Beverly Allen

Last updated

Beverly Allen
NationalityAustralian
Known forbotanical painting
Website beverlyallen.com.au

Beverly Allen (born 1945) is an Australian artist specializing in botanical paintings. Her works are typically life size pieces of plants from her garden or native to Australia. Her artworks have been recognized internationally and collected in many private and public collections. She does workshops at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney between her art collaborations and exhibitions.

Contents

Life and education

Allen was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1945. She started illustrating the world around her when she was young. [1] She found her way to painting and botanical art after discovering Shirley Sherwood's book "Contemporary Botanical Artist" and viewing Sherwood's exhibit at SH Irvin Gallery in 1998. [2] Allen studied graphic design and illustration before turning to botanical art in 1997. [3] She went to Sydney University and achieved a bachelor's degree in fine arts. [1]

Career

Allen first started her artist career as a package designer for a cosmetic maker and an advertising agency in Australia. [4] Once Allen became known as a botanical artist in 1998 she co-founded the Florilegium Society and was pronounced president. While in Sydney, she associates with the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust and teaches master classes on realism painting and botanical art. [1] She has taught such classes for roughly 12 years. [5] She acquires her materials for her works and workshops from the Sydney flower market. When working on her art pieces she uses paper that allows for life sized representations, the paper is propped up to nearly vertical on a drawing table. Her paints sit on a wheeled chest within reach of the paper, and the subject is stationed on a wheeled trolley. The ability to move her subjects and the paper and paints around allows her to utilize the lighting within the room. [4]

Awards

Collections and exhibitions

Her pieces can be found in exhibits internationally such as New York, Washington, Chicago, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Kyoto, and London as well as in multiple public and private collections such as The Kew, the RHS Lindley Library, the Hunt, Highgrove, Transylvania Florilegium's, Shirley Sherwood, and Alisa and Isaac Sutton's collection. [1]

Works

Related Research Articles

The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington and Arabella Huntington in San Marino, California. In addition to the library, the institution houses an extensive art collection with a focus on 18th and 19th century European art and 17th to mid-20th century American art. The property also has approximately 120 acres (49 ha) of specialized botanical landscaped gardens, including the "Japanese Garden", the "Desert Garden", and the "Chinese Garden".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gymea, New South Wales</span> Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Gymea is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Gymea is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire. The postcode is 2227, which it shares with adjacent suburb Gymea Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Parkinson</span> Scottish botanical illustrator and natural history artist

Sydney Parkinson was a Scottish botanical illustrator and natural history artist. He was the first European artist to visit Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti. Parkinson was the first Quaker to visit New Zealand. The standard author abbreviation Parkinson is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellis Rowan</span> Australian artist, botanical illustrator and botanical collector (1848–1922)

Marian Ellis Rowan, known as Ellis Rowan, was a well-known Australian artist and botanical illustrator. She also did a series of illustrations on birds, butterflies and insects.

<i>Doryanthes excelsa</i> Species of flowering plant

Doryanthes excelsa, commonly known as the gymea lily, is a flowering plant in the family Doryanthaceae that is endemic to coastal areas of New South Wales near Sydney. It has sword-like leaves more than 1 metre (3 ft) long and it grows a flower spike up to 6 metres (20 ft) high. The apex of the spike bears a large cluster of bright red flowers, each 10 centimetres (4 in) across. Its common name is derived from the name given to the plant by the indigenous [Dharawal] people. The Sydney suburbs of Gymea and Gymea Bay are named after the lily.

<i>Doryanthes</i> Genus of flowering plants

Doryanthes is the sole genus in the flowering plant family Doryanthaceae. The genus consists of two species, D. excelsa and D. palmeri, both endemic natives of the coast of Eastern Australia. Doryanthaceae is part of the order Asparagales.

In medieval Latin, a florilegium was a compilation of excerpts or sententia from other writings and is an offshoot of the commonplacing tradition. The word is from the Latin flos (flower) and legere : literally a gathering of flowers, or collection of fine extracts from the body of a larger work. It was adapted from the Greek anthologia (ἀνθολογία) "anthology", with the same etymological meaning.

Elisabeth Cummings is an Australian artist known for her large abstract paintings and printmaking. She has won numerous awards including Fleurieu Art Prize, The Portia Geach Portrait Prize, The Mosman Art Prize, and The Tattersalls Art Prize. Her work is owned in permanent collections across Australia including Artbank, The Queensland Art Gallery, The Gold Coast City Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. She is notable for receiving recognition later in her career, considered by the Australian Art Collector as one of the 50 most collectible Australian Artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Botanical illustration</span> Drawing or painted image of plants and their components

Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, color, and details of plant species. They are generally meant to be scientifically descriptive about subjects depicted and are often found printed alongside a botanical description in books, magazines, and other media. Some are sold as artworks. Often composed by a botanical illustrator in consultation with a scientific author, their creation requires an understanding of plant morphology and access to specimens and references.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Flockton</span> Anglo-Australian artist and botanical illustrator

Margaret Lilian Flockton, is most commonly recognized as a botanical artist famous for her botanical illustrations of "The Forest Flora of New South Wales", "A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus", and the genus Opuntia, all by the botanist and forester, Joseph Henry Maiden. She was also a painter, commercial artist, and art teacher at different points of her life. She was the first botanical illustrator at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. She was also the first female lithographer in Australia which gave her a high reputation at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Sherwood</span> British writer and botanist

Shirley Angela Sherwood is a British writer, botanist and philanthropist.

The Highgrove Florilegium: Watercolours depicting plants grown in the garden at Highgrove is a two-volume book of botanical illustrations recording plants in the garden of Charles III, the then Prince of Wales, at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, England. The volumes, published in 2008 and 2009, contain 124 watercolours painted by invited leading botanical artists from around the world. The colour plates are reproduced in their original size from watercolour drawings. The publication is a limited edition of 175 sets, each signed by the Prince and all the royalties from the Highgrove Florilegium are donated to The Prince's Charities Foundation. The text is by Christopher Humphries and Frederick J. Rumsey and the preface is by the Prince of Wales. The publisher is Addison Publications. Each set is accompanied by a handmade green felt book cover with maroon ties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Marshal</span>

Alexander Marshal was an English entomologist, gardener and botanical artist, noted for four albums of paintings, including the florilegium he compiled, consisting of some 160 folios of plants cultivated in English gardens, and finally presented to George IV in the 1820s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Jo Morales</span> American painter

Rebecca Jo Morales is an American artist born in Torrance, California. She studied at the California Institute of the Arts, Parsons The New School for Design, and earned a BFA from the Otis College of Art and Design in 1985. She worked as a field biology illustrator and as a paper conservator. She lives and works in Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborah Griscom Passmore</span> American botanical illustrator

Deborah Griscom Passmore (1840–1911) was a botanical illustrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture who specialized in paintings of fruit. Her work is now preserved in the USDA's Pomological Watercolor Collection, and she has been called the best of the early USDA artists. She rose to lead the USDA staff artists, and she became the most prolific of the group, contributing one-fifth of the 7500 paintings in the Pomological Watercolor Collection.

Olivia Marie Braida-Chiusano is an American botanical artist, author, and educator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Coen</span>

Margaret Coen was an Australian artist, known for her watercolours, paintings of flowers, landscapes and still life works. Her paintings and personal papers are held in national collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Rosemary Shepherd</span> British painter

Jessica Rosemary Shepherd FLS is a painter, artist, publisher and botanist who works under the names of Úrsula Romero and Inky Leaves.

Joan Ross is an Australian artist based in Sydney who works across a range of mediums including drawing, painting, installations, sculpture and video. Her work investigates the legacy of colonialism in Australia, particularly the effects colonialism has had on Indigenous Australians.

Mary Lou Romney, born Mary Louisa Stone, was an American Painter who resided in Utah. Romney studied art at the University of Utah where she earned a BFA and then completed a Post Graduate Education Certification program. She continued her education at Utah State University where she earned an MFA with a minor in Education. She was a nationally recognized painter and illustrator. She taught briefly at Utah State University, then spent many years teaching at the University of Utah, and was involved in local and regional art organizations, exhibits, and contests.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Botanical Artists Australasia". BOTANICAL ART & ARTISTS. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  2. Pretty. "Meet: Beverly Allen, botanical artist". The Garden Clinic. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  3. "Beverly Allen Biography". beverlyallen.com.au. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Home - American Society of Botanical Artists". asba-art.org. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  5. "Botanical Art Society of Australia". botanicalartsocietyaustralia.com. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 "Beverly Allen biography". Jonathan Cooper. Retrieved 5 December 2019.