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For Immediate Release:
THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK AND THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF BOTANICAL ARTISTS PRESENT OUR

NINTH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL JURIED BOTANICAL ART EXHIBITION 2006

September 21 - November 17, 2006

OPENING RECEPTION
Wednesday, September 20, from 6:00 - 8:00 pm

The Ninth Annual International Juried Botanical Art Exhibition, on view at The Horticultural Society of New York (HSNY) features a juried selection of works from The American Society of Botanical Artists, Inc. (ASBA). For the past nine consecutive years the show has been co-sponsored by the two cultural non-profits. This unique exhibition will showcase thirty seven pre-eminent artists working in the genre of botanical art worldwide. Included are forty six original works from the U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan, Sweden and the UK rendered in watercolor, graphite, pen and ink, gouache, and colored pencil.

The complexity of plant life is better understood today than in the drawing rooms of the 18th and 19th century, but what intrigues people is that there is so much yet to learn. An artist may be painting a newly discovered plant, a newly hybridized plant, a common garden plant, or one threatened with extinction. Botanical artists today can’t help but be aware that plants are integral to historical lore, contemporary stories, and are harbingers of the future. In this way, plants make fascinating and ever-changing subjects.

None of the artists in this exhibition would consider botanical art a dusty, staid repetition of what has come before. Modernism informs and enlivens contemporary botanical art. Compositional ideas originating in abstraction, understanding of negative and positive space, and attempting to convey something more than the scientific facts about the subject are some of the ways the contemporary artist breathes life into the art form.

From the velvety lushness of Iris petals to the abandon of a merry-go-round of marigolds to the brilliant color of beets, the artworks chosen for this exhibition celebrate beauty in plant life abundantly. The lowly cauliflower appears uncommonly exuberant, and the seeds of the acorn squash are exposed to view, meticulously yet robustly rendered. Fritillaria seem to dance across the page. Rarities such as Prairie Smoke, devotionally drawn in pen and ink down to the wispy seed pods demonstrate the range each artist’s unique vision brings to the art form.

This exhibition is evidence of the vitality and range of botanical art in today’s world. As one of the earliest impulses of creativity in humankind, recording the world’s plant life artistically will be part of our existence until the end of time. We are happy to once again contribute to that continuum.

The American Society of Botanical Artists has a membership of over 1000 from the U. S. and 16 other countries. Its Mission is to promote public awareness of botanical art, its historical foundations, and its growth into the new millennium.

Incorporated in 1900, HSNY’s mission is to improve the quality of life for New Yorkers through its library, gallery, community outreach and educational programs. As a cultural institution, HSNY’s Exhibitions Program encourages a public appreciation and understanding of fine art in the realm of horticulture. This is a unique exhibitions program dedicated to showing painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, video and other works specifically created around the ideas and tenets of horticulture.

A full-color catalog of this exhibition has been published and is available for purchase at HSNY. Jurors for this exhibition are Jutta Buck, Evelyn L. Kraus, and Ellen Petersen.

The Gallery at The Horticultural Society of New York is open
Monday - Friday from 12pm - 6pm and by appointment.

148 West 37th Street, 13th Floor,
New York, NY 10018 (Between Broadway and 7th Avenue)

For further information, please contact:
Jodie Vicenta Jacobson, HSNY Curator at 212.757.0915 ext.113, or email at jjacobson@hsny.org
or Carol Woodin, Exhibitions Coordinator of the ASBA at (917) 922-6330 or email at cjwoodin@verizon.net