The Irish Alphabet in Botanical Art –

Aibítir Éireannach i Ealaíon Luibheolaíoch

 

The Irish Society of Botanical Artists will present their inaugural exhibition at the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin in May 2014.  The exhibition entitled The Irish Alphabet in Botanical Art marries native plant species with the capital letters of their names in Irish.

There are over 60 artists producing distinctive paintings, which will be exhibited as complete eighteen-letter Irish alphabets. Tim O’Neill, renowned calligrapher, has created a unique font for the project.  Artists from the thirty-two counties of Ireland will be taking part, along with Irish artists living in Britain, France and Austria, Newfoundland and the American state of Oregon.

This unified collection of paintings will be a celebration of the Irish language, native Irish plants and botanical art.  Each work depicts one of a wide selection of native plants chosen by the National Botanic Gardens, to illustrate the variety of plant forms and habitats on the island of Ireland.

The Irish Society of Botanical Artists is a group of botanical artists and people interested in botanical art. Our mission is

‘To facilitate interaction amongst botanical artists in Ireland,
and to foster and inspire their creative development.’

Irish botanical artists are fortunate to have an extraordinarily rich heritage of botanical art to draw upon, including artists such as, Lydia Shackleton, Lady Charlotte Wheeler Cuffe, Wendy Walsh and Raymond Piper. Botanical artists working in Ireland today are maintaining these standards of excellence and are being acknowledged internationally for their work.

The exhibition will take place, opening for public viewing on 2 May 2014
in the Visitor Centre of the National Botanic Gardens. 
For additional information please contact:
info@irishbotanicalartists.ie