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by Deb Shaw
Artwork from the “Visual Voyages” exhibition at The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens.
José María Carbonell, Loranthus, Royal Botanical Expedition to the New Kingdom of Granada led by José Celestino Mutis (1783–1816), tempera on paper, approx. 21¼ × 15 in. Archivo del Real Jardín Botánico- CSIC (Madrid).
Join BAGSC and The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens for an innovative seminar, held in conjunction with The Huntington’s exhibition “Visual Voyages,” part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative.
BAGSC and The Huntington are co-sponsoring this exciting weekend in November, and are experimenting with a new seminar format. Participants can register for one or more (or all) of the seminar components. BAGSC members have first options on spaces. Each of the seminar components are open to BAGSC Members, their guest(s), and the public. Individual prices are listed with each description; the price for the complete seminar package is listed below.
See full details about the seminar on BAGSC’s website, along with information about how to register for some or all of the events described below.
Friday, November 3
Wine and cheese reception: 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Join us for a private exhibition tour and discussion of “Visual Voyages” led by Lugene Bruno and Alice Tangerini: 5:00 pm – 7 pm. This seminar will be a discussion of the artwork of images of Latin American Nature in the exhibition and will compare and contrast the works to contemporary botanical art.
BAGSC Members: $50/person
Non-members: $60/person
Limited to a maximum of 30 participants
Saturday, November 4
Round Table Discussion and Tour of “In Pursuit of Flora: 18th-Century: Botanical Drawings from The Huntington’s Art Collections.” Go from Latin America in the Boone Gallery Friday evening to British artists in the Huntington Art Gallery — Works on Paper room. “In Pursuit of Flora” pulls work from The Huntington’s collection to reveal 18th-century European appreciation for the beauty of the natural world. Lugene Bruno and Alice Tangerini will lead a tour of this exhibition and discussion of the artwork, as it compares to the “Visual Voyages” exhibition and contemporary botanical art.
9:30 am – noon
BAGSC Members: $30/person
Non-members: $35/person
Limited to a maximum of 30 participants
A practical (and fun!) demonstration of pressing and preserving plants for future drawing and painting, and secret recipes for “restoring” preserved samples to use for drawing and painting. Learn how to press plants to preserve specimens for future drawing and painting, as well as how to “bring them back” to view for drawing and painting.
Alice Tangerini: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm.
BAGSC Members: $30/person
Non-members: $35/person
Limited to a maximum of 30 participants
Individual Portfolio Reviews. Lugene Bruno will provide private portfolio critiques by appointment, one-half hour each: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm. Reviews will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis for the best time possible for your schedule, and for Lugene’s.
BAGSC Members: $50/person (not available to non-members)
Gymnanthemum koekemoerae, © 2017 Alice Tangerini.
Sunday, November 5
Botanical Scientific Illustration Workshop. Pencil and watercolor on film, Alice Tangerini: 10:00 am – 2:15 pm. A hands-on workshop using pressed, “revived” and live specimens. Workshop will break for lunch. Lunch will not be provided; please bring your own, or feel free to purchase lunch at one of The Huntington’s cafés. Please be advised that the cafés can be crowded on the weekends.
BAGSC Members: $30/person
Non-members: $35/person
Limited to a maximum of 16 participants
Please note: the workshop costs above do not include materials. BAGSC will purchase some of the materials in bulk to save money for participants; we will post materials costs as soon as possible.
Individual Portfolio Reviews. Lugene Bruno will provide private portfolio critiques by appointment, one-half hour each: 10:00 am – 2:00 pm. Reviews will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis for the best time possible for your schedule, and for Lugene’s. Please only request an appointment within the allotted time frame; we may not be able to accommodate other times due to other scheduled seminar activities.
BAGSC Members: $50/person, (not available to non-members)
Dudleya rigida Rose, Crassulaceae, watercolor on paper by Frederick A. Walpole (1861–1904), 1897, 35.5 x 25.5 cm, on indefinite loan from the Smithsonian Institution, Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation accession no. 4304.
“Hidden Treasures: The rediscovery of art treasures in our collections” Public Lecture with Alice Tangerini, Smithsonian Institution and Lugene Bruno, Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon: 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm in Rothenberg Hall.
Lugene Bruno and Alice Tangerini will present an illustrated lecture on missing artworks that were rediscovered in and curated for their museum collections. These art pieces represent historical events and important discoveries or were created for publications in the realm of science and art. They may have been stored in places where their presence was not easily detected; sometimes amongst old boxes of artifacts, in the files of herbarium specimens or even catalogued as another kind of object. Artists such as Frederick Walpole (1861–1904), Paulus Roetter (1806–1894), Isaac Sprague (1811–1895) and Mary Emily Eaton (1873–1961) portrayed each plant subject with aesthetic beauty and scientific accuracy. Walpole divided his time between Washington D.C. for the USDA and field trips to the Northwest as far as Alaska, during which time he made field drawings, watercolors and exquisite ink drawings that resemble fine line engravings. His talent was extinguished at 43 when he died of typhoid while working in California. Isaac Sprague, a self-taught artist, and one-time assistant to John James Audubon, was one of the most prolific illustrators of the 19th century and, from his home in Massachusetts, he drew in pencil and ink illustrations for published descriptions of native floras and plants collected during exploring expeditions and railroad surveys by some of the most important botanists of the period. Paulus Roetter, an émigré from Germany went on to create some of the finest drawings of the cactus family while accompanying the botanist George Engelmann on one of the government boundary surveys in the Southwest from 1853–1854. Engelmann named the cactus Cereus roetteri in honor of this artist’s skill. Mary Emily Eaton contributed drawings and watercolors for a four-volume opus, Britton’s The Cactaceae (1919–1923), while working as a scientific illustrator for the New York Botanical Garden. She lost her job during the depression and returned to England where she exhibited her work over the years. Each artwork has a storied past, and the history and the images of the artist’s field studies and finished drawings and paintings that were rediscovered in the collections will be featured in this presentation. By curating, cataloging and imaging these art works the Smithsonian Institution and the Hunt Institute preserve for the future a part of American history.
BAGSC Members: FREE
Non-members: FREE
Maximum of 250 participants
The Works
Want to participate in the entire weekend? Sign up for “The Works!” Complete Seminar Cost (everything included, except individual portfolio reviews)
BAGSC Members: $150
Non-Members: $175
Questions? Contact the BAGSC Education Chair.
About the Instructors
Lugene Bruno, Curator of Art & Senior Research Scholar at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.
Lugene Bruno, Curator of Art & Senior Research Scholar at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. Since 1996, Lugene Bruno has held a position at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation where she has immersed herself in the collection. She is responsible for all activities of the Art Department, including the curation of the art collection and twice-yearly exhibitions in the Institute’s gallery (most notably the triennial International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration). She designs the exhibitions and companion catalogues; provides talks and tours related to collection items on site and at botanical conferences; responds to research requests; and makes available for study selections of the art collection to visiting scholars, students and artists. She is an honorary member of several botanical art and florilegia societies in the United States and abroad. Bruno is also a practicing artist working with the concepts of gestural abstraction and employing the mediums of photography and graphite drawing.
Alice Tangerini, Staff Illustrator and Curator of the Botanical Art Collection at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
Alice Tangerini, Staff Illustrator and Curator of the Botanical Art Collection at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. As a Staff Illustrator for the Botany Department at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Alice Tangerini has been specializing in drawing plants in pen and ink and graphite since 1972 and now her illustration media includes digital color.She has illustrated at least 1000 species of plants appearing in scientific periodicals, floras, and botanical and nature books. Most of her subjects are based on the Department’s extensive collection of over 4 million herbarium specimens.Alice also teaches classes in illustration techniques, presents lectures on botanical illustration and juries shows in botanical gardens and in academic institutions.She has exhibited her botanical artwork in numerous shows connected with the botanical and scientific illustration societies of which she is also a member. Her responsibilities in the department also include managing and curating an extensive collection of botanical illustrations, both historical and contemporary, which are available for viewing on the Department of Botany website.
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://dbshaw.files.wordpress.com/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!
by Deb Shaw
Aristolochia gigantea, ink on paper, Lesley Randall, © 2013, all rights reserved
Lesley Randall’s Aristolochia gigantea has been accepted into the 14th annual exhibition for the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation.
Lesley became interested in botanical illustration while a landscape architecture student at Cornell University. Working at a botanical garden in Hawaii, she found the plants fascinating to draw, and started illustrating professionally after moving to Davis, California in 1986. Lesley won first prize in the 2007 Margaret Flockton Award for Excellence in Botanical Illustration from the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, Australia. The award was created to recognize excellence of botanical illustrations in scientific publications and commemorates the contributions Margaret Flockton made to Australian scientific botanical art.
The Hunt established the International Exhibition in 1964 with the hope of supporting and encouraging contemporary botanical artists. Every three years, the International Exhibition features the works of talented botanical artists from around the world. The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation will host the 14th International Exhibition of Botanical Art and Illustration in Fall 2013 in conjunction with the annual ASBA conference, September 26 – 28. The exhibition is open to all botanical fine artists and illustrators working in any medium on paper or vellum whose work has achieved a standard of excellence and who have not yet been represented in the Hunt Institute’s series of International Exhibitions.
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