phoenix. She was an award winner at the Brand 37 Works on Paper exhibit and is one of the artists included in “Todays Botanical Artists,” a publication of well-regarded nature artists.
About TAG Gallery
Established in 1993 as a not-for-profit corporation, TAG Gallery is a member-owned community of forty artists. Through the physical gallery in Santa Monica’s landmark Bergamot Station as well as lectures from exhibiting and visiting artists, TAG Gallery has become a valuable resource for launching the careers of both emerging and mid-career artists based in the greater Los Angeles area. For more information about TAG Gallery, please visit http://www.taggallery.net. Questions about the exhibition? Please contact Rakeem Cunningham, (310) 829-9556, gallery@taggallery.net
TAG is located at 2525 Michigan Ave., D3, in the Bergamot Station Art Center, Santa Monica, CA 90404, 310. 829.9556.
by Estelle De Ridder, posted by Deb Shaw
The California Islands Symposia have been held more or less, every five years since 1965, to share up-to-date information about the management, scientific research, work in all disciplines of natural and cultural science and general well-being of the California islands.
The 9th California Island Symposium for 2016 is being held at the Marriott Hotel, Ventura, California. One of the less scientific and more entertaining presentations of this symposium will be the Art Exhibit that has been advertised for more than six months. The three jurors worked hard and with diligence to put together a coherent show that will present the Channel Islands to the public in an inviting and interesting manner. After the symposium, the exhibit will be moved to the Santa Barbara Botanic Gardens, where it will be on display for another three weeks.
The Channel Islands of California comprise eight islands located in the Pacific Ocean off the Southern California coast. Five of the islands and the surrounding waters are part of Channel Islands National Park and the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.
The Park is supported by many partners who share the protection of the history and prehistory, the cultural and biological diversity as well as protecting vital habitat for marine, terrestrial plant and animal species.
Public appreciation through education, interpretation and research is widely promoted.
Isolation over many thousands of years has developed unique animals, plants and archeological resources found ONLY on these islands and makes is possible for visitors to experience the western coast of the North America as it used to be.
Visitation has increased dramatically over the years, and with contracted concessionaires, the numbers show how the interest in the islands have grown:
1963 = 1,200
2014 = 342,000
Malva assurgentiflora, the Island Mallow, Mission Mallow, Royal Mallow, Island Tree Mallow. © 2016, Estelle De Ridder, all rights reserved. Watercolor and colored pencil on drafting film and paper.
Flora on the Channel Islands include a unique subspecies of pine, oak and island tree mallow.
Santa Rosa Island holds two groves of the endemic to the island, Torrey pine subspecies Pinus torreyana var. insularis. Torrey pines are the United States’ rarest pine species. The islands also house many rare and endangered species of plants, including the island barberry, the island rush rose, and the Santa Cruz Island lace pod. Giant kelp forests surround the islands and act as a source of nutrition and protection for other animals.
BAGSC members Estelle De Ridder, Mitsuko Schultz and Ellie Tu are participating in the exhibition.
Estelle has illustrated two species: Malva assurgentiflora and Heteromeles abtutifolia.
Malva assurgentiflora, the Island Mallow, Mission Mallow, Royal Mallow, Island Tree Mallow, Malva Rosa is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family. It grows into a strikingly architectural shrub/small tree with beautiful white bark.
It is endemic to California, where it is native only to the Channel Islands. It can also be found growing as an escapee from cultivation in coastal mainland California.
Estelle’s painting of Heteromeles abtutifolia was done on paper with watercolor and colored pencil. Heteromeles abtutifolia, Toyon berry, grows on the north-facing coastal bluffs of Santa Cruz Island. It grows on all the other islands, except Santa Barbara island, and was planted on San Nicolas.
Plantanus racemosa, California Sycamore, Watercolor by Mitsuko Schultz, © 2016, all rights reserved.
Mitsuko Schultz had her Platanus racemosa, California Sycamore accepted to the exhibition.
Ellie Tu has three pieces in the exhibition: Dudleya greenei, Coreopsis, and Leptosyne gigantea Kellogg.
Leptosyne gigantea Kellogg (formerly Coreopsis gigantea), Giant Coreopsis is a strikingly strange plant. It grows on dunes, rocky cliffs and exposed slopes, and has a fleshy trunk and branches. It can reach heights of eight feet with a five inch trunk. It is deciduous and dormant in the dry season, taking on an other worldly appearance when visitors hike through a large stand of them. In spring, however, masses of bright yellow blooms put on quite a show.
Ceanothus arboreus, Feltleaf Ceanothus, or Island Ceanothus. Watercolor, © 2016, Ellie Tu, all rights reserved.
Leptosyne gigantea Kellogg, (formerly Coreopsis gigantea), Giant Coreopsis, Ellie Tu, colored pencil, © 2016, all rights reserved.
Dudleya greenei, watercolor by Ellie Tu, © 2016, all rights reserved. This plant grows in the Channel Islands National Park.
by Clara Josephs, posted by Deb Shaw
Be sure it’s on your calendar: BAGSC’s general quarterly meeting is coming up in two weeks, on Sunday, September 11. As usual, BAGSC members will receive this meeting notification in an email blast with directions to the location, at the home of BAGSC’s President.
Join us to see the unveiling of BAGSC’s new website, hear plans for workshops and upcoming exhibitions, and see a demonstration of carbon dust. Coffee will be served at 9:30 a.m. and the business meeting will begin promptly at 10. Bring a lunch item to share. The carbon dust demonstration will follow our potluck lunch.
Carpooling is recommended. In addition to your lunch contribution, bring any painting you are working to show or to receive help from our members. Questions? Contact Pat Mark or Clara Josephs.
Looking forward to seeing you on September 11, at 9:30 a.m!
by John Pastoriza-Piñol, Jude Wiesenfeld and Deb Shaw
Tulipa x hybrida, watercolor by John Pastoriza-Piñol, © 2016.
BAGSC will be offering a Masterclass with Australian botanical artist John Pastoriza-Piñol in November, 2016. Students will learn the intricacies of achieving fine detail with watercolour masking fluid and NEEF ¼ Comb, invaluable tools for contemporary botanical artists. As a result, your paintings will be brought to a new level of realism and detail. Students should have skills in drawing and watercolor. Over three days, John will assist you with painting the chosen class subject. John will show how masking fluid can be used to achieve very fine detail and will instruct students how to use the NEEF ¼ Comb.
November 8, 9 and 10, 2016
9:30 am – 4:00pm each day
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Cost: BAGSC Members: $300; Non-Members: $330
Maximum Registration: 16 students
To register:
Send a check for your $50 non-refundable deposit fee (or payment in full), made out to BAGSC, to BAGSC Education Chair, Jude Wiesenfeld. Please write “JohnPP” on the memo line of the check. Payment in full is due by Monday, October 25, 2016.
Bring your lunch, or purchase lunch at The Huntington Cafes, at The Huntington.
Questions about the Workshop? Contact the BAGSC Education Chair.
Fragaria x ananassa, Strawberry, watercolor by John Pastoriza-Piñol, © 2016.
Learning Objectives:
Students who enroll in this workshop would have completed some level of introduction to Botanical Art and be at an intermediate to advanced level. The structure of the class involves a three-day painting project and the demonstrator assists each student with composition, painting techniques, colour theory which will be offered in class and assigned for homework.
Download a PDF of the materials list: John Pastoriza Pinol Materials list 2016
About the Instructor:
Rich luminous hues and gorgeously exotic and rare botanical specimens epitomize John’s work, however his are much more than mere flower paintings:closer inspection reveals a certain ambiguity of form and intent directing us towards a complex narrative.
John Pastoriza-Piñol, © 2016.
A master of his medium, his perfectly executed watercolours remain true to the accuracy that is vital to botanical illustration yet they have a fluidity and sensuality that stirs the viewer to experience more than a mere marveling of technique.
The artist suggestively urges us to look beyond the aesthetic and move into slightly more uneasy territory as his work inhabits a territory somewhere between scientific analysis and symbolic realism, prompting a reading that goes beyond the purely representational and literal. The artist intends for literal and subversive elements to coexist uneasily on the same plane, while the aesthetics will remain true to the fundamental principle of objective observation of the natural world.
Location:
The workshop will be held at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, in the Botanical Education Center. The Huntington is located at: 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108.
by Jude Wiesenfeld and Deb Shaw
“Forest Bouquet, Russian Choice,” watercolor by Alexander Viazmensky, © 2016, all rights reserved.
Alexander (Sasha) Viazmensky will be returning to Southern California from St. Petersburg, Russia to teach a three-day, BAGSC-sponsored workshop, Mushroom Portraits in Watercolor.
Wednesday, October 19 – Friday, October 21, 2016
9:30 am – 4:00 pm each day
Los Angeles County Arboretum, Oak Room
$300 for BAGSC members; $330 for non-members
Class limit: 16 students
Workshop Description:
Mushroom hunting is a passionate, national pastime in Russia, and Sasha’s paintings capture the spirit of the fungi and the forest. Painted life sized, he calls his paintings “Portraits of Mushrooms.” The class will consist of the following steps:
- Composition.
- How to properly place your subject: lights, shadows, reflections.
- Creating the shape from light to dark.
- Creating various textures with dry brush.
- Using white gouache.
- Final details.
Download the materials list: sashaMaterialsList
To Register:
Send a check for your $50 non-refundable deposit fee (or payment in full), made out to BAGSC, to BAGSC Education Chair Jude Wiesenfeld. Please write “Sasha” on the memo line of the check. Payment in full is due by Monday, October 3, 2016.
Bring your lunch, or purchase lunch at the Peacock Café, on the Arboretum grounds.
The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden is located at: 301 North Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007.
Alexander Viazmensky in the woods. © 2016.
About the Instructor:
Sasha Viazmensky was born and lives in St. Petersburg, Russia, and specializes in painting fungi. Although he has a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, he has devoted his life to painting, studying, and picking mushrooms. His work is included in the collections of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Shirley Sherwood Collection and the Komarov Botanical Institute in St. Petersburg, among others, and in private collections all over the world. You can read an article Sasha wrote about picking mushrooms in Russia, published in MUSHROOM, The Journal of Wild Mushrooming, here.
by Beth Stone, posted by Deb Shaw
Passion Flower study, Olga Eysymontt, © 2008, all rights reserved.
It’s time to register for BAGSC Founder and Member Olga Eysymont’s next series at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. Registration is through the Otis website. Here’s the link: http://www.otis.edu/ce-course?crs=828
Don’t worry that the class description on the Otis website reads the same as Olga’s previous sessions. Olga says “For my returning students, I will be giving them other projects to work on.”
New students will explore the subject of plant families, with the goal of demonstrating both correct representation of the specimen, as well as a good compositional design. An emphasis on correct placement of light on form will be emphasized, in order to produce an authentic and realistic illustration.
“Botanical Illustration: Plant Studies,” in graphite, will meet for six Sundays, from 9:30 am – 3:30 pm, beginning Sunday, September 18, 2016, and then on the following five Sundays: October 2, October 16, October 30, November 6 and November 20.
Registration
Register online through Otis College of Art and Design Continuing Education. All classes will be held at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. The course is non-credit, although certificate and credit options are available for additional cost.
The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden is located at: 301 North Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007.
Workshop Discounts
A $50 discount on the course registration is available until August 21. Senior discounts also are available; check with Otis to see if they can be used in combination with the early registration discount.
Class Materials:
14″ x 17” Strathmore Drawing Pad Series 400, Medium or equivalent. (You may use another brand, but please, no sketch or recycled paper.
14” x 17” Medium Weight Tracing Paper (any brand)
Drafting Pencil with Holder and Sharpener
HB and 2B leads (at least 2 each)
Eraser Stick
Erasing Shield
Drafting Brush
Mars Drafting Dots (masking tape)
Portable Task Light (Ott-Lite)
(Vis a Vis wet erase fine point marker, Clip, 8″ x 10″ Plexi and 8″ x 10″ format supplied by teacher for $10.00)
by Clara Josephs, posted by Deb Shaw
BAGSC’s Fall general quarterly meeting will be held on Sunday, September 11 at the home of BAGSC’s president. BAGSC members also will receive this meeting notification in an email blast with directions.
Coffee will be served at 9:30 a.m. and the business meeting will begin promptly at 10. A highlight of the meeting will be the official unveiling of our new BAGSC website. Come to the meeting, get a tour of the new site, and learn how your images can be part of our members’ gallery. We also have several new workshops to announce.
Bring a lunch item to share. Following our potluck lunch, Kathy Morgan will demonstrate the use of carbon dust to create stunning botanical portraits. After studying with Olga Eysymontt, Kathy has mastered this unique method of painting known for rich, dark values and flawless transitions. You will have an opportunity to try working with the materials and get feedback from Kathy.
As always, carpooling is recommended. In addition to your lunch contribution, bring any painting you are working to show or to receive help from our members. Questions? Contact Pat Mark or Clara Josephs.
Looking forward to seeing you on September 11, at 9:30 a.m!
by Deb Shaw
Hunt 15th International Exhibition of Botanical Art and Illustration
Every three years the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) holds its annual conference in Pittsburgh, PA to coincide with the Hunt Institute’s International Exhibition. This year is no exception: the 15th International Exhibition will open on September 15, and will run through December 15, 2016.
The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation established the International Exhibition in 1964 with the purpose of supporting and encouraging contemporary botanical artists. The upcoming exhibition features 43 works by 43 different artists from 15 different countries. A few selected works from the exhibition can be viewed on the website.
![Cover of the Hunt 15th International Exhibition Catalog. Cover art: Soft Tree Fern, Dicksonia antarctica [Dicksonia antarctica Labillardière, Dicksoniaceae], watercolor on paper by Laurie Andrews (1936–), 2008, 76.5 × 56.5 cm, HI Art accession no. 8078, reproduced by permission of the artist.](https://bagscblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/hibd-15th-international-title.jpg?w=300&h=476)
Cover of the Hunt 15th International Exhibition Catalog. Cover art: Soft Tree Fern, Dicksonia antarctica [Dicksonia antarctica Labillardière, Dicksoniaceae], watercolor on paper by Laurie Andrews (1936–), 2008, 76.5 × 56.5 cm, HI Art accession no. 8078, reproduced by permission of the artist.
The opening reception on October 13, from 6 pm – 9 pm is open to the public, and also is a highlight of the ASBA conference. The curators of the exhibition will give a short introduction to the exhibition in the gallery at 6:30 pm. Catalogues will be available for sale at the opening.
The Hunt Institute is located at: 4909 Frew Street, 5th Floor, Hunt Library. The exhibition will be on display on the 5th floor of the Hunt Library building at Carnegie Mellon University and will be open to the public free of charge. Hours: Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–noon and 1–5 p.m.; Sunday, 1–4 p.m. (except 20 November and 24–27 November). Because the Hunt’s hours of operation are occasionally subject to change, please call or email before your visit to confirm. For further information, contact the Hunt Institute at 412-268-2434, or email.
Early Bird Registration for the 22nd Annual ASBA Meeting and Conference CLOSES AUGUST 7, 2016!
The deadline for early registration discounts for the 22nd Annual ASBA Meeting and Conference closes on August 7, 2016. Early registration fees (on or before August 7) are $360. Register now online. After August 7, registration jumps to $425. Registration closes September 4, 2016, no exceptions.
Join ten other BAGSC members who have registered for the conference so far. See old friends, meet new friends from all over the world, learn new techniques and get inspired.
The conference will be held at the Wyndham Pittsburgh University Center, just a few blocks from Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden, The Carnegie Museum of Natural History, The Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. And, of course, there is the Hunt 15th Annual International Exhibition—one of the world’s most prestigious exhibitions of botanical art and a must-see.
BAGSC member Margaret Best will be teaching a one-day workshop on watercolor, “From the Ground Up.” BAGSC member Deborah Shaw will be giving an up-to-the-very-minute lecture about how to protect your images on the web, along with some tips and tricks and a list of helpful and fun apps.
There are still openings in various workshops, including graphite, colored pencil, and pen-and-ink. There are many fascinating lectures available at no additional charge. And there are openings available for a field trip to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater.
Read about the conference, sessions and instructors on ASBA’s website, make your selections, then go to the online registration site to register.
There are 193 ASBA members who have registered so far. Come join us in Pittsburgh!
BAGSC News 