Weird, Wild, and Wonderful, the stunning botanical art exhibit in the Ross Gallery, has been extended through October 26. This exhibition invites artists from around the world to seek out visually unusual plants and create works of art that celebrate the bizarre—yet beautiful—flora of the world. From 240 submissions, members of the American Society of Botanical Artists selected 46 works created by 45 artists from the U.S., Australia, Canada, India, Japan, and the U.K.
According to NYBG instructor and botanical artist Dick Rauh, the show’s emphasis is definitely on the “weird.” He writes, “There are certain botanical categories that provide us with almost limitless examples of strange-looking plants.” He mentions “the parasites,” such as the white stalks of Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora) and the “evil-looking” Hydnora africana, also known as Jackal Food.
Other weird plants that Rauh notes include insectivorous plants, fungi, ferns, and those plants whose size would qualify as unusual, such as “the two-foot-wide inflorescence of the onion Allium giganteum, the huge bloom of Stapelia giganea, or living stones (Lithops spp.)—a rare example of floral camouflage. Many of these plants are featured in a gorgeous 76-page catalog of the artwork in the show, available in the Shop in the Garden.
Only two more weeks until Elizabeth Gilbert and Amy Stewart come to the Garden for what promises to be one of the most engaging and inspiring evenings of the summer—and we can hardly wait! On May 29, attendees will enjoy a private viewing of the Garden’s triennial exhibit of botanical art, Weird, Wild, & Wonderful in the Ross Gallery. 46 works in a variety of media from a talented selection of contemporary botanical artists display nature’s most unusual plants as you’ve never seen them before.
Specialty cocktails will be available for purchase during the viewing, crafted by none other than Amy Stewart herself, the celebrated author of The Drunken Botanist, a bestselling guide to the plants at the root—as it were—of our favorite drinks. Truly an indispensable gardening tool. The recipes for this evening include the “Kind-hearted Monster,” inspired by Asuka Hishiki’s outstanding illustration of Solanum lycopersicum—or heirloom tomato—featured in the exhibit.
Plants aren’t all pink petals and dainty blossoms. Nature has a strange side, and botanical artists with a sense of adventure can find all sorts of singular subjects among the world’s… well, weirder specimens.
That is the inspiration behind the second New York Botanical Garden triennial exhibition, Weird, Wild, & Wonderful, a juried show co-presented with the American Society of Botanical Artists. In homage to the beauty of the botanical world’s most bizarre flora, the Garden invited members of the society to participate in a study of the eccentric, creating works of art based on visually unusual plants chosen by the artists themselves.
Sutton Exhibition at Garden and two Other Shows Launch Concept
Robin A. Jess is Executive Director of the American Society of Botanical Artists, which has its national office at The New York Botanical Garden. She has had a long relationship with the Garden as a freelance botanical illustrator and as the first coordinator of the Botanical Art Certificate program.
It occurred to me earlier this summer that the opening of three major exhibitions of contemporary botanical art in New York City during the same week (September 13–17) would be cause for celebration. I thought that by combining the star power of the three and declaring “Botanical Art Week in NYC,” we could draw more attention to these exciting exhibitions. The hosts of the three exhibitions—Jeff Downing, Vice President for Education at the Botanical Garden, Chris Murtha at the Horticultural Society of New York (HSNY), and Francesca Anderson of Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG)—all agreed that it was a great idea. And so, Botanical Art Week was born.
This fall in New York offers an in-depth immersion in beautiful art that accurately portrays the world of flora. You’ll find works in these shows by noted contemporary botanical artists such as Jean Emmons, Derek Norman, Lizzie Sanders, and Jessica Tcherepnine. You’ll also find the work of talented artists who trained or who teach in NYBG’s Botanical Art and Illustration Certificate Program. Get inspired by viewing the work and then take a course at the Garden to begin your own creative journey.
An opening reception for the exhibition Botanicals: Environmental Expressions in Art, The Alisa and Isaac M. Sutton Collection will be held on Thursday, September 16, from 5 to 8 p.m. in theArthur and Janet Ross Gallery at the Botanical Garden (RSVP to 718.817.8598). Since his first acquisition in 1998, Brooklyn’s Isaac Sutton has continued to acquire or commission works, amassing the largest privately owned collection of contemporary botanical art in North America. Working with Curators Susan Frei Nathan and Alice Marcus Kreig, Sutton selected the pieces shown for their ability to raise awareness of our environment.
Traveling Exhibition Opens Next Week at the Garden
Carol Woodin is Exhibitions Coordinator for the American Society of Botanical Artists and a freelance botanical artist.
An organization of artists and illustrators who depict plants, the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) began a project in 2006 to tell two stories: the continuing relevance of botanical art and the often neglected story of plant endangerment, as the decline of the world’s plant life is one of the most significant issues of our time. The result is the traveling exhibition Losing Paradise? Endangered Plants Here and Around the World, which opens at The New York Botanical Garden Thursday, May 6.
