Cathy's Art Diary

Lovely exhibition at Kew Gardens of contemporary botanical pictures from the Shirley Sherwood Collection. It defined exotica as interesting, usual plants seen in unfamiliar surroundings in this case interesting plants from the topics and of which grow at Kew. All the works were stunningly details and in beautiful colours. I loved this picture by Andre Demonte of cultivated ginger and humming birds. I missed the birds on my first look. I also liked Yee-Yean Suh’s edible fruit plant setting the stems against a big leaf giving and abstract feel to the work and Pauline Dean’s Jade Vine with delicate hanging purple and green flowers. Closes 27 October 2019

Fabulous exhibition at Kew Gardens of work by the glass artist Chihuly. Chihuly’s large scale pieces where shown around the gardens, hidden amongst the planting and inside various buildings and provided huge pops of colour. I am very fond of his wonderful glass sculptures and it was lovely to see them in a different context and out of doors. I wish I’d managed to go a few times to see the work in different lights. I think my favourite was the beautiful white installation in the water lily house with lily like white works shown on the water amongst the flowers so the reflections added to the work and it could be seen from all angles. I also loved the specially commissioned blue chandelier in the Temperate house. It was also lovely to see some of his drawings and smaller works in the art gallery there. There were tableaux of the work and a chance to get very close and see it’s intricacies in detail. Closes 27 October 2019

Nice exhibition at Kew Gardens looking at botanical art by Australian and New Zealand artists plus pictures of plants from the area by other artists.   There wasn’t a deeper theme to the show just an exhibition of lovely pictures. I loved a watercolour on vellum by Susannah Blexill and Stephanie Berni’s picture of a tree fern shown here.   My favourite was Sue Wickinson’s picture of a Bird of Paradise flower which deconstructed all the elements of the flower.   Closes 16 September 2018  

Interesting exhibition at Kew Gardens looking at the building of the Temperate House and its recent refurbishment.   It took 38 years to build and was designed by Decimus Burton and built of glass and wrought iron. The glass houses were built to enhance the international appeal of the gardens. The original designs were in the show and well as lovely watercolours of some of the plants that were in the original planting. I loved an 1888 picture of the interior and some fascinating archive material.   Closes 16 September 2018  

Confusing exhibition at Kew Gardens looking at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney.   I say confusing because I wasn’t sure how the commentary on the history of botany in Australia and the creating of their botanical gardens matched the watercolours. It was only later that I realised a Florilegium is a collection of paintings of plants and this set had been commissioned recently to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the opening of the gardens.   Checking back on my notes I now realise there was a lot on Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist on Cooks first expedition to the area, who maintained an interest and on his return and sent botanists out on later expeditions to collect for himself and Kew Gardens. I encountered him again a few weeks later in the James Cook exhibition at the British Library.   The pictures were beautiful, detailed works showing the leaves, flowers and fruits of the plants. The descriptions were very detailed. There was an interesting...

Fabulous refurbishment of Temperate House at Kew Gardens.   I must admit I’d not seen it before the refurbishment but did see it midway though and couldn’t have imagined it would look this good. It is like a huge glass church of plants with wonderful vistas down the centre of it. Everything looked clean and crisp but still kept a period feel. I didn’t brave the high level walkway but they views down onto the plants must have been dramatic. As well as the structure being renewed the planting was new and reflected the floral of the temperate areas of the world with each area and island having a lushly planted and well labelled area. There was almost too much to look at and take in so I just did the Caribbean section in detail. Review Guardian  

Charming and moving installation at Kew Gardens by Rebecca Louise Law. This was room full of preserved flowers and seeds pods hung on thin copper wire which you walk though. The smell was wonderful and it was hung closely with a path through the garlands. They made a lovely gentle colour pallet. It was lovely to walk through this calm work which seemed to say something about the fragility and beauty of life. Closes on 11 March 2018  

Strange exhibition at Kew Gardens by Lindsay Sekulowicz interpreting the collection of Sir Richard Spruce a 19th century botanist. Spruce’s collection was a snap shot of the Amazon at a specific moment in time and it was lovely to see his notebooks and specimens he had brought back. From this inspiration Lindasy created art works about how information is transferred and tried to use significant material. I found the show a bit confusing with long commentaries in small writing. To be honest if you have to tell me that much about what I’m looking at then the work is not standing on its own. Closes on 11 March 2018  

Interesting exhibition at Kew Gardens of paintings from the Shirley Sherwood Collection looking at the different ways plants disperse their seeds and propagate. There were good information boards talking you through the different dispersal methods. I’d never really thought of fruit in this way but of course it gets eaten by birds and animals and distributed via their waste products. There were some beautiful pictures such as Yanny Pettters picture of a teasel painted in oil of glass with a lovely sheen. Also Brigid Edwards picture of a sunflower and Sue Williams called “Black Lace”, a delicate picture of leaves and berries. I was fascinated by the Traveller’s Palm from Madagascar with blue seeds which evolved so that the lemmas could see the seeds as that can’t see red. I love exhibitions where you discover new weird facts. Closes on 11 March 2018

Fantastic installation at Kew Gardens by Wolfgang Buttress designed to highlight the life of bees. This is a huge structure made of interlinked aluminium rods with LED lights and speakers. I started at the lower level where there is some explanation of the work and the life of bees but then you walk round it to the upper level and stand inside. The lights and sounds you hear there are triggered by bee activity in a real beehive at Kew. It’s a wonderful calming work where you can take a moment out of a busy day to slow down and relax. You seem to be drawn to walk round the edge and to try to grasp different sounds which often seem to be a couple of steps away. I think this may now be a permanent feature of the gardens but as it’s relatively new and I was so bowled over by it I thought I’d include it in the blog.

Wonderful exhibition at Kew Gardens of high end contemporary craft one of a series of ‘Handmade’ exhibitions around the UK. I had been given a ticket by my friend Richard Shock, the only wood turner I spotted in the show. It was nice to catch up with him briefly between sales! I hope it went well for him. There were lots of lovely yummy things and I could have spent a fortune! I think jewellery and ceramics were the stars of the show and I loved Jonathon Pearce’s smooth tactile furniture. However my purchase of the day was a lovely paperweight from glass worker Thomas Petit. It is so nice to chat to the crafts person when you buy their work and hear more about it. Closed on 15 October 2017 but coming to Oxford 18-20 May 2018.  

Nice exhibition at Kew Gardens of contemporary sculpture. The show had a selling section in a temporary structure but more excitingly the works were also on show all-round the grounds and looked fantastic against a backdrop of autumn colours. In the outside works I loved “Woman walking” by Louise Forbes made from clay near her studio, it strode out across the grass. Also two works by Carol Peace also female figures. Nic Fiddian-Green’s large horse head works were striking too. Inside there were smaller works including Lucianne Lassalle’s lovely figures, Stephanie Cushing’s smooth marble abstract works and Mark Deanie eerily life like kingfishers. Closed on 15 October 2017  

This years garden in the courtyard of the British Museum has a North American theme concentrating on the east and central states.  Produced with Kew Gardens there are sections on wetlands, prairie and forest.  I always love looking at the different foliage against the classical stone building. This years feature was a small wooden bridge to give the garden shape.  I like the colourful section facing the road full of delicate flowers making a backdrop of colour. 

Garden in the courtyard at the front of the British Museum to highlight the wealth of plant life in South Africa . This is organised by the museum and Kew Gardens and follows on from last years Indian garden. It is lovely to see the space outside the museum used and to have living things in it. I love the vista’s through the garden of the buildings around it.

Joint exhibition between the British Museum and Kew Gardens to showcase the plants of the Indian subcontinent. It shows how the landscape changes and the different plants which grow there. It was really nice to see the familiar space outside the British Museum used in this way and I must admit, as you’ll see from this post, I had fun with my new camera there!