News & Events

The Art of Botanical Illustration 2008
8 - 23 November 2008

RBG is home to this prestigious biennial. Their outstanding State Botanical Collection, is nurtured through newly, commissioned works and purchases. This Exhibition has played a mammoth role in supporting the Collection and promoting this specialized art form to artists and collectors. Since 1992 the exhibition has been held biennially and now attracts Australian and international artists and collectors.

Contact: Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne Inc., Gate Lodge, 100 Birdwood Avenue, Melbourne;

PH: 03 9650 6398; FAX: 03 9650 7723; e-mail: friends@frbgmelb.org.au; Website: www.rbg.vic.gov.au/friends

Master Drawings London
5 - 11 July 2008

John exhibited with 2 internationally renowned and distinguished artists at the Master Drawings London at 22 Bury Street, London, under the direction of Crispian Riley-Smith. Crispian Riley-Smith, displayed 18th and 19th century master drawings/ watercolours together with contemporary Botanical art works. http://www.masterdrawingsinlondon.co.uk

Highgrove Florilegium 18 July 2008

John’s work has been selected for inclusion in The Highgrove Florilegium. This is presently being created under the umbrella of The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation and will celebrate and record in a permanent way the Flora in the Garden at Highgrove. John’s painting of Forsythia × intermedia ‛Lynwood’ was amongst works selected by the Highgrove Florilegium Selection Panel on 30th January 2007. His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales had kindly invited John and others involved in the Highgrove Florilegium to visit the garden at Highgrove, July 18th 2008.

The ASBA 11th Annual International Juried Exhibition
September - November 2008

John's work has again been selected for inclusion for the 11th Juried Exhibition at the Horticultural Society of New York,148 West 37th Street, 13th Floor, New York, NY 10018. The ASBA and HSNY are co-sponsoring an opening reception the evening of Wednesday, September 17 from 6pm – 8pm. 

Wyndham Botanical Art Society annual exhibition
5 – 14 September 2008

John has been invited as the guest artist at the forthcoming Wyndham Botanical Art Society annual exhibition September 2008. More details to come.

 

Nature + Art II at Woodbine Art. 

12 October – 2 November 2008

Woodbine 2644 Daylesford Rd, Malmsbury 3446, from Sunday October 12th  to Sunday 2nd November 2008. The official opening will be from 11:00am on Sunday 12th October. 

Anita von Bibra, Director of Woodbine Art, has long been an advocate of botanic art, and regularly showcases highly refined botanic artists at Woodbine Art gallery in Malmsbury, Victoria.  This exhibition will feature works by Anita Barley, Dianne Emery, Mali Moir and John Pastoriza-Pinol.

In this exhibition, the artists have developed these early curiosities with natural history to the level of scientific research of plants, animals and insects by documenting and recording information not easily captured in photography.  Their finely detailed works bring to our attention the fragile links and connections which exist in today’s environment, highlighting the range of inter-relationships between the plant and animal kingdoms.

When we think about the nature table, certain memories come alive, childhood memories, those precious moments in life where we gave ourselves room to imagine and have a sense of wonderment of the natural world around us.

For any further information about works in this exhibition please contact:

Woodbine Art

Director: Anita von Bibra

T. 61 3 54 232 065

F. 61 3 54 232 068

M. 0412 12 10 22

E. eiska@primus.com.au

Gallery Hours:

Friday – Monday 11am – 5pm. 

The Plasma Soul, Nellie Castan Gallery, South Yarra
4 - 24 December 2008

John will be exhibiting together with 7 other natural history artists at Nellie Castan Gallery. These highly detailed works will express a strong sense of design with a tendency to idealize nature as seen in Ernst Haeckel’s oeuvre Kunstformen der Natur (Art Forms in Nature), considered one of the marvels of 19th century naturalist illustration. Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) was the German scientist/field naturalist and accomplished artist who coined the phrase "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" and the terms "Darwinism" and "ecology." His idol was Goethe, who maintained that art as well as science could unearth the underlying truths of nature. Nellie Castan Gallery, Level 1, 12 River Street, South Yarra. 12:00pm - 5:00pm, Tuesday to Sunday.

Also see: Vogue Living Australia Sept/Oct 2008 Issue pg 76. 

Chestnut Workshop, Brookside Botanic Gardens, Wheaton, MD USA
5- 8 January 2009

John has been invited to conduct a chestnut workshop at Brookside Botanical Gardens in Maryland USA. January 5th – 8th. John will have you spell bound with his exquisitely detailed watercolour paintings of those subjects you would not contemplate drawing let alone paint, due to their intricate structure.  This larger than life botanical artist and teacher from Australia, who is gaining critical acclaim worldwide for his botanical art, will soon have you painting using his extremely effective and surprisingly quick painting techniques that are ideal for developing a wonderful sense of 3-D form in the most furry, hairy or prickly subjects. A flyer with images of John's paintings, class description, materials and his bio will be mailed to you on request.For further information please contact: Ellen Bennett ellen.bennett@montgomeryparks.org or Diane Berndt daberndt@verizon.net

Botanical Art Society of Queensland Master classes April 2009

By popular demand, John has been invited to return to conduct 2 Master classes with the BASQ artists group at Mt Coot-Tha Botanical Gardens. Dates and times to be published.

Victoria Hidalgo Galería de Arte 2009

John will head to Madrid in late 2009 to hold his 2nd International Solo Exhibition of Botanical Art at Victoria Hidalgo Galería de Arte, Calle Ruiz de Alcarcón, 27 28014 Madrid. This eminent fine art gallery is located in the Heart of Madrid and looks onto the Museo del Prado and the Royal Botanic Gardens. Works in this exhibition will include some Australian autochthonous flora as well as many rare and unusual plants from around the world. The works will be life size depictions of the subject and will be in watercolour on Arches 300gsm parchment.