NatureArt Lab Blog

It all started with a visit to Mulligans Flat as the temperature drifted gently towards 40 degrees C and the threat of bushfires simmered in the background. As a group we were a mix of both experienced artists and enthusiastic, but relative beginners. We were out there on this improbably hot day looking for botanical specimens to paint and preserve as part of one of NatureArt Lab’s many and varied workshops. The 'Collecting herbaria specimens and botanical art' workshop with Mali Moir provided students with a series of challenges which were both demanding but intensely satisfying. This blog provides one student's perspective on this experience.

NatureArt Lab recently hosted a two-day workshop with well-known UK botanical artist Jessica Rosemary Shepherd. With a focus on creating 'larger than life leaves', a group of 15 artists explored the possibilities of creating drama with use of light - giving the plant center stage. Jess inspired us with her ideas about where botanical art might go in the 21^st Century. Jess’ artistic projects, whether art-based, soundscapes, media or publishing ventures, explore an evolving philosophy to do with botanical artistic expression and ‘how the strategies and techniques of the visual arts can be adapted to communicate the importance of plants in the modern world’. She spoke about combating ‘plant blindness’ and using art and other mediums to focus attention on the natural world. Her work is both profoundly personal and political, environmental and cultural.