Dr Jonathan Mitchley is a Lecturer in Plant Community Ecology at the University of Reading. This means he teaches about wild plants, how to identify them and their importance in the different habitats of the UK. Like all the best lecturers he is slightly bonkers. But that, in addition to his dedication, generosity and indefatigable spirit, …
Yesterday we looked at a 19th Century natural history artist with enduring appeal, today we focus on an outstanding modern day one. Rachel Pedder-Smith is a contemporary botanical artist who achieved acclaim for her Herbarium Specimen Painting, first exhibited at Kew Gardens in 2012. At five meters long, this large-scale watercolour montage of plant bits …
Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) was a German zoologist, philosopher, professor, physician, naturalist, biologist, writer and natural history artist. So somewhat of an overachiever then. He is on record for having done lots of significant things, like discovering over a thousand new species, coining the term ecology and selling Darwin’s theory of evolution to Germany and the …
Woody Campbell is taking one photo a day for the rest of his life. Not just any old photo, but a really nice one. He then puts it on his photo blog for us all to enjoy. Since he has been going for 1,645 days now, he is able to offer up interesting comparisons too. …
On paper the Goaman’s marriage was made in heaven. They both lived together and worked together, but that’s not the good bit. They also designed stamps together and better still, a large number of those had a botanical theme. Is there a more pleasurable activity you could possibly do with your partner? Michael and Sylvia …
Fabric designs are teeming with botanical and floral artistry this Spring as always – plants are always on trend, every season, in one form or another. We particularly like those designers that avoid the well-known plants and floral cliches, going instead for something different. Ferns seem to be popular at the moment with both Sanderson …
Patrick Caulfield, CBE, RA (1936 – 2005) is a celebrated UK artist, immediately recognisable for his bold, reductive, outline heavy creations of everyday objects. The critic Christopher Finch described him as a “Romantic disarmed by his own sense of irony”. He somehow managed to paint very little but portray so much. Although considered an ‘urban …
Plant Curator was lucky enough to see Yoko Ono perform (music) at the Royal Festival Hall c.2005. She was a petit, yapping, avant-garde wonder, shiningly entertaining at that. She currently has a major retrospective of her career that spans five decades at Guggenheim Bilbao. It shows just how much she has achieved. She is her …
Poverty, madness and creative genius, unfortunately often makes for a good story, which is why Plant Curator is keen to see the 2008 film Séraphine. Based on the life of French artist Séraphine de Senlis (1864–1942), it gives an account of her rather sad but artistically productive life. Born into a poor family of labourers and …
Street artist ATM paints naturalistic representations of endangered birds on empty walls in London. The birds are not tiny like birds generally are, but magnified to cover large expanses of brickwork or concrete. Take a look at his birds, they are quite brilliant. Set against manufactured surroundings, each bird’s colour and form seems strikingly exotic …