Tuesday 11 April 2023

 

Showcasing SA’s most exquisite botanical art, Plant 2023 comes into bloom at Kirstenbosch this April!


Botanical art is experiencing a revival worldwide coinciding with an increasing interest and investment in saving the planet. PLANT 2023, presented by the Botanical Artists Association of South Africa (BAASA) takes this interest to a new level by painting the eco-systems, pollinators, creatures and natural elements that interact with our beautiful floral kingdom and revealing an exquisite story, giving visitors an insight into a fascinating natural world. 




Curator, Karen Stewart, will introduce renowned artists and exciting new talent to local and international visitors at the much anticipated exhibition at The Old Mutual Hall, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens from 14-25 April 2023. PLANT 2023 will attract art enthusiasts, nature lovers, horticulturists and garden enthusiasts and promises to ignite a passion in everyone for the natural world which we live in at the southern tip of Africa.



PLANT 2023 brings an exquisite and professionally curated showcase of the best South African botanical art depicting indigenous plants of Southern Africa.

Stewart says that it is fitting to hold the exhibition at Kirstenbosch, which forms part of the Cape Floral Kingdom, a UNESCO World Heritage Site to showcase so many of the indigenous plants that make up the renowned environment. Botanical art is beginning to gain popularity for investors and consumers who love to show these exquisite drawings and paintings in their homes. PLANT 2023 will offer a platform for visitors to meet artists and be exposed to this exciting world.



In the spirit of revival, like the Fire Lily after a burn, the exhibition will attract artists willing to take risks, push their boundaries, and flex their creative muscle to make some truly remarkable and unique works. Indigenous plants of Southern Africa include the richest, most diverse biomes on the planet, boasting many rare and varieties of species. These plants will find a showcase at Kirstenbosch in April. The exhibition will tell unique stores about each plant portrait.

Basia Swiel Vachellia xanthophloea

Basia Swiel Vachellia xanthophloea


The exhibition will highlight:
1. “The Mystical World of Plants” for larger scale botanical works.
2. “Macro Mysteries” for smaller works showing details of plants, pollinators and seeds.
3. A retail section for the selling of botanical cards, prints, art materials and botanically related products.

Entry into the exhibition is free, although entry to Kirstenbosch is charged. There will be an exciting programme of artist’s walks, demos, films and workshops to make the space one of enrichment, learning and fulfilment.

Chris Lochner Protea repent

Chris Lochner Protea repens


EVENT DETAILS
14 – 25 April 2023.
Old Mutual Hall, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens

Enquiries
Karen Stewart (curator)
plant2023bybaasa@gmail.com

Wednesday 18 May 2022

Botanical Art Worldwide 2025

 

Greetings and a Happy International Botanical Art Day!

The American Society of Botanical Artists has announced their intention to hold a second collaborative exhibition in May 2025.  May 18th was declared International Botanical Art Day at the time of the first Worldwide exhibition in 2018 when 26 countries across the world held simultaneous art exhibitions - and many countries have continued to celebrate this day each year.

South Africa again plans to be part of this exciting initiative in 2025 and we have attached below preliminary details regarding the theme so that BAASA members can start planning their art works. We have no further details at this stage, but members will be kept advised as further information becomes available.

We will start looking for a suitable venue for the exhibition, an organizing committee and a dramatic logo. You have two horticultural years to do research and select stunning subjects to illustrate. Be aware of the exciting stories that go with the crop plants you select.

Artworks will need to go through a selection process, to ensure a high standard.

 ~~~

Theme for 2025: Crop Diversity/Crop Heritage: heritage varieties of useful cultivated crop plants, focusing on edibles, but also including those used for textiles, building, energy, and medicine. The theme would draw attention to the vast variety of food and useful plants in the world compared to the few varieties in mass cultivation.

Our heritage of useful plants has been passed to us for safekeeping, and it is up to us to pass them on to future generations:

    • Useful crops: but not those used in modern, large scale monocultural agriculture.
    • Crop wild relatives: wild species that can be hybridized with cultivated crops to impart a new characteristic to the cultivated crop, or that are foraged wild plants.
    • Ancient crops: those that have been cultivated for hundreds or thousands of years in the same form.

Hybrids are eligible – many food crops are hybridized, and many are species but cultivars of those species.

BAASA Gauteng
18 May 2022


Saturday 14 May 2022

Botanical Art Masterclass with Mieko Ishikawa 4 - 8 September 2022


Mieko Ishikawa and her translator and assistant Akiko Enokido, will be travelling from Japan to South Africa to attend the opening ceremony of the Grootbos Florilegium, after which they will hold a 5-day master class in botanical art.  

This is an amazing opportunity to learn from a brilliant botanical artist/teacher who is revered in Japan, coupled with the whole experience of the diversity of native plants on the estate.  The new Hannarie Wenhold Botanical Art Gallery with the original artworks of the Grootbos Florilegium will be on display. 

 

If you or someone you know may be interested in coming to this course at Grootbos, please contact Ruth Crichton ruth@grootbos.co.za for bookings.

 

For those who want to come but have alternative accommodation, the tuition fee is all they will have to pay.


Further queries - contact Vicki Thomas at bulbin@iafrica.com


Friday 26 November 2021

Plant Portraits Online: November 2021 – January 2022

 


An online exhibition of botanical art hosted by the Gauteng branch of the
Botanical Artists Association of Southern Africa (BAASA).

Celebrating the work of contemporary South African botanical artists,
this exhibition portrays a selection of the country’s wonderful indigenous plants
some of which are found nowhere else in the world.

Visit the exhibition at www.botanicalartsa.co.za