News of an exhibition of interest to SRGC members -our premier Show award is made in the name of George Forrest ....... Pictures are by Willie Campbell from Facebook.
The Park Gallery Enchanted Forrest The first major juried exhibition of the
Scottish Society of Botanical Artists.
12 September - 16 October 2016The Park Gallery hosted the very successful exhibition of botanical art, Strictly Botanical, in 2013 and is delighted to be the venue for the first major juried exhibition of The Scottish Society of Botanical Artists "Enchanted Forrest".
The Society was formed in 2014 by a group of botanical artists based in Scotland, who were keen to provide a forum in Scotland for meeting with likeminded artists, to exhibit their work, and promote botanical art as a genre.
Members have a variety of qualifications from fine art degrees, Certificate and Diploma in Botanical Illustration from Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh as well as recognition from other Societies in the UK and abroad. SSBA members have exhibited at Botanical Images Scotia [BISCOT] and the RHS London Botanical Art Show. Additionally RBGE Diplomates have exhibited either at RBGE as part of Diploma shows or annually as part of the Edinburgh Society of Botanical Artists. Some members have work held in international collections such as the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew and the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh USA. Others have had work published in the Curtis Botanical Magazine [RBG Kew publication].
The Park Gallery is a particularly appropriate setting for the theme of the exhibition as Falkirk is the birthplace of George Forrest - the "Indiana Jones of the plant world" and the arboretum in the extensive grounds of Callendar House have been planted with a large collection of George Forrest specimens.
Forrest made several plant hunting expeditions over a period of 17 years at the beginning of the 20th century to Yunnan Province in Western China, bringing back to the Royal Botanical Garden, Edinburgh over 30,000 specimens of 10,000 plants, as well as seeds, herbarium specimens, and a magnificent collection of photographs.
Yunnan province continues to be a source of botanical riches, and the Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh, in conjunction with Kunming Institute of Botany, China, has established a botanical garden in the region, the Lijiang Alpine Garden, as well as the Jade Dragon research station, Britain's first joint scientific laboratory with China.
British gardens owe much to the intrepid explorer - rhododendrons and azaleas, primulas and gentians, orchids and magnolias, saxifrage and pieris, iris and jasmine, to name but a few!
The exhibition will feature paintings of these amazing plants, mainly in water colour, by some of the SSBA members. Visitors will have the opportunity to see demonstrations by some of the artists at different times throughout the exhibition.
Alongside the formal adjudicated works there will be a 'people's choice' contest sponsored by local business Barrie Scott and Co. Visitors to the exhibition will be asked to vote for their favourite painting. Look out for the voting slips when you visit the exhibition. Choose your favourite painting, fill in the slip and pop it in the box.
Displaying a variety of individual styles within the same genre this exhibition brings together botanical paintings which are not only botanically correct but informative, educational and above all wonderful works of art.
