Sonoran Desert Florilegium Program

Part of the mission of The Florilegium Program of the Sonoran Desert Region is to promote the education of artists in botanical art among both established artists and individuals interested in becoming a botanical artist. Below are upcoming classes in botanical illustration.

Botanical Illustration in Colored Pencil
Location:  Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Art Institute
Instructor:  Margaret Pope
Dates:  5 Thursdays
October 7, 14, 21, 28 and November 4, 2010
Hours:  9 a.m. to noon
Fee:  $145 museum members; $185 nonmembers
Prerequisites:  Pencil I and Colored Pencil I (Certificate Elective)
To register:  On-line: www.desertmuseum.org/arts  Phone: (520) 883-3024  Fax: (520) 883-3043

Course Description: Fine tune your botanical illustrations. The satisfying combination of accurate drawing and vibrant color pencil application makes botanical drawing a pleasure. Begin by carefully observing plants as the instructor guides participants in what to look for and how to draw it. The drawing exercises will increase both skill and observation techniques. Students will gain a new appreciation for the combination of art and science as they practice traditional botanical illustration.

Basic Botany for the Nature Artist
Location:  Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Art Institute
Instructor:  Margaret Pope
Dates:  5 Wednesdays
February 9, 16, 23, March 2 and 9, 2011
Hours:  1 to 4 p.m.
Fee:  $145 museum members; $185 nonmembers
Prerequisites:  Pencil I
To register:  On-line: www.desertmuseum.org/arts  Phone: (520)883-3024  Fax: (520)883-3043

Course Description: Here is a Botany class you can love. Study botany from an artist's point of view. Get a close-up look at flower and plant parts. Dissect blossoms and draw the variety of these intricate shapes while you create your own flower journal. Give yourself a greater understanding of plants so you can create realistic drawings with insight and knowledge which is bound to increase your pleasure for drawing. You'll get individual attention from a devoted botanical artist to make this an informative adventure.

Drawing Plants for a Florilegium
Location:  Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Art Institute
Instructor:  Margaret Pope
Dates:  5 Thursdays
March 17, 24, 31, April 7 and 14, 2011
Hours:  1 to 4 p.m.
Fee:  $145 museum members; $185 nonmembers
Prerequisites:  Pencil I and Pen & Ink I (Certificate Elective)
To register:  On-line: www.desertmuseum.org/arts  Phone: (520) 883-3024  Fax: (520) 883-3043

Course Description: Flor-i-le-gi-um: from the Latin culling flowers, from flori- + legere, to gather. Prince Charles has his Highgrove Florilegium, The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens has documented the plants growing in their gardens, and botanical artists in the Sonoran Desert Region have begun a similar effort. Join this class and explore the conventions of botanical drawing. Then revisit your favorite plants through the lens of tradition and find out which characteristics plant portraits require for identification and posterity. Practice compositional elements that show your favorites to best advantage as you complete a botanical plate. You choose the medium of colored pencil, pen & ink or graphite.

At the onset of our work the number of illustrations was unknown, but now that the work of accessioning the illustrations is completed, we find the total number of 1355 to be much greater than we anticipated. The Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society (TCSS) and a member donor are offering a dollar for dollar match of donations up to $3,500 to The Florilegium Program in support of archiving the scientific botanical illustrations in the University of Arizona Herbarium collection. For approximately 2 years volunteers of The Florilegium Program have been been diligently accessioning (cataloguing) the scientific botanical illustrations housed at the U of A Herbarium. The next step is to preserve the illustrations. This means each illustration needs to be mounted and enclosed in archival material and then stored in boxes. Once they are archived, the illustrations are not only preserved but their future use can be better monitored. We estimate the cost to archive one illustration is between $7 - $10 depending on the choice of materials, price at the time of purchasing materials and taxes. Archiving 1300 illustrations will cost approximately $9,100 and $13,000. By offering these matching funds both the TCSS and a member donor not only offer support for this project but want to encourage members and the public to contribute to this effort. By contributing $10 ($20) two illustrations will be preserved, by contributing $20 ($40) four will be preserved and by contributing $50 ($100) ten will be preserved. Please contribute to support archiving these illustrations which are a part of the botanical heritage of our region. Any amount will be greatly appreciated. Click here to view some of the illustrations in the Herbarium collection and to learn more about the accessioning process. Contributions can be sent to The Sonoran Desert Florilegium Program, Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society, P. O. Box 64759, Tucson, Arizona 85728-4759. To print a contribution form click here.

We are working with the Herbarium staff to provide an archival environment for these illustrations. The herbarium has recently received a grant to upgrade their storage capacity for plant specimens. Some of this money will go to providing customized cabinets for storing the illustrations we have accessed and will be archiving. The Herbarium staff is very enthusiastic and appreciative about the work we have done in accessing and archiving the illustrations. They have been supportive and very helpful in facilitating the exhibit of the illustrations from Gentry’s Agaves of Continental North America. They are also supportive of future exhibits we would like to have of some of the other illustrations, particularly those of Lucretia Breazeale Hamilton, the world famous botanical illustrator of the plants of the southwestern United States.