Ways of seeing indeed!
I thought I would highlight the curious and imagination directions of some artists working with botanical subjects in this post. However, I am going to start with several simple drawings from the children who came to my studio last year by way of introduction to / immersion in the multi-dimensional world where art meets botany.
The first work is by 7 year old Tom - perhaps worth clicking to enlarge this image - Tom was asked to draw something he liked and he jumped up and ran to the garden and came back with these camellias and nasturtium and a shell. I was intrigued to observe the careful layout of items that preoccupied him for a time then the extraordinary series of little texta images he created on the top right hand side of the page. He was totally engaged and only at the end did he look up, grow concerned and proceed to apologise for the smallness of the drawings, not that I was bothered by this. When it was time to go home he carefully carried the entire arrangement with drawing home as is here - his mother realising it was quite precious to him made sure it arrived home safely.
This entire procedure really fascinated me and it struck me that there was something quite powerful in this ritual that all of us could learn from. To see the deep absorbtion and the importance of composition, the artfulness in that alone was affecting.
Now I am taking you to the weblog Dear Ada (click on title to open) for a quick viewing of artists listed under botanical - garden in her categories. I would like to give the links to each individual artist here but that would take hours... so do visit the Dear Ada botanical link I have provided above and when you are free to trawl take a look at the links to the various artists. Apologies for not providing the details for wach artist here. The list starts with the extraordinarily talented Australian artist Fiona Hall and takes you to different parts of the globe, mediums and processes and styles of working. I hope you are intrigued and delighted as much as I was to survey the enormous variety in ways of seeing.
1. Fiona Hall
2. Ruth Van Haren Noman
3. Ellen Goldschmidt
4. Qiang Huang
5. Bill Beckley
6. John Baird
7. Sonnenschein Eliezer
8. Neil Jones
9. David Hockney
10. Hugo Guinness
11. Not Known or identified
12. Joyce Tennyson
13. Dam and Karislund Glas
14. Maarten Kolk
15. Linda Broadfoot
16. Malin Bjorklund
17. Scrapbook Floriegium
18. Daniel Williams
19. Pamela Di Mauro
19. Pamela Di Mauro
20. Benjamin Long
21. Dirk Mueggenburg
22. Gustav Oskar Andersson malme
23. David Pearson
24. Karl Blossfeldt
25. Olga Seem
26.alain gerard clement
27. Chris Hellman
28. Ric Heitzman
29. Becky Suss
30. Alice Stevenson
31. Judy Pfaff
32. Julie Blyfield
33. Allan Ballie
34. Nancy Blum
35. Anna Atkins
36. Rudolf Blaschka
37. Camilla Penti
38. Jennifer Scott
39. John Buck
40. Ernest Ciavano
41.Ninagawa Mika
I think you will agree this is an extraordinary range of works... and yet just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. Thanks to Dear Ada for the peek into this fabulous array of wonderful artists and their work.
9 comments:
Great post Sophie, such a wonderful range of artworks and each different. Liked the childrens art a lot.
Hope all your projects are going well and you are finding time to enjoy the process.
thanks, nicola.
Lovely to hear from you Nicola!
Thanks for your thoughts. I came across this category on dear ada awhile back and thought it would demonstrate immediately the enormously varied ways we see and experience the botanical world both as artists and as viewers.
It was good to revisit the children's work at the same time and appreciate how adults have to employ some of that fresh seeing that children have in abundance, even as they work in their chosen disciplines.
I know from conversing with you that you like to on the one hand maintain your strong focus and discipline - yet also make room for something outside that is different to come in.
I'm enjoying the work very much now - starting to get a good flow between studio, garden, dialogue, learning, thinking, documenting and reflecting. The one thing I cant skip over is the thinking time - i'm finding it critical to anchor all the incoming material!
Im sure you completely relate to that in your work Nicola!
best,
Sophie
very nice selection, a refreshing post!
Hi Sanne,
thanks for the lovely comment... I do like to visit dear ada and it was such fun selecting these ones!
You must be enjoying signs of spring in the netherlands now... go well!
S
superb selection!
Merci Nathalie,
S
thank you thank you for sharing this! it's so inspirational! i like the photograph best, of course. wow!
Thank you Em...
Yes...the photography...of course... you've taken such excellent shots in your own garden for your blog!
It is inspiring to see all this work together to appreciate that wee see differently and artists work very differently.
Its such a shame that we grow up, getting graded and awarded so often for only the most narrow of conventions. I really am quite profoundly sorry I only learned of the cultural values of Europe in my art and music education. I always adored playing Bach on piano but to discover different forms and styles of music was the ultimate for me. Still is critical!
best,
Sophie
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