BOTANICAL

Drawn from Nature

Botanical Illustration between Art and Science

Contemporary botanical art by renowned Victorian illustrators, with works by Celia Rosser. On display are water colour paintings, pencil drawings and graphite illustrations of local and exotic species. Also included are four studies by Celia Rosser, who is known and celebrated as “the Banksia Lady”. As a Science Faculty Artist at Monash University from 1974-1999, she painted all known 76 banksias from field collected specimen. These were published in three stunning large format folios of prints, the first of which is on display.

Amanda Ahmed completed her Master of Fine Art (Research) at Monash University in 2011. She has been a regular exhibitor at The Art of Botanical Illustration in Melbourne, Botanica in Sydney, and Inspired by Nature in Geelong. During the last six years, Amanda has conducted regular botanical art classes at the Geelong Botanic Gardens and the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. Amanda draws on the tradition of botanical illustration in terms of close observation and documentation. She works in graphite, coloured pencil and watercolour, with a strong focus on drawing as the basis of her art and teaching practices.

Craig Lidgerwood is a freelance botanic artist who lives and works in regional Victoria. He has exhibited widely in both Australia and internationally, mainly in France as a member of the Societe Botanique d’Illustration and more recently at the Hunt Institute, Pittsburgh, as part of the last International Exhibition. Craig first began exhibiting at Melbourne Botanic Gardens and Sydney Botanic Gardens exhibitions in 2010, before participating in a major retrospective at the Ballarat Art Gallery in 2012. He currently teaches Botanic Art at both the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne and the Geelong Botanic Gardens.

David Reynolds is an award-winning watercolour artist and tutor with the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne and Nature in Art at Park Orchards, and shares his expertise through teaching and workshops both locally and internationally. David specialises in Australian flora and fauna, exotic plants and wildlife. In 2006, his ‘Banksia integrifolia’ was selected for the Illustrated Garden Collection of significant plants growing in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne. He has exhibited paintings in a range of botanical exhibitions, and his artwork is represented in the state collections of the Botanic Gardens, both in Melbourne and Sydney.

Deb Chirnside exhibits regularly in The Art of Botanical Illustration exhibition in Melbourne and Botanica in Sydney. Her work is held in the Florilegium collection of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, and the State Botanical Collection in Melbourne. She has been awarded two Honourable Mentions in the Celia Rosser Medal for Botanical Art. Deb has participated in exhibitions nationally and internationally, including The Hunt Institute in Pittsburgh, USA, the ASBA Annual International in New York, the International Botanical Conference in Shenzhen, China, and the Botanic Art Worldwide exhibition in Canberra.

Janet Matthews is a multi-award winning artist who works in colour pencil and graphite with a hand-cut layer. She loves to draw Australia’s botanical and wildlife subjects with intensity, personality and precise details, inspiring viewers to engage with the unique beauty of our natural world. She is a Fellow of Wildlife Art Society of Australasia and Australian Guild of Realist Artists, and represented Australia in the World Wide Botanical Exhibition 2018. Her artworks are held in the permanent collection of the New York State Museum, and Roberson Museum and Science Centre, New York. She was commissioned by Australia Post for stamp images released in 2006, 2009 and 2021.

Jessie Rose Ford is a multidisciplinary artist based in Naarm. Her work reflects a deep appreciation for the natural environment, as well as the connection formed between artist and plant through the act of observing and recording each detail. She often uses a limited colour palette to gradually layer her watercolour paintings. Jessie is the receiver of the Celia Rosser Medal for Botanical Art and the Highly Commended Award, during exhibitions held at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne. She shares her knowledge by teaching at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne as well as running her own workshops and exhibiting around Australia.

John Pastoriza Piñol specialises in botanical art, with a focus on pushing the boundaries of genre traditions. He has exhibited his work nationally and internationally for over 20 years. Among John’s awards and recognitions are a Gold Medal RHS (2005) and the American Society of Botanic Artists’ Dianne Bouchier Award for Excellence in Botanical Art in 2013. His artwork is held in collections worldwide, including the NGV, Oakspring Garden Foundation, and The Hunt Institute, Pittsburgh, USA. He contributed to both the ‘Highgrove Florilegium’ and ‘Transylvania Florilegium’ under the auspices of the H.R.H Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation.

Mali Moir is an award-winning botanical, scientific and natural history artist and teacher at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, working extensively in scientific illustration and field naturalist projects. Accompanying science institutions, Mali led a 10-year project as an expedition artist in Australia and overseas, and is a major contributor to Genestreaming Sculpture Project. Interested in conservation and threatened species documentation, she believes “artists make science visible.” Mali’s accurate realist works combine a fascination for natural sciences with a desire to render art with beauty, character and scientific integrity.

Margo Heeley is a keen conservationist and gardener who spent much of her childhood and teen years exploring Sherbrooke Forest and the Victorian countryside. Her first job was as a research assistant in the Botany Department of Monash University in the 1960s, where she developed a love of native plants and was inspired by Celia Rosser, the department’s University Botanical Artist at the time. Margo lives in the bush in Christmas Hills and for many years has been capturing the diversity of the native bush flora, aiming to promote awareness and appreciation of the Yarra Valley’s indigenous plants and ecosystems.

On completing a degree in Fine Arts, Marta Salamon began to explore the combined science and artistry of botanical art. Living in the Dandenong Ranges, surrounded by National Park areas and gardens full of exotic plantings, proved inspirational. Marta exhibited regularly after taking up botanical art. In 2016 she was awarded the Celia Rosser Medal and was twice a finalist in the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize. Her works are held in the Melbourne and Sydney Herbariums and in private collections internationally. Marta focused on scientific accuracy while also aiming to create aesthetically creative and decorative works of art.

Martha Iserman is a science illustrator and watercolour artist living and working in Belgrave Heights. She is most interested in creating unique biological worlds by depicting familiar organisms in unfamiliar ways, observed through a hyper-focused lens. Her painting style is very detailed, using colour, composition, and form to break out of traditional representational art tropes. Martha’s work has been shown in galleries in the United States and Australia, and her illustration work has been featured in numerous scientific publications, museums, journals, textbooks and educational websites.

Miffy Gilbert is a qualified horticulturist and a member of the Botanical Art Society of Australia, American Society of Botanical Artists and a Fellow of the Society of Botanical Artists (UK). She has been painting botanicals for 15 years. Miffy is passionate about teaching others how to navigate this form of visual story telling. She enjoys seeing the overall natural design and zooming in to marvel at the intricacies in life and in nature to be discovered up close. She strives to communicate her passion and respect for plants through her botanical artworks.

Living and working between Naarm/Melbourne and South Gippsland, Simon Deere brings a fascination with the architecture of the botanical world to his graphite drawings. Capturing these natural structures using form, texture and light, he brings the viewer on a journey to marvel in the drama and detail of his reinterpretations of botanical subjects. Simon has exhibited in several solo and group shows over the last ten years, and in 2018 was awarded the Celia Rosser Medal for Botanical Art.