Botanical Artists for Education & the Environment (BAEE)
Using Botanical art to support our environment
All profits from sales go to support native plants. For example, BAEE awarded a $15,000 grant to support publication of the ASBA catalog for the “Botanical Art Worldwide: America’s Flora” exhibition.
We regret that we must cancel the class with Anne-Marie Evans that was scheduled for next month (May 21-25). She has had difficulty getting her travel visa renewed, although she expects everything will eventually work out. We will try to reschedule her for next spring and will contact everyone who signed up for this class.
Meanwhile, we will hold an informal workshop where students may come and bring their work for gentle critiques, encouragement, and motivation. Those who were in last November’s class should bring the apple paintings they began then. We hope to have available some of the companion plants that are grown in apple orchards. The workshop will be held May 21-23. Use the Contact Us form if you are interested. Cost is minimal — just enough to cover rental of the space — about $25.00.
Katherine Tyrell maintains a blog for and about botanical artists. In her posting from October 3rd, she highlights the new exhibition at the Boulder Museum by the Rocky Mountain Society of Botanical Artists, ‘Cannabis–A Visual Perspective’. The link is https://www.botanicalartandartists.com/news/cannabis-a-visual-perspective-botanical-art-exhibition-by-rmsba-at-boulder-museum?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BotanicalArtandArtists-News+%28Botanical+Art+and+Artists+-+News%29
She also references a resource to online juried shows that would be useful to any artist interested in exhibiting: OnlineJuriedShows.com
On Sunday, March 11, Eileen Malone-Brown, BAEE President, gave a presentation titled "Putting Botanical Art to Work" at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Henrico, VA, just outside Richmond. She was introduced by Phyllis Laslett, the Garden Adult Education Coordinator.
Eileen walked the audience through creation of the BAEE book American Botanical Art: Native Plants of the Mid Atlantic and told how proceeds from book sales have been used as grants to further understanding of the importance of native plants to the environment and to encourage their conservation and use in home gardens. Her presentation also included comparisons of Mark Catesby's prints of native plants with contemporary versions by BAEE members.
While encouraging the audience to develop their own projects, Eileen shared lessons learned from the making of the BAEE Book. The audience of 26 included Lewis Ginter Botanical Art students and graduates, as well as members of other local plant conservation groups. The event concluded with a lively question-and-answer discussion covering many botanical art project possibilities other than publishing a book.
A BAEE grant of $10,000 helped Earth Sangha (ES) to develop "Garden Kits" that contained native plant seedlings from the ES Wild Plant Nursery, a manual that provided planting and maintenance instructions, and background on relevant conservation issues. ES distributed these kits to local schools and conducted workshops for both teachers and administrators.
The Garden Kits come in four designs for different landscapes: the Sunny Well-Drained Meadow Kit, the Wet Meadow or Rain Garden, the Forest Edge, and the Riparian. The most popular was the Meadow kit, which transforms featureless turf into lush, beautiful, and environmentally friendly landscape for schools.
Before and after photos show the effectiveness of the project.
BAEE is pleased to announce that the well-known British artist and teacher Elaine Searle will be coming to Virginia to teach a master class in botanical art from Tuesday, October 16 through Saturday, October 20, 2018. The class is already full, but we are accepting names for the waiting list. To be added to the waiting list, use our Contact Us form.
You can check out Elaine's work on her website: https://www.paintbotanical.com/
We are beginning on Tuesday to enable those who are attending the ASBA conference in St. Louis to have a little extra time for travel. Several BAEE members plan to attend the conference, including ASBA Board members Karen Ringstrand and Bonnie Driggers.
For Elaine's class we hope to complete small paintings of Pears. These paintings may become part of the planned BAEE exhibition that includes Heritage Apples and companion plants.
