ENJOY YOUR VISIT — Exhibitions

Losing Paradise?
Endangered Plants Here and Around the World

January 16 – April 4, 2010

Sarracenia flava, North America
Artist: Joan Lavigueur Geyer

This exhibition in the Regenstein Center draws attention to plant conservation issues around the world. Curated by the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA), and developed in collaboration with the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and the Center for Plant Conservation, the exhibition features 44 original botanical artworks of threatened and endangered plants from the United States and around the world. The exhibition and accompanying book are the result of a three-year project undertaken by artists from the United States and around the world, all members of the ASBA.

Silene regia,
North America
Artist: Heeyoung Kim

Seeking to draw attention to today’s at-risk plants, artists documented endangered plants in botanical gardens, in the field, and in horticultural collections. About half of the plants represented are North American, and half are from around the world, including such fascinating plant stories as that of the Wollemi pine, thought to be extinct for 2 million years but found in a remote Australian canyon, and a stunning violet slipper orchid (Phragmipedium kovachii), discovered in 2002 in the Peruvian rainforest. American rarities include the Midwestern lakeside daisy (Hymenoxis herbacea), with only two natural colonies remaining in the U.S.; the Everglades “ghost orchid” (Polyrrhiza lindenii); a rare white poppy (Arctomecon humilis) from the Mojave Desert in Utah; and California’s coastal Santa Cruz cypress (Cupressa abramsiana), all listed as federally endangered or threatened.

The president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter H. Raven, has written the introduction to the book accompanying the exhibition, and the dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Sir Peter Crane, has contributed an essay on botanical art. Essays are also featured by the president of the Center for Plant Conservation, Kathryn Kennedy; the head of the Plant Conservation Unit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Gary Krupnick; and the dean and vice president for Science, New York Botanical Garden, James Miller.

Northecium americanum,
North America
Artist: Robin Jess

Each artwork in the book is accompanied by the story behind the plant’s endangerment and how the artist went about finding and capturing it artistically. Artists with works in the show are from the United States, Australia, Brazil, Israel, South Korea, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Some of the world’s most well-known botanical artists are included, as are some relative newcomers to the field.

From the Chicago Botanic Garden (Jan. 16 – Apr. 4, 2010), the exhibition will travel to The New York Botanical Garden (May 6 – July 25, 2010) and to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (Aug. 14 – Dec. 10, 2010).

Rare and Endangered Species

ART elective

This class will study works in the American Society of Botanical Artists' milestone exhibition Losing Paradise? Endangered Plants Here and Around the World, at the Chicago Botanic Garden. This classic approach of learning a technique by close analytical observation and visual deduction of original work will teach students to better define and refine their own technique. This close study of execution and technique will then be followed by practical application and execution using student’s medium of choice. This class serves as an introduction on how to procure plants when drawing and painting native species while adhering to the ASBA Code of Ethics for Botanical Artists Working in the Field. The School’s CEUs=1.2

Derek Norman, Midwest Center for Botanical Documentation
4 Mon., Feb. 1 – 22, 6 – 9 p.m.
Design Studio
ART1531 $149/$187

Top banner artwork: Cycas seemannii, Australia, by Rita Parkinson